Today, 19 September, is Software Freedom Day, a special day that the free software community celebrates every year on the third Saturday in September all over the world.
It is a good opportunity to look at LibreOffice from a perspective that is often taken for granted: not what the software does, but what it allows users to do and what it does not impose on them.
Free software is defined by four freedoms. LibreOffice guarantees all of them, and from these derives a range of other freedoms that are important for anyone writing a letter, preparing a budget or presenting a project.
The four freedoms
LibreOffice is distributed under the Mozilla Public Licence 2.0, which guarantees every user the four freedoms that define free software:
- the freedom to run the programme for any purpose, without any restrictions whatsoever;
- the freedom to study how the programme works, thanks to the availability of the source code;
- the freedom to modify the programme to suit one’s own needs, both at an individual and an organisational level;
- the freedom to redistribute copies of the software, including modified ones, so that other users may also benefit from its advantages.
The freedom to own your own documents
A document belongs to its author only if the format in which it is saved does not belong to someone else. LibreOffice uses the Open Document Format (ODF) as its native format: an ISO/IEC standard, developed at OASIS through a transparent, fully documented process, which no single company can control or modify unilaterally.
This means that a document saved today in ODF format will still be readable in twenty years’ time, either with LibreOffice or with other software that implements the standard. For private individuals, it is a matter of practicality. For public authorities, which have a duty to preserve documents and to communicate with citizens without forcing them to purchase specific software, it is a matter of principle.
The freedom to keep your data private
LibreOffice does not collect data on its operation, and does not require you to create an account. Documents are created, edited and saved on the user’s computer, and remain there unless the user decides otherwise. There is no mandatory link to a cloud service, and no user profile is created on a remote server.
The freedom to work without distractions
LibreOffice does not display adverts and does not prompt users to take out a subscription or sign up for a premium plan. The interface is designed to support users’ work, not to sell additional services.
The freedom to decide on artificial intelligence
LibreOffice does not include any generative AI features. Users who need them can add them via extensions and choose which service to use, including locally running models, whilst users who do not need them do not have to miss out on anything, as there is nothing to miss out on.
The freedom to choose platform and language
LibreOffice runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and documents transfer seamlessly between systems. The user interface is available in 120 languages, thanks to the work of volunteer translators, including some languages overlooked by commercial software providers. For speakers of those languages, LibreOffice is the only office suite available.
The freedom from licence fees and vendor lock-in
LibreOffice can be used freely – and therefore at no cost – by individuals, businesses and public authorities. There are no subscriptions to take out or renew, and no mandatory updates: users decide when to upgrade to a new version. Furthermore, documents in ODF format can be transferred to any other software without the need for conversion.
The freedom to choose support
Organisations requiring long-term professional support, service level agreements or bespoke developments can purchase these from companies within the LibreOffice ecosystem, which offer enterprise versions of LibreOffice and related professional services. There is complete freedom of choice regarding providers, and changing providers does not require a change of software or document format.
The freedom to participate
LibreOffice is developed by a global community. Anyone can contribute, and not just by writing code: translation, quality assurance, documentation, design, marketing and user support are all activities carried out by volunteers. And those who do not have the time to contribute can support the project with a donation, which helps to maintain its independence.
How to celebrate Software Freedom Day
The simplest way to celebrate Software Freedom Day is to exercise these freedoms: download LibreOffice, save your documents in ODF and share the software with anyone who might need it. And if you’d like to do more, you can find out how to get involved or make a donation to The Document Foundation.
Download: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/
Get involved: https://www.libreoffice.org/improve-it/
Donate: https://www.libreoffice.org/donate/