LibreOffice developer takes a dig at Euro-Office in new open letter

LibreOffice maintainer The Document Foundation (TDF) has often criticized Microsoft for popularizing the OOXML standard for documents instead of the truly open-source OpenDocument Format (ODF). It has also bashed the Redmond tech giant for putting its own commercial interests over everything else. Now, it has switched targets a bit to aim its sights at the Euro-Office suite launching tomorrow.

For those unaware, Euro-Office is a direct fork of OnlyOffice. It is being marketed as an open-source "European sovereign alternative" to proprietary services like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. It is being developed by a coalition of European companies including Nextcloud, IONOS, and Tuta.

However, TDF has disagreed with this marketing classification in an open letter, saying that it is not the first open-source office suite being developed in Europe, as that honor belongs to OpenOffice.org, back in 2001. In a snide remark, it has emphasized that it feels "compelled" to clarify this because open-source initiatives should highlight transparency, not deception.

It has stated that OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice are the only two "genuine" office suites with codebases in Europe, indicating that Euro-Office is a freeware clone of Microsoft Office that has rebranded itself to masquerade as a symbol of digital sovereignty. TDF has also remarked on the fact that those that are championing digital sovereignty now were very dismissive of LibreOffice and ODF a couple of decades ago:

If we can speak of Digital Sovereignty in Europe today, it is thanks to The Document Foundation and LibreOffice community members at large, who kept the flag of open-source office suites flying when everyone was predicting their demise, and who continued to develop the only truly open and standard format that guarantees Digital Sovereignty, as it provides full user control over content.

The LibreOffice has once again called out Microsoft for its "horrible" OOXML standard which locks in customers. Euro-Office also leverages this OOXML format, which effectively makes it an ally of Microsoft, according to LibreOffice. That said, it is unlikely if TDF's strong words will have any impact on the adoption or marketing of Euro-Office.