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 You say that the Document Foundation has "resumed LibreOffice Online", can you find a single commit done to it since they "resumed", though?
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@tinker for these of us who hadn’t followed it:
- where does OnlyOffice come from?
- what does Collabora do, and what’s their (now ex?) relationship to TDF?
- TDF are those who forked LibreOffice off OpenOffice? (which itself is StarOffice IIRC?)
- what is this "Online" version? where comes it from? any relationship other than the name to the version without it?
My point of knowledge is basically, there’s Lotus Smartsuite and Softmaker Office, and OOo is now LO in distros, and I had to suffer through Winword 97 during apprenticeship.
@mirabilos @tinker Smartsuite… hmm how does that relate to 1-2-3?
-
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 have been using LibreOffice since they forked from OpenOffice and had no idea OnlyOffice was actually being used by anyone, no offense meant. I've never been impressed with Collabora and Nextcloud in general always had an off vibe and always looks like they are trying to do way too much at once. In short, I'm betting on LibreOffice with the online implementation to come out on top, but I look forward to the diversity of development that could come out of this. Then again, in real work environments where microshits online suite is already paid for or google docs are allowed, everyone I engage with still just emails documents or shares them on a cloud drive after making local edits, so maybe this is a fight over a solution still looking for a problem. -
@mirabilos @tinker Smartsuite… hmm how does that relate to 1-2-3?
-
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/
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/
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@rickf @tinker correct. There are basically 3 alternatives to MS Office in the #opensource market atm:
1. Nextcloud based: think OpenDesk, Euro-Office, the Good Cloud, office.eu, IONOS and many others. Choice of Collabora or OnlyOffice. Some with Nextcloud Talk, others like Opendesk with OpenTalk.
2. LaSuite based: the French gov suite, via Mosa.cloud, lasuite.coop, Linagora and Openburo.eu as a collective. Self built, very lean apps.
3. Alternative offering: like Proton with their own suite. -
@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.
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@mirabilos @tinker “"1-2-3" symbolizes the software's three modules: spreadsheet, business graphics and database (replacing the originally planned word processor).” Ah thats what i had in mind then. Never used it.
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@tinker They all are running up to be the preference platform for sovereign offfice application.
Just a subtle note: someone is using OOXML (which has origin in no open or documented standard), others at least have roots in ODF (which is open, documented, and ISO standard).
Who will get more credit, and how, is a matter of weight in the same American lobbyists. Prove me wrong and I'll be happier. -
@tinker You say that the Document Foundation has "resumed LibreOffice Online", can you find a single commit done to it since they "resumed", though?
@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).
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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 - drama requires a bit over the top.
But yeah, you're absolutely correct. We'll see if it pans out.
-
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@infosec.exchange wait until you hear about the drama with Libbie
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@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.
@tautology @rickf @tinker I will say, it's getting super annoying to be approached weekly by companies that sell "THE sovereign office suite, fully EU, for only €€€ per year, etc" and it's literally just Nextcloud and Collabora.
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@mirabilos Oh, I had not thought about Lotus Smartsuite and WordPro in a long, long time. I wrote all of my university papers in WordPro. Moving to Microsoft Word when I got an office job was disappointing.
I think I still have the install CD in a binder somewhere ...
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@mirabilos@toot.mirbsd.org @tinker@infosec.exchange @zaphodb@twitter.resolvt.net
Oh, they even had their own "PowerPoint" — Lotus Freelance Graphics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Lotus_Freelance_Graphics
I remember running into this software as a young kid, I had no idea what presentations are and I was like: "What is this?! Is it an image editor like PaintBrush? Even if it is, it's a very weird one!" 🤪
Only years later it all started making sense to me.
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@tautology @rickf @tinker I will say, it's getting super annoying to be approached weekly by companies that sell "THE sovereign office suite, fully EU, for only €€€ per year, etc" and it's literally just Nextcloud and Collabora.
Indeed. As I said, and at the risk of being overly-cynical, it's all about the money. But deAmericanizing one's tech stack is a sound plan, regardless. #resiliency #autonomy #privacy
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@tinker a true drama, I just wonder the motivation behind the fork while having an option to contribute.
@ibs3d @tinker
> I just wonder the motivation behind the fork
€7bn in first year of a march for "EU digital sovergeinty".EU countries are on the edge* to pass 5-10% of what EU businesses annually pay to the US corpos and shovel those money at open-source businesses. The smell of bucks made this fork fountain going now.
*still gossips. It of course still can be a call to the US companies who might be willing to ensure eucrooks and their families wellbeing.
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@tarabara @RachelThornSub
(I use and support LibreOffice a lot and would hope it would be easier to clamp down on that sort of mentality - which is not unique to LibreOffice but is absolutely their responsibility to address within their own projects)@tinker @tarabara The post that sent me into a rage is this one:
https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/autofill-function-for-furigana-when-typing-in-japanese/48874
A "leader" on the forums couldn't be bothered to Read the Fucking Question, yet felt free to insult the OP and offer a useless "solution." When the OP very politely pointed out that gabix was not offering a solution to the question that was actually asked, gabix just ignored it on no doubt moved on to terrorize some other noob. -
Indeed. As I said, and at the risk of being overly-cynical, it's all about the money. But deAmericanizing one's tech stack is a sound plan, regardless. #resiliency #autonomy #privacy
@rickf @tautology @tinker true, and don't get me wrong, we love Nextcloud <3. What I'm less impressed by is businesses selling NC as their own amazing invention.
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@tinker And Proton now, too! Theirs may be proprietary - I haven't been able to track down what it may have been forked from, at any rate.
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