It makes it easier for others to contribute in a couple ways. * Other companies can feel as though they have a say in the direction of the project, and they

It makes it easier for others to contribute in a couple ways. * Other companies can feel as though they have a say in the direction of the project, and they can more safely commit developer hours to it with less fear that their patches will get NAKed or similar. * A lot of open-source developers are familiar with the ASF's ecosystem (web hosting, version control, bug tracking, mailing list). * A company can use the project with less of a chance that the license will suddenly change, or the project will become closed-source, or similar shenanigans. The notion of "dead" and "alive" you're using doesn't seem to pertain to whether development is still happening, it seems to refer to whether or not the company that happened to write the first version of the code happens to find it commercially useful enough to keep running the project. It seems reasonable that you could write something and not want to continue developing it, but realize it's useful and want to put it in capable hands to bring the project forward.