this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2025
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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 (www.computerworld.com)
submitted 6 days ago by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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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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[–] hornedfiend@sopuli.xyz 13 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I managed to get my father in law to fully switch to libreoffice, which is in itself a great achievement, as he’s 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.

[–] Aimeeloulm@feddit.uk 5 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Hi, I hope you don't mind me asking how you achieved this, my father is 79 and has Parkinsons with hearing problems, he's deaf in one ear and partially in other ear, so he has personality issues, really can be stubborn and difficult to deal with, been having trouble getting him away from Microsoft products like Windows or Office, any ideas or advice be really helpful and appreciated, ty :o)

[–] shield_87@lemmy.eco.br 1 points 1 day ago

I mean, I'm not the person you asked for tips, but I wanted to drop my two cents.

If he has many health issues, asking him to switch software at his age will be challenging, and requires a lot of patience. You could start wanting to show him with excitement, like, showing how cool it can be to try out something new. He might get easily overwhelmed if things work differently than what he's used to, so try to guide him in that.

but yeah, be very patient with him. I'm sure he's got a lot on his plate already.

Just keep making sure he's getting the medical treatment he needs.

I wish your family the best!

[–] hornedfiend@sopuli.xyz 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Well, I guess there is no universal answer and it obviously can’t be some generic method of achieving this,but what I did was to explain in detail how MsOffice is basically just a standard because people made it so out of convenience and lack of true alternatives and it’s not cheap, plus whatever is made freely available by a corporation means it’s actually you paying with your data for it.

It’s a process and you’d have to convince him to at least allow you to show them side by side or explain how it’s always up to date and you don’t have to throw money at it every x years just because it’s called MsOffice202x, because the benefits of upgrading are not worth the money.

It ain’t easy, I know… but I am also providing support myself when requested, which can become a headache fast, especially with “difficult” people.

[–] Aimeeloulm@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

Thanks for your reply, some very good advice which has given me some ideas, was thinking of combining this with either upgrades for his current computer or maybe a new system, hopefully I can get around his stubborn side, with is old phone I took it and replaced with a new one so he had no choice...lol....maybe is time to do something similar with his computer XD

His current computer is HP AIO, has Intel Pentium J3710 cpu, 4Gb of DDR3L-1600 ram and 1Tb eco/green Toshiba hdd, so became really sluggish with Windows, I got a bit more out of it recently but still slow, had to rip out Edge browser files/folders as it was pegging the hdd to 100%.....gah....I hate Windows, he doesn't use Edge or Outlook, always Firefox and Thunderbird, should make moving to Linux easier through :o)