cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/27426660
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.
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Maybe this will also get more people to use Linux as they get used to the free office. As the market share of Linux grows so to will the developers working on Linux software.
As a long time Google Docs user, I downloaded Libreoffice (again after many years) 6 months ago—and it’s been great! Come on in, the waters fine!
Ngl, i still use a coporate copy of office 2007.
That’s the one I’ve used the most from my time in school and honestly, I’m not sure what else you’d want from a document editor
How does one Excel without FILTER
In my opinion, it’s most important for kids to learn to use these tools above all. Schools need to take the charge on using products like these instead of corporate offerings. Once that takes place, I think (hope) the floodgates will open and that we’ll finally start breaking free of the shackles of these kinds of corporate software.
The fact that I can scroll horizontally with shift+scroll wheel is reason enough to stay with LibreOffice. Why did MS get rid of that? Almost every other Windows app does this except their shitty Office products.
LibreOffice is great. And it’s free.
Also piracy is a great alternative to paying subscription fees, and it’s not terribly difficult to do.
It’s not even really worth it to pirate. Just stop using it if you don’t absolutely need it.
Boy Star Division has certainly come a long way since 1985.
Ah edit: Star Office of course. I accidentally shared the name of the StartWriter company. I remember StarOffice 3.0 on Solaris.
Shoutout to @[email protected] who gave the recommendation to enable tabbed ribbon style, making the UI more familiar for people coming from MS Office products.
