- Open Document Foundation positions LibreOffice as data sovereignty and privacy tool.
- Stresses lock-in prevention and lack of data sharing.
- Extensibility and customisation of features.
With the growing suspicion around the data practices of the big technology companies, the Open Document Foundation is positioning the latest release of its LibreOffice 25.8 as a “strategic asset for governments and enterprises focused on digital sovereignty and privacy.”
The ubiquity of the Microsoft Office suite on the desktops of every enterprise desktop is rarely challenged, but the increased public awareness of the importance of data privacy and a growing distrust of the motives (and on occasion, politics) of the leaders of big tech companies, Microsoft included, means many companies are looking for alternatives. In Lyon, France, for example, the local government has recently taken steps to reduce its reliance on US-based service providers. It’s developed the Territoire Numérique Ouvert, a platform that uses open-source solutions for digital identity, email, storage, and collaborative document publishing.
Where previously it was a rare organisation that decided to switch away from the de facto software platforms, the Open Document Foundation (ODF) is trying to convince companies in the public and private sectors that using its software will help users’ comply with data regulations more easily and become more resilient to the vagaries of cloud providers. It even quotes national security as a reason to switch: organisations using LibreOffice will be “reducing exposure to extraterritorial surveillance and software backdoors.”
A few years ago, such claims may have seemed as overly paranoid. But the US’s SHALAR ACT means that any data held by a US-based company is legally required to be given up to law enforcement officials, regardless of the country of its origin. In other words, information owned by a (say) Nigerian company, and stored by a US company (say, Microsoft) is available to the American authorities, should the latter deem it necessary.
The likelihood of US law enforcement agencies requesting the data of foreign nationals from domestic technology providers is debatable. What is not is the telemetry embedded into software such as Google Workspace, Microsoft O365, Oracle E-Business Suite, and a thousand others. On that score, the ODF states that LibreOffice comes with “no background data collection […] LibreOffice is entirely transparent and silent by design.”
The ODF also stresses that LibreOffice comes free of cost, saves files in formats that are open by design in an ISO standard, and – under the terms of its licences – the software can be modified by organisations according to their specific needs. LibreOffice runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux desktops, and mobile versions are available for Android and iOS.
It’s possible to create working environments for end-users that look and feel like the tools they’re familiar with, and, with the possible exception of some outliers, the features used daily in O365 have their equivalents in LibreOffice. That excludes the AI ‘features’ that Microsoft seems intent on adding to its software, such as the Copilot helper that has been added to Excel, for Beta Channel subscribers, presumably ahead of a wider rollout to the paying subscriber base.
Microsoft itself advises that use of Copilot in spreadsheets should be avoided for numerical calculations, and “tasks with legal, regulatory or compliance implications, such as financial reporting, legal documents, or other high-stakes scenarios.”
To the ODF’s list of advantages of LibreOffice (“no data collection, no vendor lock-in, and complete local control”) might be added, in time, “accuracy and reliability.”
(Image source: Open Document Foundation)
Want to experience the full spectrum of enterprise technology innovation? Join TechEx in Amsterdam, California, and London. Covering AI, Big Data, Cyber Security, IoT, Digital Transformation, Intelligent Automation, Edge Computing, and Data Centres, TechEx brings together global leaders to share real-world use cases and in-depth insights. Click here for more information.
TechHQ is powered by TechForge Media. Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars here.
