The LibreOffice and Open Source Conference 2024 has started! We’ll be uploading videos from the talks as soon as possible, and in the meantime, here are a few photos from today’s talks and events…
The LibreOffice and Open Source Conference 2024 starts in just a few days in Luxembourg, and it’s supported by the country’s Digital Learning Hub, which offers short and hands-on training courses in the fields of computer science. Director Serge Linckels says:
We are delighted to announce our partnership with the LibreOffice Conference 2024, taking place in Luxembourg. This collaboration underscores our commitment to fostering innovation and supporting the open-source community.
As the Digital Learning Hub, we are dedicated to advancing digital education and empowering individuals with the skills needed for the future. Our involvement in the LibreOffice Conference 2024 reflects our mission to promote digital literacy and open-source solutions. We believe that by supporting events like this, we can help build a more inclusive and technologically adept society.
We look forward to engaging with the vibrant community at the conference, sharing insights, and exploring new opportunities.
Thank you to The Document Foundation for organizing this pivotal event. We are very excited to be part of this journey.
On September 21, free and open source software (FOSS) enthusiasts celebrated the 21st worldwide Software Freedom Day. Our community members in Nepal were not behind with the celebrations either: they were active supporting small open source communities and connecting them for the greater good in the LibreOffice community. Here’s their report:
Suraj Bhattarai, LibreOffice liaison in Nepal, was available at the LibreOffice booth at the Software Freedom Day celebration by Open Source Klub (NOSK) at Nepal College of Information and Technology (NCIT), Lalitpur.
He described how the LibreOffice booth was so busy and engaging. In particular, the LibreOffice community supported the event with fun games, swag, candies, and engagement – all while advocating for the best free and open source office suite. The booth included amazing LibreOffice merchandise, such as T-shirts, tote-bags, water-bottles, round pin plastic badges, flyers, a variety of stickers, beer mats, candies, and so forth.
The booth had a LibreOffice crossword game, and showed LibreOffice 24.8 on a display for hands-on testing. There was also a presentation deck for newbies, and some verbal support/assistance to improve the LibreOffice experience and customization for easier navigation within the user interface. Suraj also mentioned that around three quarters of the people who appeared at the booth for a quick “hello” mentioned hearing about or knowing and using LibreOffice in their home or workspace.
The event was mainly joined by students across Kathmandu valley, open source contributors, club alumni, and veteran FOSS contributors/kickstarters in Nepal. Apart from the event itinerary and other activities, the LibreOffice “paper plane contest” received major attention and everyone seems to have enjoyed their paper plane flight to software freedom!
The winner was awarded a 750ML aluminum water bottle, with the LibreOffice logo printed on it. Suraj concluded the competition with the 3R principle and the analogy of releasing paperwork and transitioning to digital open source office suites for document-related work pieces. The college administration expressed some interest in replacing Microsoft Office and migrating the campus computers to LibreOffice suite.
Similarly, Suraj also delivered a recorded talk named “Diversity, Inclusion and Community Model in Free Software Communities” at Birendra Multiple Campus, Chitwan. There, the Software Freedom Day celebration was hosted by the Birendra Open Source Club (BOSC) with support from the LibreOffice community.
The aim of the talk was to deepen and bridge the relationship of the club with the LibreOffice community and LibreOffice activities/contributions in the future. Previously, the club contributed greatly to the success of a local event: the LibreOffice Localization Sprint 2023. Achyut Koirala, the acting president of the on-campus club, represented the LibreOffice community there.
While Suraj himself couldn’t be present, Achyut Koirala together with Shreeram Lamichhane communicated the positive feedback from the recorded talk Suraj had shared. As a closing remark, Achyut thanked the LibreOffice community as a whole for the inclusive community model and for welcoming their community into the project.
And finally, Nirjal Bhurtel, representing LibreOffice’s local community, did the same at Kathmandu University where the celebration was hosted by their own on-campus community. Kathmandu Open Source Community has been the veteran contributor when it comes to the history of contributions from Nepal in the LibreOffice project.
TDF says: Many thanks to Suraj and the Nepalese community for the great work! And as a bonus, here’s a video from the aforementioned paper plane contest:
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Our LibreOffice and Open Source Conference 2024 is taking place next week in Luxembourg, and one of the sponsors is Passbolt S.A., which makes an open source password manager. Kevin Muller, the company’s CEO, says:
We are excited to participate in the LibreOffice and Open Source Conference, where I will be speaking about the pivotal role open source has played in Passbolt’s commercial success.
Passbolt has been 100% open source from day one—and it always will be. This approach has given us a significant competitive edge, driving market adoption and commercialization from the outset. Compared to many competitors Passbolt’s open source philosophy offers unmatched transparency and control.
In today’s world, where nations are increasingly focused on reclaiming their digital sovereignty, the transparency and trust fostered by open source software are more critical than ever.
Kevin is giving a talk on the opening day, so check it out!
The Annual Report of The Document Foundation describes the foundation’s activities and projects, especially in regard to LibreOffice and the Document Liberation Project.
We’ve been posting sections of the 2023 report here on the blog, and now the full version is available in PDF format on TDF’s Nextcloud server in two different versions: low resolution (6.4MB) and high resolution (43.7MB). The Annual Report is based on the German version presented to the authorities.
The document has been entirely created with free open source software: written contents have obviously been developed with LibreOffice Writer (desktop) and collaboratively modified with LibreOffice Writer (online), charts have been created with LibreOffice Calc and prepared for publishing with LibreOffice Draw, drawings and tables have been developed or modified (from legacy PDF originals) with LibreOffice Draw, images have been prepared for publishing with GIMP, and the layout has been created with Scribus based on the existing templates.
We at The Document Foundation are very grateful to all contributors to our projects and communities in 2023 – none of this would be possible without you!
Translated by Timothy Brennan Jr.
Rio de Janeiro, September 26, 2024 – The Brazilian LibreOffice community proudly presents its new edition of the Writer Guide 7.6 , based on LibreOffice 7.6 and with the innovations introduced in this version.
The guide meets the need for LibreOffice documentation in Brazilian Portuguese and the Writer Guide will help all LibreOffice users in editing texts, monographs, theses, reports, minutes and much more.
