PR: Business Development Project of OpenOffice.org Announced

[ Thanks to Charles-H. Schulz for this
link. ]

We are proud to announce the opening of the Business Development
project of OpenOffice.org (BizDev) The goals of this project are to
build a business partners’ network around OpenOffice.org and to
allow initiatives and contributions from small and large corporate
players including custom developments for customers or the
community, support, quality assurance, and funding.

In this regard the BizDev project is the place where commercial
leads, and business and consulting information can be discussed. It
is a project for services professionals who are looking for
customers, projects, and for contributing the way they want.
Several companies have already joined the BizDev project. Among
them the Olliance Group, based in Palo Alto, California, a
consulting firm pushing the adoption of Open Source Software and
open standards in large companies. They believe in this project and
think that letting businesses participate and generate wealth
around OpenOffice.org is a major asset in today’s industry.

“We are seeing and hearing a need for a more supportive and
integrated approach from the community to address users
requirements in deploying Open Source solutions. Creating a project
where service providers can present themselves, communicate, and
discuss customer’s needs and topics such as “best practices” is a
bold, innovative, and needed step by OpenOffice.org” said Andrew
Aitken, Managing Partner, Olliance Group, a leading OSS strategic
consulting firm.

As a first step, the BizDev project volunteers have built a
business directory called the Consultants’ Directory
(http://bizdev.openoffice.org/consultants.html) where consulting
businesses get listed in order to maximize their visibility to the
public and the community. This list already provides a large amount
of information and is still growing.

Stay tuned!

Charles-H. Schulz
BizDev Project Lead,
OpenOffice.org