IBM initiated the development of Lotus Symphony in 2006 as a fork of the OpenOffice.org codebase (specifically version 1.1.4, the last version under the Sun Industry Standards Source License). The goal was to create a lightweight, enterprise-grade office suite built on the Eclipse Rich Client Platform. The name 'Lotus Symphony' was recycled from an unrelated 1980s DOS-based integrated software package.

The suite was first bundled within Lotus Notes 8 in 2007, then released as a standalone beta in September 2007, with version 1.0 arriving in May 2008 as a free download. Symphony 3.0 was later based on OpenOffice.org 3.0 code. While IBM maintained Symphony essentially as a fork, they drew criticism for rarely contributing code back upstream despite building on open source foundations.

On July 13, 2011, following Oracle's donation of OpenOffice.org to the Apache Foundation, IBM announced it would donate Lotus Symphony to Apache as well. IBM discontinued Symphony development in January 2012 with version 3.0.1 as the final release, redirecting its effort toward Apache OpenOffice. However, controversy arose when the donated repository contained nearly 3,600 files with 'Licensed Materials - Property of IBM' headers, raising questions about the completeness of the open source contribution.

IBM's Symphony episode illustrates the complexities of corporate open source engagement — building a product on community code while contributing little back, then donating the result in a way that generated more questions than gratitude.

Code was donated to Apache OpenOffice, contributing some features to that project. However, the donation was controversial and the impact on Apache OpenOffice was limited. The episode became a cautionary tale about corporate open source participation.