The Document Foundation opens LibreOffice Certification for Migrations and Trainings to all project volunteers, to members of not-for-profit bodies, and to individuals of proven competence

LibreOffice Certification represents a business opportunity for value added resellers, based on the proposition of consultancy and training services

Berlin, December 27, 2016 – Effective from January 1st, 2017, access to LibreOffice Certification will be extended to volunteers active at global and local levels, members of not-for-profit bodies sitting in the Advisory Board (namely, FSF, FSFE, Gnome Foundation and KDE), and for individuals whose competence and commitment are demonstrated by facts (successful migrations and trainings). In addition, Members of the Certification Committee can invite people to apply for certification, even if they do not belong to the approved categories, based on their direct relation, and to the competence and commitment of these individuals.

So far, LibreOffice Certification was limited to TDF Members who were active on a regular basis, in order to test the process with candidates already acquainted with the project.

In any case, every individual who applies will have to go through the same certification process, based on a first analysis of pre-requisites and documents, a second optional written questionnaire, and a third face-to-face discussion with the Certification Committee. The second optional written questionnaire is at the sole discretion of the Certification Committee.

“LibreOffice Certification for Migrations and Trainings has been received in a different way in different geographies. In Italy, where it has been more successful, the availability of certified professionals has triggered a number of migrations in public administrations and enterprises”, says Italo Vignoli, Chairman of the Certification Committee.

Lothar Becker, Eliane Domingos de Sousa, Sophie Gautier, Olivier Hallot, Thomas Krumbein, Marina Latini, Gustavo Pacheco and Italo Vignoli have been renewed as members of the Certification Committee. In addition, Franklin Weng – a certified professional from Taiwan – has been added to the Certification Committee, with the objective of helping to increase the number of LibreOffice certified professionals in Asia.

The LibreOffice Certification website is available at the following link: http://www.documentfoundation.org/certification/program/.

Announcement of LibreOffice 5.2.3

noun_21602_ccBerlin, November 3, 2016 – The Document Foundation (TDF) announces the availability of LibreOffice 5.2.3 “fresh”, the third minor release of the LibreOffice 5.2 family, representing the bleeding edge in term of features and as such targeted at technology enthusiasts, early adopters and power users.

For all other users and especially for enterprise deployments, TDF suggests LibreOffice 5.1.6still”, with the backing of professional support by certified people (a list is available at: http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/professional-support/).

People interested in technical details about the release can access the change log here: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.2.3/RC1 (fixed in RC1), https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.2.3/RC2 (fixed in RC2), and https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.2.3/RC3 (fixed in RC3).

Road to LibreOffice 5.3

With the availability of the LibreOffice 5.3 Alpha, the project has entered the road to LibreOffice 5.3, which will be announced at the end of January 2017. The next step in the process will be the release of LibreOffice 5.3 Beta around the end of November, and the announcement of the user interface concept.

Users can start learning about the new exciting features on LibreOffice 5.3 Release Notes page (https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/5.3). The page will be updated for the next month, when the feature set will be frozen for the final quality assurance activity and the preparation of launch materials.

Download LibreOffice

LibreOffice 5.2.3 is immediately available for download from the following link: http://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-fresh/.

LibreOffice users, free software advocates and community members can support The Document Foundation with a donation at http://donate.libreoffice.org.

Several companies sitting in TDF Advisory Board (http://www.documentfoundation.org/governance/advisory-board/) are providing either value added Long Term Supported versions of LibreOffice or consultancy services for migrations and trainings, based on best practices distilled by The Document Foundation.

LibreOffice 5.1.6 available for download

noun_666442_ccBerlin, October 27, 2016 – The Document Foundation (TDF) announces LibreOffice 5.1.6, the sixth minor release of the LibreOffice 5.1 family launched in January 2016, targeted at individual users and enterprise deployments. Users of previous LibreOffice releases should start planning the update to the new version.

For enterprise deployments, The Document Foundation suggests the backing of professional support by certified developers, migrators and trainers (the full list is available at: http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/professional-support/).

People interested in technical details about the release can access the change log here: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.1.6/RC1 (fixed in RC1) and https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.1.6/RC2 (fixed in RC2).

Download LibreOffice

LibreOffice 5.1.6 is immediately available for download from the following link: http://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-still/.

LibreOffice users, free software advocates and community members can support The Document Foundation with a donation at http://donate.libreoffice.org.

Several companies sitting on TDF Advisory Board (http://www.documentfoundation.org/governance/advisory-board/) are providing either value added Long Term Supported versions of LibreOffice or consultancy services for migrations and trainings, based on best practices detailed by The Document Foundation.

LibreOffice 5.2.2 available for download

birthday_banner_smallBerlin, September 29, 2016 – Just one day after the project 6th anniversary (https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2016/09/28/happy-6th-birthday-libreoffice/), The Document Foundation (TDF) announces the availability of LibreOffice 5.2.2, the second minor release of the LibreOffice 5.2 family.

LibreOffice 5.2.2, targeted at technology enthusiasts, early adopters and power users, provides a number of fixes over the major release announced in August. For all other users and enterprise deployments, TDF suggests LibreOffice 5.1.5 “still”, with the backing of professional support by certified people (a list is available at: http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/professional-support/).

A summary of the most significant new features of the LibreOffice 5.2 family is available on the website: http://www.libreoffice.org/discover/new-features/.

People interested in technical details about the release can access the change log here: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.2.2/RC1 (fixed in RC1) and https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.2.2/RC2 (fixed in RC2).

Download LibreOffice

LibreOffice 5.2.2 is immediately available for download from the following link: http://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-fresh/.

LibreOffice users, free software advocates and community members can support The Document Foundation with a donation at http://donate.libreoffice.org.

Several companies sitting in TDF Advisory Board (http://www.documentfoundation.org/governance/advisory-board/) are providing either value added Long Term Supported versions of LibreOffice or consultancy services for migrations and trainings, based on best practices distilled by The Document Foundation.

Community conference starts with 10th release of LibreOffice in 2016

downloadBrno, September 7, 2016 – The Document Foundation (TDF) has celebrated the opening session of LibOCon with the announcement of LibreOffice 5.2.1, the first minor release of the LibreOffice 5.2 family.

LibOCon is a showcase of the project activity, and will feature over 60 talks in three days, covering development, QA, localization, ODF, marketing, community and documentation, a business session in Czech focused on large deployments of LibreOffice, and a meeting of the Open Source Business Alliance (OSBA).

Details of the conference, including the program and collateral activities such as the traditional “hacknight” – a hands-on session where developers hack over food and drinks – are available on the event website: http://conference.libreoffice.org.

LibreOffice 5.2.1, targeted at technology enthusiasts, early adopters and power users, provides a number of fixes over the major release announced in August. For all other users and enterprise deployments, TDF suggests LibreOffice 5.1.5 “still”, with the backing of professional support by certified people (a list is available at: http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/professional-support/).

People interested in technical details about the release can access the change log here: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.2.1/RC1 (fixed in RC1) and https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.2.1/RC2 (fixed in RC2).

Download LibreOffice

LibreOffice 5.2.1 is immediately available for download from the following link: http://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-fresh/.

LibreOffice users, free software advocates and community members can support The Document Foundation with a donation at http://donate.libreoffice.org.

Several companies sitting on the TDF Advisory Board (http://www.documentfoundation.org/governance/advisory-board/) are providing either value-added Long Term Supported versions of LibreOffice or consultancy services for migrations and trainings, based on best practices distilled by The Document Foundation.

The Document Foundation and the FSFE strengthen their relationship

logoBerlin, 17 August 2016 – The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE, https://fsfe.org) is joining the Advisory Board of The Document Foundation. At the same time, The Document Foundation is becoming an associated organisation of the FSFE (https://fsfe.org/associates/associates.en.html).

The Free Software Foundation Europe’s aim is to help people control technology instead of the other way around. However, this is a goal which no single organisation can achieve on its own. Associated organizations are entities that share the FSFE’s vision and support the foundation and Free Software in general by encouraging people to use and develop Free Software, by helping organisations understand how Free Software contributes to freedom, transparency and self-determination, and by removing barriers to Free Software adoption.

With this mutual expression of support, both organisations strengthen each other in their effort to keep the general public in the technological driver seat. While the FSFE embodies the principles of the community movement working in pro of the adoption of Free Software in companies, public administrations and for private citizens, The Document Foundation turns principles and ethics into actual products, putting a first class, full-featured, but completely free productivity suite in the hands of users.

fsfe-summit-logo“We are happy to welcome the Free Software Foundation Europe as a member of our Advisory Board. Together, we will be able to further develop the adoption of Free Software in Europe, amongst public administrations and enterprises”, said Eike Rathke, a Director of The Document Foundation and a long time Free Software advocate and hacker.

“We believe it is important to join forces with all the organisations active in Free Software around Europe,” said Matthias Kirschner, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe, “and work together to reach our common goals. With our associated organisations we want to show that we are a strong and cohesive movement, and we work to achieve common objectives. To do this, we exchange ideas, coordinate efforts, motivate each other, and find opportunities to work together on specific projects. This is the case with The Document Foundation, steward of one of the most successful Free Software projects: LibreOffice”.

Several members of The Document Foundation will join FSFE Summit 2016 in Berlin, from September 2 to September 4, to celebrate FSFE 15th anniversary (https://fsfe.org/community/events/2016/summit/frontpage.en.html).