Euro-Office Exposed by LibreOffice: It Is Not the First European Open Source Suite

After ONLYOFFICE

The Document Foundation (TDF), the organization that has developed and maintains LibreOffice, has also turned the spotlight on the newly launched Euro-Office suite. Through an open letter, TDF raised strong criticisms, challenging the narrative of a 'sovereign European alternative' that accompanies the new product, accusing it of opportunism and a lack of genuine technological independence.

What is Euro-Office?

Euro-Office was born as a direct fork of OnlyOffice, the result of collaboration among a coalition of European companies including Nextcloud, IONOS, and Tuta, as well as Eurostack, XWiki, OpenProject, Soverin, Abilian, and BTactic. Its stated mission is to offer an open-source solution, governed in Europe, capable of competing with giants like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, particularly aimed at public authorities, educational systems, and companies looking to move away from U.S. cloud services.

TDF's Accusations Against Euro-Office

The attack by TDF was articulated on multiple fronts. The organization immediately clarified that Euro-Office is not at all the first open-source office suite with roots in the Old Continent. This honor, TDF reminded, goes to OpenOffice.org, active since 2001, and then to LibreOffice itself. The clarification, TDF asserted, was made 'necessary' to promote transparency and counter what it called 'deception' in the marketing of the new competitor.

TDF's words became even harsher when it described Euro-Office as a 'freeware clone of Microsoft Office', a product that was 'renamed for pure opportunism' to ride the media wave of digital sovereignty. LibreOffice emphasized that only suites like LibreOffice and StarOffice/OpenOffice.org can boast a genuinely European codebase and development.

However, the heart of The Document Foundation's criticism revolved around document standards. Euro-Office, in fact, chose to use Microsoft’s proprietary OOXML format. TDF reiterated its long-standing position against OOXML, labeling it a 'horrible' standard that locks customers into that technology and prevents them from having full control over their content. The organization countered this with the OpenDocument Format (ODF), an open standard promoted by LibreOffice, considered the only one to ensure true digital sovereignty. For TDF, Euro-Office's adoption of OOXML effectively makes it an 'ally' of Microsoft's strategy, undermining the freedom of European users.

Finally, TDF made a jab at the promoters of Euro-Office, reminding how many of those today championing digital sovereignty were 'scornful' towards LibreOffice and ODF just a couple of decades ago. This, TDF argued, highlights a certain historical inconsistency in the positions.

Although Euro-Office developers have admitted that their user interface will be 'almost identical' to that of Microsoft Office (a move clearly aimed at attracting users from the Redmond ecosystem), The Document Foundation concluded that, contrary to promises, Euro-Office does not strengthen European digital sovereignty at all. On the contrary, the suite would contribute to 'building and strengthening Microsoft's strategy' against the freedom of European users to control and manage their content.