Heavy drama in the open-source world of...
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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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Not in that tree, as far as I can tell.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnlyOffice
Via Onlyoffice version 7.2 released, download for free • The Register (2022):
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@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.@bardmoss@autistics.life said in Heavy drama in the open-source world of...:
The part you missed
It's in Liam Proven's article, which the opening post encourages us to read.
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@Phosphenes @tinker Not at all. Completely different codebase and history.
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Mostly correct, but saying the Document Foundation "resumed" LibreOffice Online as kind of a "competitor" is a bit over the top.
Their announcement was much more defensive, along the lines of: "ok, since many of you really want something like that, you can continue working on it – we'll reopen the repository".
https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/02/24/libreoffice-online-a-fresh-start/
@tuxwise @tinker The LibreOffice Online code has not been hidden; if there had been anyone that really wanted to start working on that branch again, they could just have grabbed the repo and started doing something with it. That hasn’t happened. At least not publicly. Instead, all development has been going on in Collabora Online. Which by now is hugely improved since it was ”forked”.
(Besides, the repo in question is still read-only. I have obviously no knowledge how Document Foundation plans to actually proceed with it. They are not very open about it.)
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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 competition is good. Also, the adversary comments means the developers do not understand open source: the system is working as it should, and in open source collaboration is the best way to keep your stronghold.
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@tuxwise @tinker The LibreOffice Online code has not been hidden; if there had been anyone that really wanted to start working on that branch again, they could just have grabbed the repo and started doing something with it. That hasn’t happened. At least not publicly. Instead, all development has been going on in Collabora Online. Which by now is hugely improved since it was ”forked”.
(Besides, the repo in question is still read-only. I have obviously no knowledge how Document Foundation plans to actually proceed with it. They are not very open about it.)
AFAIK, the only publicly available reference that confirms the atticization of LibreOffice Online is in the 2022-11-28 foundation's board of directors meeting minutes:
»conclusion seems to be: not enough activity to keep out of the attic for the moment«
https://www.mail-archive.com/board-discuss@documentfoundation.org/msg06401.html
While technically "anyone" could have forked the repository, as you said, to continue working on LibreOffice Online, de-atticization would have been necessary to enable pushes and pull requests for the original repo.
The criteria for de-atticization seem to have been established by an earlier email voting:
https://www.mail-archive.com/board-discuss@documentfoundation.org/msg05549.html
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/TDF/Policies/Attic#Deatticization_requirements
They are nontrivial, IMHO, and not really encouraging any further contribution to an atticized project.
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@tinker lol please make a weekly #opensource drama update like this.
There's NO drama in Free Open Source Software. Look, there's a sticker so it must be true.
https://www.runningwithbulls.com/2026/03/no-drama-just-linux/
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