LibreOffice Stakes Claim as Strategic Sovereignty Tool For Governments (documentfoundation.org)
- Reference: 0178881098
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/08/26/160253/libreoffice-stakes-claim-as-strategic-sovereignty-tool-for-governments
- Source link: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2025/08/25/libreoffice-25-8-backgrounder/
The Document Foundation released the update last week with zero telemetry architecture, full offline capability, and OpenPGP encryption for documents, directly addressing national security concerns about extraterritorial surveillance and software backdoors. The suite requires no internet access for any features and maintains complete transparency through open source code that governments can audit. Government bodies in Germany, Denmark, and France, alongside national ministries in Italy and Brazil, have deployed LibreOffice to meet GDPR compliance, national procurement laws, and IT localization mandates while eliminating unpredictable licensing costs from proprietary vendors.
"It's time to own your documents, own your infrastructure, and own your future," the foundation wrote in a blog post.
[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/08/23/0124202/libreoffice-258-slams-the-door-on-windows-7-and-8x
[2] https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2025/08/25/libreoffice-25-8-backgrounder/
That's wierd (Score:3)
I thought that online capability was a feature. It seems nowadays that "offline capability" is now the feature.
Can I just have a software that works on my computer, stores data on my computer, and does not do all that fancy "telemetry" thing, please?
Re: (Score:2)
The Though Police from NSA/ ICE will be knocking the remains of your door off their breaching weapons any minute now. How DARE you even think about not having their benign oversight of your obviously terrorist thought processes.
Re:That's wierd (Score:5, Funny)
Luckily, I am in Canada, so NSA / ICE / FBI have no jurisdiction here. I'll let you guys deal with them, and with that orange thing serving as your dear leader
Re: That's wierd (Score:1)
Those organizations have more liberty of doing things outside US than inside ;-)
Re: (Score:2)
> Luckily, I am in Canada, so NSA / ICE / FBI have no jurisdiction here.
Yet.
Re: (Score:2)
> ... I am in Canada...
I'm so sorry. My deepest sympathies.
Re: (Score:2)
I mean, for now anyway....
I am just saying that failing empires have a bad habit of expanding their borders in order to loot other countries so they can keep their coffers full as the incompetent and corrupt boobs running the country empty them...
I noticed nobody else in the world helped us Americans out when Russia was attacking our elections with crazy amounts of propaganda.
Your ruling classes are hoping that as America falls they will rise.
That would work if America wasn't so crazy that we
Re: (Score:2)
No, but you have your own equivalents, plus MI6.
Someone got your truckers bank account a few years ago, or have you forgotten?
Re:That's wierd (Score:4, Informative)
> I thought that online capability was a feature. It seems nowadays that "offline capability" is now the feature.
They are both features, and LibreOffice offers both, and you neither have to pay subscription fees nor are there any hoops to jump through to switch, or to use both at once.
> Can I just have a software that works on my computer, stores data on my computer, and does not do all that fancy "telemetry" thing, please?
Yes, you can have LibreOffice and use it in that way. You can disable any phoning home, automatic updates, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes. [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik... [wikipedia.org]
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81
US Thought Piolice will soon (Score:1)
be using "they have terrorist software on their computer" - viz : LibreOffice - as evidence of intention to perform un-American Activities.
To quote the Dead Kennedys, "Holiday in El Salvador".
Mickeysoft Orifice is trash, and so is Windows (Score:2)
I launched Excel yesterday. Today it was unresponsive and when I tried to quit it, it popped up a tiny window with no contents. I had to force it to quit from the task mangler because Windows (10) never offered me the option to force it to quit no matter how many close gadgets I clicked on without success.
I can leave LibreOffice Calc running for days or even weeks with no issues.
Running Windows or Office is asking to be abused.
Re: (Score:2)
I've had excel running for months with no issues. Of course, it's an old version running on an old OS on old hardware, all of which was pre-enshittifications.
What's missing (Score:3)
There are two things missing, in order from governments to cut there Microsoft habit. (1) Stop the hookers-and-blow lobbying, whereby clueless bureaucrats are basically bribed to stay with Microsoft products. And (2) replacing or retraining the huge pile of sys-admins who know nothing but Microsoft products.
1990s me is very surprised (Score:2)
1990s me is very surprised that somebody would have to go out of their way to make sure a word processor ran on their computer without automatically connecting to a network, and without needing a network for full functionality.
Every so often I put myself in the mindset of 1990s me looking at technology today, and what I mostly hear is, "Wow, you have a lot of capability, but WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???"
Microsoft file format support (Score:2)
Why not just download and install [1]LibreOffice [libreoffice.org] and open the files natively. As for msExcel. The geneticists had to change [2]SEPT1 and MARCH1 to SEPTIN1 MARCHF1 [progress.org.uk] because Excel kept changing them to dates.
[1] https://www.libreoffice.org/
[2] https://www.progress.org.uk/human-genes-renamed-as-microsoft-excel-reads-them-as-dates/
Re: (Score:2)
There is a lovely Venn diagram meme running around with two circles, "Incel" and "Excel". The overlap is labeled "Incorrectly assuming something is a date".
Having to paste, change formats, and paste again is part of the ritual of using Excel. Nobody should be using it for science-ing when they could use a database and a real reporting tool, it's irritating enough when handling financial info. I used to be paid to use Crystal Reports. These days when I want to view some data, I use Drupal, and a fairly simpl
Hoping Governments do more than just use. (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm hoping governments that like this see the sense in putting resources into development, not just using it. A lot could be achieved if governments invest part of what they save by not paying Microshaft subscription fees.
Here comes another tariff (Score:1)
Trump is going to slap a tariff on countries that donâ(TM)t use office software from Microsoft or Apple.
Re: (Score:2)
> Trump is going to slap a tariff on countries that don't use office software from Microsoft or Apple.
Only after taking a 10% stake in both. Tribute must be paid.
Re: (Score:2)
Is that of any importance to a governmental organization with their own private network and centrally managed VPN?
Re: (Score:3)
As we realised at work decades ago, having to send our data over networks operated by our competitors, if you want to talk about things which involve the network carrier, then the way to do it is offline, not on-network.
Automatically encrypted documents, with the keys required on every decryption and stored completely separately is the way to go. You cannot assume the network is a neutral player.
Is it compatible with your business' workflow? Maybe not. That is a problem for you and your workflow.
Re: EEE (Score:1)
No, there is definitely ways to do it safely over the network. And ways to do it well without interrupting workflow
Re: (Score:1)
Penguins are birds.
Penguins are mammals.
Penguins are not dinosaurs.
Therefore, only SOME birds are dinosaurs.
Re: (Score:3)
Penguins are not mammals. Their young are not born alive, nor do they produce milk for the young.
All birds are dinosaurs.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh yeah, well how do you explain this:
[1]https://www.alamy.com/a-vertic... [alamy.com]
Check and meet libtardo.
[1] https://www.alamy.com/a-vertical-shallow-focus-of-laciate-brand-milk-for-kids-in-a-package-with-cartoon-penguin-character-image488231474.html
Re: (Score:2)
You are correct. It was a rare error on my part.
I was thinking of your mother, not penguins. My mistake. I do apologize.
Re: (Score:2)
Go milk a penguin then.
Re: (Score:1)
Thank you Jack Byrnes