IBM Lotus Sympony joins Apache OpenOffice.org

That's still more or less "TBD." The Apache OOo project is still working on getting the original OOo code imported into ASF SVN, getting a working build, straightening out dependencies, etc. I expect that more talk about the exact relationship between Apache OOo and LibreOffice - and any other spinoffs of OOo - will heat up once that happens.

That said, the relationship between the LibreOffice folks and the Apache folks strikes me as a little bit delicate at the moment. I think some LO / TDF people are still a bit annoyed at Oracle, and/or suspicious of IBM, and aren't necessarily leaping with joy at the thought of collaborating with the Apache project. But there doesn't seem to be any outright hostility either, from what I've seen, and most of the people who are talking are at least willing to talk about collaboration. But I think it's going to take a fair amount of diplomacy and tact and patience to see the day when the two projects really have a strong, collaborative relationship.

Regardless of the extent of collaboration and friendship between the two, I am guessing the two suites will drift apart at least a little. TDF and the LO project, for example, seem interested in reducing, if not eliminating, the use of Java in LO, and using Python instead. But nobody on the Apache side is really saying "Oh yeah, cool, we want to do that as well." And given the history, the influx of IBM people, etc., etc., I think most observers are expecting that Apache OOo will continue to utilize Java in those areas.

Disclaimer: Nothing I'm saying here is meant to be any sort of official statement from the Apache OOo project. I am a committer and on the PPMC, but what I'm saying here is just my observations, guesses and hunches. I don't have a long history of being part of the OOo project prior to it moving to Apache either, some my awareness of some of the history here could be off.