Heavy drama in the open-source world of...
-
Heavy drama in the open-source world of...
...Office Document Software.
Nextcloud, originally a fork of ownCloud, has launched Euro-Office, a fork of OnlyOffice (pissing off OnlyOffice). Collabora is weighing in and issuing comments against both OnlyOffice and Euro-Office while, itself, forking Collabora Office Desktop from the Document Foundation's LibreOffice. Document Foundation has now resumed LibreOffice Online which competes against Euro-Office and OnlyOffice.
(I think I've got all that right
Correct me if I haven't! 
)
️
️️ I unironically love this!!!! ️️️Document software may appear boring on its face, but Microsoft Office is a big reason why folks still stay with Microsoft OS and don't (can't...) move to Linux. MS Office 365 is often used as a bridge to allow folks to move to Linux while still using Microsoft products in the browser but that solution still keeps them tied to closed source solutions.
Development of Free and Open Sourced Software (FOSS) office products, both desktop apps and online web apps, is a core and key element to allowing FOSS solutions to thrive - both for individuals and organizations.
This level of drama and fighting is indicative of a lot of effort and attention being thrown into this arena. I'm confident over time it'll settle and different projects will merge back together or at the very least borrow and build upon each's efforts.
Read and get your fill of the drama here: https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/02/eurooffice_forks_onlyoffice/
@tinker
Does anybody remember #OpenOffice? -
@raymaccarthy @tinker That wanted to be my message, between the lines
-
Heavy drama in the open-source world of...
...Office Document Software.
Nextcloud, originally a fork of ownCloud, has launched Euro-Office, a fork of OnlyOffice (pissing off OnlyOffice). Collabora is weighing in and issuing comments against both OnlyOffice and Euro-Office while, itself, forking Collabora Office Desktop from the Document Foundation's LibreOffice. Document Foundation has now resumed LibreOffice Online which competes against Euro-Office and OnlyOffice.
(I think I've got all that right
Correct me if I haven't! )️️️ I unironically love this!!!! ️️️Document software may appear boring on its face, but Microsoft Office is a big reason why folks still stay with Microsoft OS and don't (can't...) move to Linux. MS Office 365 is often used as a bridge to allow folks to move to Linux while still using Microsoft products in the browser but that solution still keeps them tied to closed source solutions.
Development of Free and Open Sourced Software (FOSS) office products, both desktop apps and online web apps, is a core and key element to allowing FOSS solutions to thrive - both for individuals and organizations.
This level of drama and fighting is indicative of a lot of effort and attention being thrown into this arena. I'm confident over time it'll settle and different projects will merge back together or at the very least borrow and build upon each's efforts.
Read and get your fill of the drama here: https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/02/eurooffice_forks_onlyoffice/
-
Heavy drama in the open-source world of...
...Office Document Software.
Nextcloud, originally a fork of ownCloud, has launched Euro-Office, a fork of OnlyOffice (pissing off OnlyOffice). Collabora is weighing in and issuing comments against both OnlyOffice and Euro-Office while, itself, forking Collabora Office Desktop from the Document Foundation's LibreOffice. Document Foundation has now resumed LibreOffice Online which competes against Euro-Office and OnlyOffice.
(I think I've got all that right
Correct me if I haven't! )️️️ I unironically love this!!!! ️️️Document software may appear boring on its face, but Microsoft Office is a big reason why folks still stay with Microsoft OS and don't (can't...) move to Linux. MS Office 365 is often used as a bridge to allow folks to move to Linux while still using Microsoft products in the browser but that solution still keeps them tied to closed source solutions.
Development of Free and Open Sourced Software (FOSS) office products, both desktop apps and online web apps, is a core and key element to allowing FOSS solutions to thrive - both for individuals and organizations.
This level of drama and fighting is indicative of a lot of effort and attention being thrown into this arena. I'm confident over time it'll settle and different projects will merge back together or at the very least borrow and build upon each's efforts.
Read and get your fill of the drama here: https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/02/eurooffice_forks_onlyoffice/
Shared competition.
They all produce documents that can be opened by each other. Monopolizing in the opposite of FOSS. Consider the Foss response to Windows.
There are more distributions of linux than there are users of linux.
This is a good thing. Lock-in, monopoly, walled garden, are flaws. All are attempted control, are hidden, are intrinsically for "someone other than you"
It means anyone with knowledge is able to assist. That is economic freedom designed into FOSS.
-
Heavy drama in the open-source world of...
...Office Document Software.
Nextcloud, originally a fork of ownCloud, has launched Euro-Office, a fork of OnlyOffice (pissing off OnlyOffice). Collabora is weighing in and issuing comments against both OnlyOffice and Euro-Office while, itself, forking Collabora Office Desktop from the Document Foundation's LibreOffice. Document Foundation has now resumed LibreOffice Online which competes against Euro-Office and OnlyOffice.
(I think I've got all that right
Correct me if I haven't! )️️️ I unironically love this!!!! ️️️Document software may appear boring on its face, but Microsoft Office is a big reason why folks still stay with Microsoft OS and don't (can't...) move to Linux. MS Office 365 is often used as a bridge to allow folks to move to Linux while still using Microsoft products in the browser but that solution still keeps them tied to closed source solutions.
Development of Free and Open Sourced Software (FOSS) office products, both desktop apps and online web apps, is a core and key element to allowing FOSS solutions to thrive - both for individuals and organizations.
This level of drama and fighting is indicative of a lot of effort and attention being thrown into this arena. I'm confident over time it'll settle and different projects will merge back together or at the very least borrow and build upon each's efforts.
Read and get your fill of the drama here: https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/02/eurooffice_forks_onlyoffice/
I just hope LibreOffice wins as much as I liked BluRay to win, can Sony put it on the next Playstation? That may help. We all know Betamax should have won but it didn't, don't let LibreOffice get Betamaxed.
-
@tinker
Does anybody remember #OpenOffice? -
@tml - Not yet. Going solely off of this: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/02/24/libreoffice-online-a-fresh-start/ ( "resuming" also includes planning and organizational work - not just coding. But we'll see I guess).
-
@maddin That's good to know! I didn't see a link to the app store on the main download page so I figured it wasn't an option. Thank you!
-
Heavy drama in the open-source world of...
...Office Document Software.
Nextcloud, originally a fork of ownCloud, has launched Euro-Office, a fork of OnlyOffice (pissing off OnlyOffice). Collabora is weighing in and issuing comments against both OnlyOffice and Euro-Office while, itself, forking Collabora Office Desktop from the Document Foundation's LibreOffice. Document Foundation has now resumed LibreOffice Online which competes against Euro-Office and OnlyOffice.
(I think I've got all that right
Correct me if I haven't! )️️️ I unironically love this!!!! ️️️Document software may appear boring on its face, but Microsoft Office is a big reason why folks still stay with Microsoft OS and don't (can't...) move to Linux. MS Office 365 is often used as a bridge to allow folks to move to Linux while still using Microsoft products in the browser but that solution still keeps them tied to closed source solutions.
Development of Free and Open Sourced Software (FOSS) office products, both desktop apps and online web apps, is a core and key element to allowing FOSS solutions to thrive - both for individuals and organizations.
This level of drama and fighting is indicative of a lot of effort and attention being thrown into this arena. I'm confident over time it'll settle and different projects will merge back together or at the very least borrow and build upon each's efforts.
Read and get your fill of the drama here: https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/02/eurooffice_forks_onlyoffice/
@tinker
One element that's interesting is that OnlyOffice is licensed using the AGPL which includes a "can't remove the branding" section long with saying nobody has permission to use their branding as if that's somehow a judo throw to prevent any forks. And that's why they're mad. -
@tml - Not yet. Going solely off of this: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/02/24/libreoffice-online-a-fresh-start/ ( "resuming" also includes planning and organizational work - not just coding. But we'll see I guess).
Discussion of the blog post:
- LibreOffice Online, which paused development in 2022, is restarting development : r/selfhosted
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47142713
Only a handful of comments in Hacker News above, one of them usefully links to an earlier discussion of The New Collabora Office for Desktop.
-
@tautology @rickf @tinker i meant anything that offers a browser based office suite, aka files + text editor + videocalling or chat solution, email as bonus.
I'm sure there are many more than the ones I mentioned.
@Gina @tautology @rickf @tinker With FOSS it often seems if you look away for a bit they will have doubled when you look back again ^^
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@tinker
One element that's interesting is that OnlyOffice is licensed using the AGPL which includes a "can't remove the branding" section long with saying nobody has permission to use their branding as if that's somehow a judo throw to prevent any forks. And that's why they're mad.@bigolewannabe Which means I can't call my OnlyOffice fork "Sucks". I have to name it "OnlyOffice Sucks"
OK, what's the best free Git hosting now that Github has gone over to the dark side?
-
@Gina - Hahaha! I'll be the Andy Cohen of FOSS
On this week's "Real Housespouses of FOSS" we find the dev teams of XFCE and LXQt battling it out over whose Linux desktop environment is really the lightest! Gnome developers weigh in on the need for features while KDE laughs in the corner maintaining that you can have both!
Will the FOSS families care? Will the closed sourced neighbors be convinced to even try?
-
Heavy drama in the open-source world of...
...Office Document Software.
Nextcloud, originally a fork of ownCloud, has launched Euro-Office, a fork of OnlyOffice (pissing off OnlyOffice). Collabora is weighing in and issuing comments against both OnlyOffice and Euro-Office while, itself, forking Collabora Office Desktop from the Document Foundation's LibreOffice. Document Foundation has now resumed LibreOffice Online which competes against Euro-Office and OnlyOffice.
(I think I've got all that right
Correct me if I haven't! )️️️ I unironically love this!!!! ️️️Document software may appear boring on its face, but Microsoft Office is a big reason why folks still stay with Microsoft OS and don't (can't...) move to Linux. MS Office 365 is often used as a bridge to allow folks to move to Linux while still using Microsoft products in the browser but that solution still keeps them tied to closed source solutions.
Development of Free and Open Sourced Software (FOSS) office products, both desktop apps and online web apps, is a core and key element to allowing FOSS solutions to thrive - both for individuals and organizations.
This level of drama and fighting is indicative of a lot of effort and attention being thrown into this arena. I'm confident over time it'll settle and different projects will merge back together or at the very least borrow and build upon each's efforts.
Read and get your fill of the drama here: https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/02/eurooffice_forks_onlyoffice/
@tinker
The part you missed is that The Document Foundation kicked out the entire Collabora team, including seven of the top 10 contributors to LibreOffice. Before that happened, Collabora was doing nothing of the sort. -
Heavy drama in the open-source world of...
...Office Document Software.
Nextcloud, originally a fork of ownCloud, has launched Euro-Office, a fork of OnlyOffice (pissing off OnlyOffice). Collabora is weighing in and issuing comments against both OnlyOffice and Euro-Office while, itself, forking Collabora Office Desktop from the Document Foundation's LibreOffice. Document Foundation has now resumed LibreOffice Online which competes against Euro-Office and OnlyOffice.
(I think I've got all that right
Correct me if I haven't! )️️️ I unironically love this!!!! ️️️Document software may appear boring on its face, but Microsoft Office is a big reason why folks still stay with Microsoft OS and don't (can't...) move to Linux. MS Office 365 is often used as a bridge to allow folks to move to Linux while still using Microsoft products in the browser but that solution still keeps them tied to closed source solutions.
Development of Free and Open Sourced Software (FOSS) office products, both desktop apps and online web apps, is a core and key element to allowing FOSS solutions to thrive - both for individuals and organizations.
This level of drama and fighting is indicative of a lot of effort and attention being thrown into this arena. I'm confident over time it'll settle and different projects will merge back together or at the very least borrow and build upon each's efforts.
Read and get your fill of the drama here: https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/02/eurooffice_forks_onlyoffice/
@tinker The world is big enough for everyone to have a slice and to make profit, they can all only benefit from working with each other. The important part is that dependency on MS Office is reduced or entirely eliminated. -
@tinker OnlyOffice sounds like a fork of OnlyFans
@artfulmodder - I would not be surprised if that was intentional... and I really don't want to go through the hassle of confirming it
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@tml - Not yet. Going solely off of this: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/02/24/libreoffice-online-a-fresh-start/ ( "resuming" also includes planning and organizational work - not just coding. But we'll see I guess).
This is the first I've ever heard of OnlyOffice. Is it part of the LibreOffice/OpenOffice family tree?
-
Heavy drama in the open-source world of...
...Office Document Software.
Nextcloud, originally a fork of ownCloud, has launched Euro-Office, a fork of OnlyOffice (pissing off OnlyOffice). Collabora is weighing in and issuing comments against both OnlyOffice and Euro-Office while, itself, forking Collabora Office Desktop from the Document Foundation's LibreOffice. Document Foundation has now resumed LibreOffice Online which competes against Euro-Office and OnlyOffice.
(I think I've got all that right
Correct me if I haven't! )️️️ I unironically love this!!!! ️️️Document software may appear boring on its face, but Microsoft Office is a big reason why folks still stay with Microsoft OS and don't (can't...) move to Linux. MS Office 365 is often used as a bridge to allow folks to move to Linux while still using Microsoft products in the browser but that solution still keeps them tied to closed source solutions.
Development of Free and Open Sourced Software (FOSS) office products, both desktop apps and online web apps, is a core and key element to allowing FOSS solutions to thrive - both for individuals and organizations.
This level of drama and fighting is indicative of a lot of effort and attention being thrown into this arena. I'm confident over time it'll settle and different projects will merge back together or at the very least borrow and build upon each's efforts.
Read and get your fill of the drama here: https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/02/eurooffice_forks_onlyoffice/
@tinker I read a couple of blog posts from OnlyOffice and found them quite entertaining.
Basically they say that Euro Office MUST keep the OnlyOffice branding and logos. But those brands are basically trademarks, hence Euro Office would be in a violation of said marks in the latter case.
Moreover, having unofficial forks with the original branding could lead to confusion.
I mean, there is a reason why Linux Mint does NOT use Ubuntu’s trademarks.
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@bigolewannabe Which means I can't call my OnlyOffice fork "Sucks". I have to name it "OnlyOffice Sucks"
OK, what's the best free Git hosting now that Github has gone over to the dark side?
@juliaclement
I've heard good things of Codeberg -
@juliaclement
I've heard good things of CodebergGitHub versus Codeberg
I love Codeberg, however the absence of a GUI to sync a fork is quite show-stopping:
– since I no longer attempt to remember Git stuff.
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