LibreOffice website screenshot
The computer industry is undergoing profound changes. The, for many, unexpected irruption of Artificial Intelligence in everyday use triggered new possibilities and the trend to transform almost all applications to the Software as a Service modality seems unstoppable. In it previous article we were wondering if one of the most emblematic open source titles is going to rise to the occasion and, in this we will talk more about the LibreOffice challenge.
During years, the great flaw of free and open source software is that it became more interested in militancy than in writing code. Too much time was wasted criticizing the flaws of proprietary software instead of focusing on creating its own virtues beyond the 4 freedoms of free software or open source principles.
As a result, we users had to settle for having the news months or years late. which were standard in proprietary versions.
More about the LibreOffice challenge
In response to a reader's question, I have absolutely nothing against LibreOffice. The work The Document Foundation does to bring about a commercial grade open source office suite (which OpenOffice never was). Its reverse engineering work to achieve compatibility with discontinued file formats is also not negligible.
However, it still does not have a mobile version (just a viewer) and the repository of the online version is frozen. They are also unable to get saving documents to Google Drive to work.
Paradigm shift
When Microsoft's reign in the software industry seemed set in stone, Google and Apple kicked the sack. For one, mobile devices are no longer more than a tool for making phone calls or talking on the phone. On the other hand, Google Docs negated the need for thousands of students and small businesses to hack Microsoft Office.
Microsoft's response was not successful from the point of view of imposing its own mobile operating system, although its Android and iOS apps are great. Its own version of the office suite in the cloud, which works together with the desktop version, managed to take market share from the Google tool.
The war goes one step further. A few years ago Google launched Chromebooks, a series of devices that do not need an installed operating system, just a browser that connects to the cloud and allows you to use all Google applications.
Internal Microsoft documents were recently released as evidence in a trial. According to those papers, the firm has plans to offer consumers who do not have computers compatible with Windows 11 to use a version in the cloud. This literally means that you will be able to use Windows and its applications on any computer.
In addition to the integration with Artificial Intelligence tools, the idea is that when you log in to your computer, what opens and what you see is the cloud session. The experience will be the same no matter what you use or where you are.
The firm recently introduced Copilot, a Windows 11 assistant based on Artificial Intelligence thatue can summarize the content we see in the applications we run, explain it, and even modify it.
There are readers who have told me several times that they do not care what proprietary software companies do and that I and the rest of the users should be satisfied with what they give us, being happy that the four freedoms or the principles of software are respected. free.
But why?
The only obstacle for free software and open source tools to have the latest features and, in fact, to be the first to have them it's that more time is spent on infighting than on development.
I would love to be able to use LibreOffice on any device without having to install it in each of them or save a portable version on a flash drive. The first time you try the dictation or transcription functions that other office suites have, it becomes addictive and, not to mention, being able to consult references or generate a custom image by AI without having to leave the application.