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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My friend, FOSS has been readily available for more than a decade. Whether it's LibreOffice or the GIMP or VLC or whatever, these are very old pieces of software.
It's not taking off now. It already did. But now you personally are noticing.
Well, I've been using this software forever, I'm saying now, normal folks, I see in the light.
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Give Linux a whole, separate drive and then there's no concern about Windows doing anything.
Yeah is that completely safe? I'm really tempted to try out Mint and I have an old M2 from my previous machine I could format and use for it. The PC is my work/editing station though so can't afford any risk. I can't really make the switch since I'm still dependent on LR+PS (Adobe...) but most of my other software should work, and I've just always wanted to get into Linux but not sure if it'll actually benefit me and my work or if it's just gonna cause me even more hassle than windows currently does.
I'm familiar with messing around in the BIOS, changing boot priority and formatting stuff and whatnot.
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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. Thatâs the highest download number since 2023.
âWe estimate around 200 million [LibreOffice] users, but itâs important to note that we respect usersâ privacy and donât track them, so we canât say for sure,â 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. âThey donât want subscriptions, and they donât want AI being âhelpfulâ by poking its nose into their work â it reminds them of Clippy from the bad old days,â 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. âWe 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,â Saunders said.
European countries should adopt linux and these alternatives instead of paying for windows and Microsoft. Much more private too.
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Yeah is that completely safe? I'm really tempted to try out Mint and I have an old M2 from my previous machine I could format and use for it. The PC is my work/editing station though so can't afford any risk. I can't really make the switch since I'm still dependent on LR+PS (Adobe...) but most of my other software should work, and I've just always wanted to get into Linux but not sure if it'll actually benefit me and my work or if it's just gonna cause me even more hassle than windows currently does.
I'm familiar with messing around in the BIOS, changing boot priority and formatting stuff and whatnot.
As long as you're confident in being able to distinguish between the two drives (i.e. they have different capacities), you're good.
The main issue people run into w/ a dual boot setup is Windows clobbering the Linux boot loader (the thing that lets you pick whether to boot into Windows or Linux) and users not knowing how to reinstall it. It will only do that on the drive it's installed to, so if Linux is on a separate drive altogether, you'll be fine. I recommend going into the BIOS settings and switching the default boot to your Linux drive, and Linux should detect the Windows installation and give you the option to boot into either one.
LR+PS (AdobeâŚ)
This is probably going to be an issue for you, since neither has a direct replacement on Linux. However, in the worst case scenario (you hate Linux and want to nuke it from orbit), you just need to switch the boot order back in your BIOS.
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A backdoor isn't a flaw?
Source? Afaik there's no backdoor in their cryptography, except maybe if using the cloud to back up your chats?
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How about this: I'll offer installation support and free tech support for three months to the first 20 people that ask. Free of charge. I only have three conditions:
- You pick from a handful of distros I'm willing to support - Debian, Fedora, openSUSE Leap
- You donate any amount of money to any FOSS project or contribute something to a FOSS project
- I reserve the right to not help get certain Windows software working, like anything Adobe
Caveat number 3 is the reason I'm still on windows, I take it that's still not an option then.
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European countries should adopt linux and these alternatives instead of paying for windows and Microsoft. Much more private too.
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As long as you're confident in being able to distinguish between the two drives (i.e. they have different capacities), you're good.
The main issue people run into w/ a dual boot setup is Windows clobbering the Linux boot loader (the thing that lets you pick whether to boot into Windows or Linux) and users not knowing how to reinstall it. It will only do that on the drive it's installed to, so if Linux is on a separate drive altogether, you'll be fine. I recommend going into the BIOS settings and switching the default boot to your Linux drive, and Linux should detect the Windows installation and give you the option to boot into either one.
LR+PS (AdobeâŚ)
This is probably going to be an issue for you, since neither has a direct replacement on Linux. However, in the worst case scenario (you hate Linux and want to nuke it from orbit), you just need to switch the boot order back in your BIOS.
Right that sounds reasonable then. Switching boot order is a piece of cake and the Linux drive would be the only 128gb one in the whole array (I have a lot of drives, including a setup with stablebit drivepool, will that work?). After I'm done with this current gig in a couple days I should have a small window of free time, maybe I'll finally get to it!
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Which means you have to check each and every formula and we all now how difficult it is to read and understand excel formulas we didn't write ourselves....
I find the ones I write myself hard enough to parse after 15 minutes of writing them.
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Yeah! To me LibreOffice just looks dated and, to be honest, shit. OnlyOffice has a much cleaner interface.
It also isn't still carrying around 30 years of Java baggage from when it was Sun StarOffice, and everything inbetween.
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Here are a couple I like:
Thanks! I'm already in [email protected]
great place! -
It's a bit easier if you have a separate drive that Linux can own.
I was reading about this solution. My main laptop is a MacBook Air with M2 so I don't think I can run any version of Linux on it. I have an old windows laptop I'm thinking about trying it on.
Would Linux still run fine on an older laptop?
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Caveat number 3 is the reason I'm still on windows, I take it that's still not an option then.
Maybe it is, idk, but if it works it'll be a pain. If people are willing to switch software, I'm willing to help them.
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I was reading about this solution. My main laptop is a MacBook Air with M2 so I don't think I can run any version of Linux on it. I have an old windows laptop I'm thinking about trying it on.
Would Linux still run fine on an older laptop?
Linux absolutely works well on old hardware. I don't know what your definition of "older" is, but I still use my laptop from 2017.
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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. Thatâs the highest download number since 2023.
âWe estimate around 200 million [LibreOffice] users, but itâs important to note that we respect usersâ privacy and donât track them, so we canât say for sure,â 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. âThey donât want subscriptions, and they donât want AI being âhelpfulâ by poking its nose into their work â it reminds them of Clippy from the bad old days,â 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. âWe 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,â Saunders said.
I managed to get my father in law to fully switch to libreoffice, which is in itself a great achievement, as heâs almost 70 and he used to be an msoffice user for most of his adult professional life.
Libreoffice is just great and Europe should start backing and using more open source, non greedy corporate backed projects.
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Sure, to avoid costs...
They really don't see the connection with the trade war, buy european movement, boycott america movement, trump presidency in general... Really? Or just the editor told them not to mention it?
Came here to say this. The headline is misleading, the costs have been there for years. The thing that has changed are millions of Europeans and Canadians looking for American alternatives.
There was another article I saw related to a massive drop (over 70%!) in bookings between Canada and the US. It didnât mention the reason for the drop in bookings. Not sure why the media is so reluctant to cover the massive American boycotts that are underway at the moment, especially on articles covering the impact.
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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. Thatâs the highest download number since 2023.
âWe estimate around 200 million [LibreOffice] users, but itâs important to note that we respect usersâ privacy and donât track them, so we canât say for sure,â 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. âThey donât want subscriptions, and they donât want AI being âhelpfulâ by poking its nose into their work â it reminds them of Clippy from the bad old days,â 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. âWe 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,â Saunders said.
See it wasn't that hard:
- Common sense ?
IDGAF - Freedom ? IDGAF
- Privacy ? IDGAF
- Subscription ?
Let's crack this software or find something free instead
- Common sense ?
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My biggest pet peeve is since it's a suite rather than separate programs, there's only one path for saving files that's saved. So you can't have Writer save to a different location from Calc automatically.
As someone with a lot of files and folders, and a hatred of having to click around too much, this annoys the shit out of me. But I don't think there's any way around it because of how the program was created. It's literally the one thing keeping me from switching.
You can request features on their website! It's called enhancement request, go and contribute
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Some useless nonsense, like generative AI.
This is a very ignorant and prejudiced take.
AI in Excel is an amazing feature that will help TONNES of people do what they never could It can design tables and write (but not insert) advanced formulas for the user.
Sure, you could say "just be an Excel expert", but - for example - my daily work is nowhere near Excel. Learning its advanced features would be a 100% waste of time, just to be able to prep a fancy chart every couple of years. So, instead, I can just ask Copilot to do that fancy thing for me, instead of wasting hours online, trying to figure out XLOOKUP, or some such.
As someone who has taught many children how to use excel, the new AI features make using it easier but teaching and learning harder. A lot of stuff now happens automagically, and that makes it harder to see the reasons and structures and language of how it is meant to work. So doing basic stuff is now trivially easy, but learning to become competent enough to do more creative and advanced stuff is more difficult.
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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. Thatâs the highest download number since 2023.
âWe estimate around 200 million [LibreOffice] users, but itâs important to note that we respect usersâ privacy and donât track them, so we canât say for sure,â 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. âThey donât want subscriptions, and they donât want AI being âhelpfulâ by poking its nose into their work â it reminds them of Clippy from the bad old days,â 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. âWe 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,â Saunders said.
FOSS software will win eventually. It may take time, but if good FOSS software is being built by enthusiasts then a time will come where proprietary software fucks up. And when it does, FOSS is ready to take it's place. And as soon as FOSS has become a standard in some field, why would there ever be a need to go back to proprietary?
