LibreOffice downloads on the rise as users look to avoid subscription costs | The free open-source Microsoft Office alternative is being downloaded by nearly 1 million users a week
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people who don’t really do tech besides the very basics
i've been building my own PCs since the 90s and have basic hardware and network certs, and want to try linux, but it seems daunting to me
If you've installed fresh Windows off a usb then process is the same for Linux, and you don't really need to mess with terminal by just using the Microsoft Store equivalent on the Linux distro you choose. I didn't find it too different from using Windows or MacOS. I was able to download all my usual programs like Steam and Firefox off the Linux appstore.
But if I had to install a program outside of the Linux store they usually came as a sh or deb file.
If it was deb I'd open terminal where the deb file was and type in
sudo dpkg -i filename.debAnd if sh I'd open terminal where the sh file was and type in
sh ./name_of_file.shThat's pretty much the only terminal commands I've needed to know to get started.
When it came to drivers I was lucky enough to have it be pretty much handle everything for me on my old laptop out the box. Main reason I had tried Linux was because Windows ran slow on it, and also an old scanner I had didn't have drivers that supported it anymore. But, on Linux the scanner just worked.
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I have to wonder what the October end of life for Windows 10 will bring in that regard.
Computers are expensive. Some people will buy something new, others won’t be able. That crowd has 2 options of finding a new OS or using one that’s no longer supported.
I think you are wildly underestimating the people who will say fuck it and keep rolling with 10. For that matter, how about the people who don't even realize it's EOL? Sure, they'll get warnings, which they'll promptly ignore.
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I'm afraid to find out how many people are still downloading OpenOffice, thinking it's the same software they heard about back in 2010.
What happened to Openoffice?
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Is it not the same software they heard about in 2010?
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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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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 must be one of them. In the last couple of weeks I'm transitioning my apps and services to open source and EU based.
I switched from Windows to CachyOS, switched my emails, switched browser, degoogled my phone, deleted FB and X and many more.It feels so refreshing and free.
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Holy shit 1mill a week? That’s huge
Yeah I’m wondering for how many weeks.
And then how many millions of ms office users there are? (Or billions…)
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people who don’t really do tech besides the very basics
i've been building my own PCs since the 90s and have basic hardware and network certs, and want to try linux, but it seems daunting to me
The hardest part is picking a username and seeing what the name of the app store is on the distro
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Syncthing has been so helpful in making me move away from cloud based options. And to think only reason I found out about it and gave it a shot was because I was trying to figure out how to easily sync my non Steam game save files between my Desktop and my Steam Deck. It's been invaluable since then.
Donate if you regularly use Syncthing. Help close the causal loop.
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It's finally (your) Year of the Linux Desktop!
Soon (tm)
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Linux needs to sound a lot less intimidating for people who don’t really do tech besides the very basics.
I think the biggest factor in that is getting tutorials and such out there that focus on the basics, written by people who mainly do things on Linux using the basics and GUI tools. So much of the Linux content out there is focused on power users and even the tutorials for new users tend to be written by those power users who may have been techs focused before switching and forget or just don't know how basic they really have to get to not make people feel intimidated.
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What happened to Openoffice?
Oracle bought and ratfucked it.
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What happened to Openoffice?
Oracle happened to it
All the devs went to LibreOffice after that
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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.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/13/libreoffice_wasm_zetaoffice/
Native Realtime collaboration on documents and spreadsheets is the last feature holding us back from switching in business environments.
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Donate if you regularly use Syncthing. Help close the causal loop.
LibreOffice too for that matter. Kick 'em a few bucks if you can spare it.
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Yeah I’m wondering for how many weeks.
And then how many millions of ms office users there are? (Or billions…)
I mean does it matter? Any open source program competing with THE established office suite that literally everyone learns getting that kind of adoption is insane
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I must be one of them. In the last couple of weeks I'm transitioning my apps and services to open source and EU based.
I switched from Windows to CachyOS, switched my emails, switched browser, degoogled my phone, deleted FB and X and many more.It feels so refreshing and free.
That is allot of stuff in a short time. Nice!
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I must be one of them. In the last couple of weeks I'm transitioning my apps and services to open source and EU based.
I switched from Windows to CachyOS, switched my emails, switched browser, degoogled my phone, deleted FB and X and many more.It feels so refreshing and free.
Good job! Welcome to Beltalowda
Next up: join the OPA! -
I mean does it matter? Any open source program competing with THE established office suite that literally everyone learns getting that kind of adoption is insane
Oh it’s great news either way. I’d just be curious about the numbers.
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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.
Nice. Maybe now Microsoft will respond by
offering non-subscription optionsinventing a new proprietary industry-standard file format so their bloated ransomware remains mandatory.
