Interest in LibreOffice, the open-source alternative to Microsoft Office, is on the rise, with weekly downloads of its software package close to 1 million a week. That’s the highest download number since 2023.
“We estimate around 200 million [LibreOffice] users, but it’s important to note that we respect users’ privacy and don’t track them, so we can’t say for sure,” said Mike Saunders, an open-source advocate and a deputy to the board of directors at The Document Foundation.
LibreOffice users typically want a straightforward interface, Saunders said. “They don’t want subscriptions, and they don’t want AI being ‘helpful’ by poking its nose into their work — it reminds them of Clippy from the bad old days,” he said.
There are genuine use cases for generative AI tools, but many users prefer to opt-in to it and choose when and where to enable it. “We have zero plans to put AI into LibreOffice. But we understand the value of some AI tools and are encouraging developers to create … extensions that use AI in a responsible way,” Saunders said.
I’ve used Libre Office, but unpopular opinion, the formatting sucks. I just pirated word, never paying for that again
The formatting… The formatting that you can easily modify. Sigh. It takes two minutes, my friend.
Anyway, you do you.
I mean, you’re likely right and I probably didn’t give it a good enough shot. I just haven’t had the smoothest experience with it. It took me twice as long to make an ugly Resume on libre than the time it took for me to make a decent one on “free” word
LaTeX is your friend
Yup. I used Libra in college but getting the formatting right took longer than writing my papers. If I had to pay for a subscription to office I wouldn’t, and I don’t, I just prefARR’ my office apps.
I get that… dealing with hanging indentation was annoying.
I’ve used LibreOffice for years, and formatting is a constant struggle. I end up looking online to figure out how to make a small, simple change, and it turns out the only way to do it is by messing with styles, which is way more than I want. The focus on styles is LO’s biggest drawback, IMO.
You’re keeping it entrenched.
Lack of quality replacement is keeping it entrenched. LibreOffice needs to step it up.
Have you tried OnlyOffice?
Sometimes proprietary software is still better than free or open-source software in several ways.
Other times, it’s the other way around, and in some cases, they’re similar, but everyone chooses based on their convenience and needs.
and word is better at formatting?