So, plenty good to skip MS/Goog, but why what seems like reinventing a lot of work when there are things like LibreOffice/OnlyOffice already out there? Didn't see anything in the article which makes it seem like just a branding effort.
this post was submitted on 29 May 2026
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It’s indeed an OnlyOffice fork. I guess they want to play safe, considering that OO is Russian based.
I didn’t realise OnlyOffice was open source. Any guesses why they forked that instead of LO?
OO is significantly closer to MS office UI wise. As to why they forked it, OO was basically only open source on paper and didn't really accept external contributions. They tried to shut down this fork with some dubious legal claims that are blatantly in conflict with at least the spirit of the open source license as icing on the cake.
It's not just UI wise.
They explain it on their website : their internal logic for a document is based on OOXML logic, while LO is rather based on a ODT-based logic. So compatibility with Office is more straightforward in OO (though we know Microsoft is not quite exactly following the OOXML norm, so still not perfect...)
Is one project clearly more important than the other these days? Given the gargantuan effort that goes into these suites I’m surprised we can talk about two of them credibly and in the context of open source.
It also supports epub files, unlike libreoffice
The intent is to replace MS Office in government use, so it's necessary for the EU to maintain its own codebase. The whole point is reducing government dependence on foreign-controlled software. The only way to accomplish that is to create your own self-controlled fork.
Especially considering the rather... drastic measures they original owners took. Starting a lawsuit when someone tries to fork your open source software is an excellent sign that someone badly needs to create a fork of your "open source" software
Lawsuits are always interesting to verify that Libre licenses can actually preserve software freedom.
The case isn't as crystal clear, as you'd expect, in my opinion. Although I see ONLY OFFICE acting against the spirit of the license.
I don't know much about the legal aspects, but the fact that someone running an open software project will even consider a lawsuit about forking it shows that they're a terrible keeper for an open software project.
There are some cases, were it could be justified. But if you're just trying to be a PITA: Get forked!
Kinda dumb why can't they just improve existing ones like libreoffice for example.
The program itself is a web‑based, open‑source editor for documents, spreadsheets,
They want me to use a government controlled web based office suite?
They'll have to pry my LibreOffice from my cold dead hands!
They want me to use a government controlled web based office suite?
It's even a fork of ONLYOFFICE, a Russian developped office suite, might be relevant info for you, if you want baseless paranoia.
It's an open-source codebase, licensed under AGPLv3. That's pretty neat, if you ask me. And being web-based it fills a bit of a different niche, than Libre Office (and I bet it will be pretty compatible). Nobody's gonna stop you from using that, except the same people who would've formerly chained you to MS Office.
Where do you get the government controlled from? It's developed by European companies, not governments and you can selfhost.
You really should read the article before posting comments.