This is NOT the end of the open-source office suite - The Roll Out

Apr 15, 2026 Comments Roland Taylor (RolandiXor) The Roll Out
Stick around to the end for more of my recent open-source articles.

Even if you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of the “drama” surrounding the major open-source office suites as of late. While the label might seem deserved, it’s also unfortunately glazing over a deeper understanding of what’s actually happening.

First, let me just say from the outset: there’s no reason to panic, and at the same time, we shouldn’t treat this like a spectator sport either. I’m not going to pretend to be a lawyer on this topic, nor am I here to assign halos and horns to those involved. Most importantly, I certainly don’t know every private detail behind the scenes. What I’m interested in here is the long-term trajectory of this current moment: Where are we going from here? Frankly, I believe we’re in a season of realignment, and that realignment has the power to produce good things.

In the case of LibreOffice, The Document Foundation (TDF), and Collabora, it’s important to note that TDF didn’t just wake up one day and decide to cut Collabora loose, at least according to their own framing. Taking all fairness into account, this matter is tied up in non-profit law, procurement, trademark use, and governance arrangements, and has been brewing for years. Granted, Collabora strongly disputes TDF’s framing, citing what can be, to be fair, considered unfair treatment towards its employees.

Put simply, this isn’t a simple “good guys vs. bad guys” situation, and we should steer clear of treating it as such. It’s a long-running dispute that involves a valid discussion over who gets to carry influence within a non-profit project/organization.

On the ONLYOFFICE/Euro-Office side, the conversation has just as quickly been flattened, but it’s worth treating with a bit more nuance. ONLYOFFICE does indeed have an open-source base. Its Docs Community edition is available under the AGPLv3, after all. Simultaneously, Euro-Office isn’t, as far as it’s planned, an empty rebrand. According to its public materials, this fork happened in part because contribution to ONLYOFFICE is effectively discouraged, build instructions are poor, some parts of the codebase are harder to work with, and the mobile side of the project is not open in the way many users would expect. However, ONLYOFFICE claims Euro-Office is violating its licensing terms and attribution requirements. So again, we’re not looking at a simple issue of “right vs wrong”. It’s a clash over the very definition of “open-source,” control, governance, and trust.

To be fair, this all looks a bit bleak, at least on the surface. But what if we’re missing something in all of this?

Tech Insight: Disruption drives innovation

There’s one thing that I think we’ve been missing in the way all of this has been framed. The very open-source philosophy that makes these apps possible was born out of the kinds of disruptions that we’re seeing right now, and history shows us that this is often how new projects are born and old projects revived.

Messy stretches like this force projects to refine themselves both around their goals and their passions. After all, let’s face it: everyone has an angle - and that’s actually okay. Even those who contribute to open-source for the public good often want to make a profit, and that, too, is perfectly okay. Ultimately, when the dust settles, both developers and users get to coalesce around the things that matter most to them.

Where I see this period ending is not in the death and destruction of the office suites we love and depend on. Rather, I believe this time will bring them new life, even if that new life ultimately takes the form of forks, rebrands, or completely new projects altogether. It looks bleak, but it’s the very core of what makes open-source effective as a software philosophy: the fact that there’s no one “owner” of the story.

Where I see this going

LibreOffice may come out of this with a clearer institutional identity and stronger boundaries around what a non-profit foundation should and shouldn’t be doing. This could lead to new life for the project, and in evidence of this, The Document Foundation is indeed working to hire further developers.

As for Collabora, we already know their intentions here: the plan is to focus more heavily on Collabora Office, which is, to be fair, based on LibreOffice under the hood, but has quite a different UI. Personally, I’m glad we’re getting more options in this way, especially using the same underlying technologies. Whether these two will diverge under the hood over time remains to be seen, though.

While Euro-Office is clearly meant for a more narrow goal than the others here, it may still prove to be a competitive option on the world stage, not just in Europe. After all, ONLYOFFICE is clearly quite popular and preferred by many in the open-source community, so another office suite that builds on what made ONLYOFFICE popular may turn out to be quite a success. This doesn’t mean ONLYOFFICE is going anywhere, though. No matter what the controversies or issues some may have with it, it’s already established enough and continuing to grow in popularity.

Granted, none of those outcomes is guaranteed, but ultimately, if history has anything to say about it, I think we’re in for a good time of reorganization followed by fresh life and innovation.

Fragmentation isn’t always a failure

This is what I think is being lost in all the talk of “drama”. This is something I’ve talked about in a previous article I wrote for It’s FOSS. Fragmentation can also be a source of focus, and conflict can create clarity of vision. That’s why I’m not reading this as the death knell of the open-source office. I’m reading this as an unexpected revival.

Practical Tip: Adopt an open-source office suite

This post is a little longer than most, so I’ll keep this one brief. But really, there are two easy ways you can “adopt” an open-source office suite, and both are beneficial in the long run.

  1. Donate: If you can spare the change, donate some money to your favourite open-source office suite. You benefit from a better office suite, even if not overnight, by supporting the developers and infrastructure that make it possible.
  2. Choose a new office suite to use: If you haven’t already, try adopting an open-source office suite into your workflow. You get the benefit of using free software and open formats that won’t get left behind.

Here’s what I’ve published recently:

It’s FOSS

Linux Handbook

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Thanks for reading.
Catch you in the next Roll Out!
Roland Taylor (RolandiXor)

Roland Taylor (RolandiXor)

Bringing the human touch to open-source, design, and creative storytelling, with insights and helpful lessons along the way.

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