An open letter to office suite users, just before the Euro-Office announcement
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@libreoffice can you explain why using the file format is strengthening Microsoft even if not using their product?
I've just understood it to be a practical decision since ooxml seems to be most widely used and support is mandatory to continue operation. I may miss some information here, but I've always thought a file format, even if proprietary, is just a decision regarding performance.
And you guys did a great job in keeping the file format usable in you product, so what's the problem?
@mr_harm @libreoffice It puts you at the whim of MS. If MS change something in OOXML, everyone has to jump up and fix their implementation. Moreover, if MSOffice users send you a file which then doesn’t open properly in EuroOffice/OnlyOffice/LibreOffice then users will complain about “this new thing doesn’t work properly, why can’t we just use MSOffice like we always have?”.
For sure, if ODF changes, everyone needs to update. But that’s the result of a public committee decision and there will be a standards document describing the spec - not reverse-engineering whatever Redmond have done unilaterally.
If you default to a genuinely open spec like ODF, then in a couple of years when people are used to it, if an OOXML file doesn’t open, their instinct will be the at the sender is at fault, not them. And they’ll ask them to resend it in ODF.
In 2026, there’s just no reason to use proprietary formats for things like standard productivity suites.
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@mr_harm @libreoffice There is a big difference between supporting OOXML and defaulting to OOXML.
Defaulting to OOXML makes that format as ubiquitous as Win 3.11 was in its heyday.
Defaulting to OOXML means that this becomes the default format in Europe.
Then EVERY NON MS office suite will be forced to waste time and resources ensuring OOXML compatibility every time that MS decides to break backwards compatibility.
Resources that could be used to improve truly open document formats.
@the_wub @mr_harm @libreoffice
OOXML was specifically meant to frustrate and ideally block progress towards a non-Microsoft controlled standard.
And even Microsoft doesn’t know how it actually works.
None of this is hyperbole. It is all very extensively documented.
Open standards are the antidote to vendor lock-in, bar none.
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@libreoffice Thanks for the extra info about Euro Office. Is it known why they have chosen to default to OOXML, is there a limitation in ODF that they don't put the work in to implement? I understand that might be something only they can answer, but you seem to have done research on it.
@jmbmkn @libreoffice I imagine it is for ease of migration. Whether ooxml is good or bad is beside the point when in reality, most of the rest of the world are using it.
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@libreoffice Thanks for the extra info about Euro Office. Is it known why they have chosen to default to OOXML, is there a limitation in ODF that they don't put the work in to implement? I understand that might be something only they can answer, but you seem to have done research on it.
@jmbmkn @libreoffice euro office is a fork of only office, the later defaulted to ooxml since I don't know (maybe the start) to appeal to enterprise customers probably. The fork is supposed to fix this, but when it will be "done" and when they will default to this open format is a legitimate question.
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@libreoffice Thanks for the extra info about Euro Office. Is it known why they have chosen to default to OOXML, is there a limitation in ODF that they don't put the work in to implement? I understand that might be something only they can answer, but you seem to have done research on it.
@jmbmkn @libreoffice One of the maintainers behind EuroOffice is Nextcloud (besid IONOS and others). Last year, Nextcloud also switched the standard to OOXML for the Nextcloud-Collabora integration (another Online Office Solution). There was a lot of pushback, but Nextcloud went ahead with it anyway. You can find Nextcloud's position on this topic in the GitHub issue.
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@jmbmkn @libreoffice One of the maintainers behind EuroOffice is Nextcloud (besid IONOS and others). Last year, Nextcloud also switched the standard to OOXML for the Nextcloud-Collabora integration (another Online Office Solution). There was a lot of pushback, but Nextcloud went ahead with it anyway. You can find Nextcloud's position on this topic in the GitHub issue.
@markusr @jmbmkn @libreoffice At least for the Collabora-Integration, the default can be configured on an Nextcloud instance-wide basis.
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@libreoffice Thanks for the extra info about Euro Office. Is it known why they have chosen to default to OOXML, is there a limitation in ODF that they don't put the work in to implement? I understand that might be something only they can answer, but you seem to have done research on it.
@jmbmkn OnlyOffice (the software Euro Office forked from) does support ODF natively.
The difference is OnlyOffice defaults to saving documents in OOXML format (and supports it better than LibreOffice, in my experience, I've had data loss from LibreOffice crashing while dealing with Word documents, and such thing has never happened with OnlyOffice).
The reason to default to OOXML instead of ODF stems, AFAIK, from OnlyOffice (and I assume also Euro Office) wanting to be a "drop-in" replacement to MSOffice, where you can be sure you'll be complying with what is the de-facto office file format used in A LOT of companies.
Also, for many governments, MSOffice is still the go-to office suite and OOXML the file format public entities MUST use.
So, while those requirements don't change, defaulting to OOXML makes sense.
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@mr_harm @libreoffice It puts you at the whim of MS. If MS change something in OOXML, everyone has to jump up and fix their implementation. Moreover, if MSOffice users send you a file which then doesn’t open properly in EuroOffice/OnlyOffice/LibreOffice then users will complain about “this new thing doesn’t work properly, why can’t we just use MSOffice like we always have?”.
For sure, if ODF changes, everyone needs to update. But that’s the result of a public committee decision and there will be a standards document describing the spec - not reverse-engineering whatever Redmond have done unilaterally.
If you default to a genuinely open spec like ODF, then in a couple of years when people are used to it, if an OOXML file doesn’t open, their instinct will be the at the sender is at fault, not them. And they’ll ask them to resend it in ODF.
In 2026, there’s just no reason to use proprietary formats for things like standard productivity suites.
@richh @libreoffice yeah but that seems to be more of a usage policy decision which file format to use in every organization. Sure, it would be nice to recommend using odt, but that is not something you'd find in press releases regarding new products.
And it is kind of implied to use the native format to achieve best results. Also, a short web search showed that already quite a few organizations committed to it (Germany and the Netherlands,...)
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An open letter to office suite users, just before the Euro-Office announcement
https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/06/08/an-open-letter/
@libreoffice
I hope/predict that the unfortunate and sucky choice of OOXML default format is just a legacy of having been forked from OmlyOffice.With moves in the EU to mandate ODF as a default, I do have hopes this will be flipped to an ODF default sooner rather than later. And that would support the ecosystem favouring LibreOffice as well.
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An open letter to office suite users, just before the Euro-Office announcement
https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/06/08/an-open-letter/
@libreoffice here's how your post rendered in my client btw
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@libreoffice Hello libreoffice team! Thank you for your work! The PNG you uploaded has a transparent background. This means that when shown in interfaces with a dark background, only the white boxes (2006, 2015, 2024) will be visible because the rest is just black lines and letters on black background. In this case, an alt-text would even very much help the sighted people. Thank you!
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An open letter to office suite users, just before the Euro-Office announcement
https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/06/08/an-open-letter/
@libreoffice this is how your toot appear here: unreadable. please test your toots with some dark theme apps.
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@libreoffice this is how your toot appear here: unreadable. please test your toots with some dark theme apps.
@libreoffice same in full screen, the background is even darker.
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I'm not sure whether this is a problem of me using dark mode, but the text in the box is light black on a black background and impossible to read...
@ckd @libreoffice it's not just you.
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An open letter to office suite users, just before the Euro-Office announcement
https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/06/08/an-open-letter/
@libreoffice oh fuck this is a nightmare. These wars on file formats will NEVER end.
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@libreoffice Thanks for the extra info about Euro Office. Is it known why they have chosen to default to OOXML, is there a limitation in ODF that they don't put the work in to implement? I understand that might be something only they can answer, but you seem to have done research on it.
@jmbmkn @libreoffice my guess is microslop lobbying.
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@libreoffice this is how your toot appear here: unreadable. please test your toots with some dark theme apps.
@f4grx @libreoffice there's a reply in your screenshot pointing out the exact same issue maybe you didn't need to do it. Also the image is properly viewable on the linked article
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@jmbmkn OnlyOffice (the software Euro Office forked from) does support ODF natively.
The difference is OnlyOffice defaults to saving documents in OOXML format (and supports it better than LibreOffice, in my experience, I've had data loss from LibreOffice crashing while dealing with Word documents, and such thing has never happened with OnlyOffice).
The reason to default to OOXML instead of ODF stems, AFAIK, from OnlyOffice (and I assume also Euro Office) wanting to be a "drop-in" replacement to MSOffice, where you can be sure you'll be complying with what is the de-facto office file format used in A LOT of companies.
Also, for many governments, MSOffice is still the go-to office suite and OOXML the file format public entities MUST use.
So, while those requirements don't change, defaulting to OOXML makes sense.
@nanianmichaels @jmbmkn the ooxml format is a breach of sovereignity. It's Microslop doing the usual EEE strategy.
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An open letter to office suite users, just before the Euro-Office announcement
https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/06/08/an-open-letter/
@libreoffice please replace the image with one that isn’t transparent and add an alt text describing the timeline shown in it.
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@nanianmichaels @jmbmkn the ooxml format is a breach of sovereignity. It's Microslop doing the usual EEE strategy.
@f4grx That is NOT the point I was trying to make, nor was what the person I was replying to had asked.
As it stands, OOXML is THE de-facto file format in use by most EU institutions, as well as many EU governments (fun fact, in Portugal, if you are submitting text documents to a court, you need to submit them in at best DOC or DOCX formats, if they need to be editable), and even companies.
Defaulting to ODF in those circumstances will only keep your users stuck to Microsoft, because changing the default will introduce friction most users can't or won't deal with.
Starting with moving people to FOSS and then introduce a different file format introduces MUCH less friction, and is thus easier to achieve.
That being said, I've read recently the EU wants to promote digital sovereignty even harder, so hopefully making ODF the default for governments is in the cards, which would force it to trickle down to companies and users, which IMO should be (and likely is) the end goal.
