alt.hn

3/30/2026 at 1:33:15 PM

Euro-Office Wants to Replace Google Docs and Microsoft Office

 https://www.howtogeek.com/this-new-open-source-web-editor-wants-to-replace-google-docs-and-microsoft-office/

by rapnie

3/30/2026 at 5:35:45 PM

It has been alleged that the company behind OnlyOffice is selling a modified version (P7/R7 Office) is Russia. These allegations aren't completely meritless.

For example, a commit to a third-party (?) P7-Office-plugin repo is titled "Replace OnlyOffice with R7-Office and fix encoding (UTF-8 no BOM)" (emphasis mine). (https://github.com/r7-consult/plugin-grammalecte/commit/ca45...)

The R7-Office FreeBSD port contains files named "onlyoffice-docxf.xml" and "onlyoffice-oform.xml". (https://www.freshports.org/editors/linux-r7-office/)

A GhostBSD package contains files that contain Ascensio System SIA copyright notices. (https://pkg.ghostbsd.org/stable/FreeBSD:14:amd64/latest/All/... --- Zstandard-compressed tarball)

by 76rp

3/30/2026 at 7:45:26 PM

Please forgive me as I'm both naive and ignorant;

What is the implications / meaning of that? If a software comes from a trusted source and there's adequate mechanisms to make sure file contents aren't stolen / accessed -- why be concerned with who else has the same software?

by oneneptune

3/31/2026 at 5:13:51 AM

From the general user's point-of-view: Using OnlyOffice's paid products may be problematic because of sanctions against Russia.

From a contributor point-of-view: If I voluntarily contributed to OnlyOffice, I would be unhappy that the company sold my AGPL-licensed code and attempted to hide the fact. Granted, they probably require contributors to sign a CLA, so as to make this legal. And yes, it is also unclear if P7 was a single-time fork of OnlyOffice, or if it continually takes code from OnlyOffice.

From a random Russian person's point of view, it would be very unfair to learn that the (ostensibly Russian) software you have bought (because P7 appears to be solely commercial, not freemium, but correct me if I'm wrong) is in fact open-source and gratis in the West.

by 76rp

3/30/2026 at 5:16:53 PM

I wonder if this is kosher:

https://github.com/Euro-Office/core/commit/e452acebeb3433895...

On the one hand, the authors of AGPL certainly didn't intend the "Additional Terms" to be a means to restrict forking. On the other hand, Ascensio System SIA apparently wants to restrict forking, and flouting this is asking for legal trouble (especially since Euro-Office appears to be a major thing).

by 76rp

3/30/2026 at 5:29:40 PM

Nice to see it _not_ being based on LibreOffice since I'm really not a huge fan of it, mostly due to the (clunky) interface and poor responsiveness. Never used OnlyOffice but it looks much more lightweight, so hopefully it'll be better

by nasretdinov

3/31/2026 at 4:19:05 PM

They could literally take their resources and spend time to improve LibreOffice and push for open data formats, supporting the TDF, but no, they listed a bunch of controversies on the software they chose and then decided to choose it anyways?

Sometimes I think the EU is ran by idiots, other times I am certain they are a bunch of idiots.

by xinayder

3/31/2026 at 8:23:55 PM

> Sometimes I think the EU is ran by idiots, other times I am certain they are a bunch of idiots.

Is Euro-Office funded by the EU? I don't think the EU has anything to do with this project.

----

https://github.com/Euro-Office/:

> Euro-Office is an initiative of a group of European companies

by 76rp

3/30/2026 at 8:35:09 PM

Only office is an electron thing though. I think I'll still prefer LibreOffice because of that. But I'll give euro office a try.

by wolvoleo

3/31/2026 at 12:29:47 AM

After 40 years of talking about it it finally happened.

It's all thanks to Microsoft, without them it wouldn't be possible. They showed the world what office software can do and that ultimately it is their software and they get to decide how it works. (..or should that be if it works?)

edit:google deserves some credit too of course

by 6510

3/30/2026 at 4:10:53 PM

[dead]

by 56745742597