LibreOffice Accuses Euro-Office of Aiding Microsoft's Lock-in Strategy
The Document Foundation, creators of LibreOffice, has criticized Euro-Office, a new European-developed office suite. Italo Vignoli of The Document Foundation stated Euro-Office's claims of pioneering open-source sovereignty are misleading, arguing it actually supports Microsoft's proprietary strategy. Euro-Office, a fork of OnlyOffice, aims to offer a European alternative to US software.
Key points
- The Document Foundation, represented by founding member Italo Vignoli, criticized the newly launched Euro-Office.
- Vignoli accused Euro-Office of misleadingly claiming to be the first sovereign European open-source office suite.
- He argued Euro-Office actually aids Microsoft's content lock-in strategy, despite its sovereign positioning.
- Euro-Office is a fork of OnlyOffice, developed by Nextcloud and Ionos, targeting European alternatives to US software.
- The Document Foundation stated OpenOffice.org (2001) and LibreOffice (2010) are earlier open-source European contributions.
The Document Foundation (TDF), the organization behind the open-source office suite LibreOffice, has publicly challenged the narrative surrounding Euro-Office, a new productivity suite marketed as a sovereign European alternative to Microsoft Office. Italo Vignoli, a TDF founding member, released an open letter on Monday refuting Euro-Office's claims of being the first open-source office suite developed in Europe.
Vignoli stated that Euro-Office's positioning inadvertently supports Microsoft's proprietary approach by creating confusion around genuine open-source sovereignty. He highlighted that OpenOffice.org, released in 2001, and LibreOffice, forked in 2010, represent earlier significant European contributions to the open-source office suite market. Euro-Office, unveiled in April by German cloud company Nextcloud and hosting provider Ionos, is a fork of the OnlyOffice productivity suite, aiming to provide organizations with a European-controlled option.
The launch of Euro-Office had already drawn criticism from the original developers of OnlyOffice. The dispute underscores ongoing tensions in the European tech sector regarding digital sovereignty and the definition and promotion of open-source software as alternatives to dominant US technology vendors.
Sources
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