By now you’ve heard references to LibreOffice, even if you haven’t yet tried it for yourself. LibreOffice is the FOSS answer to Microsoft Office and Microsoft’s proprietary file formats. LibreOffice is a “low hanging fruit” as FOSS adoption goes. It works on all major operating systems, and can be introduced side-by-side with MS Office during a transition period. Even if you choose to use another office suite yourself, you should be familiar with LibreOffice. The primary complication of switching is dealing with document formats, namely ODF, OOXML, and proprietary legacy formats (which, ironically are what most MS Office users employ).
The lesson addresses these topics:
- LibreOffice: History, Capability & Compatibility
- OpenDocument Format (ODF) vs. Microsoft’s OOXML
Advanced Organizer
During the lesson, look for answers to the following questions
- Why do educational institutions use MS Office, even when versions are outdated or even unlicensed?
- What are some typical objections to a LibreOffice switch, and how valid are they?
- Why does the LibreOffice site refer to Microsoft’s 2007/2010 OOXML formats as “MOX”?
- Why is vendor-neutrality important in standards selection?
- Why was The Document Foundation created?
- Why does MS Office 2013 or later versions make life easier for ODF users and advocates?
Walk-through
1. Read the following sections of Wikipedia’s LibreOffice:
- Features
- Included applications
- Supported file formats (Click “show”).
- History
LibreOffice is a FOSS office suite that includes word processing, spreadsheets, slide-shows, diagrams, databases, and mathematical formulae. It is largely compatible with Microsoft’s Office suites, though not perfectly so. LibreOffice was forked from the OpenOffice.org project in 2010. Forking occurs when developers take a copy of source code and start independent development on it, creating a distinct software entity. In this case, the developer community was concerned over Oracle Corporation’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems, then the corporate sponsor of OpenOffice.org. (Oracle has a history of restricting FOSS projects).
LibreOffice includes Writer (word processor), Calc (spreadsheets), Impress (slide-show presentations), Base (database), Math (equation editor), and Draw (graphics editor). Note the vast number of file formats that LibreOffice supports (click Show, if the table isn’t visible). Support for such a range of formats is one key to the longevity of digital data, whether it’s your personal finance records or your doctoral dissertation. LibreOffice is able to include this support due to open standards.
Browse the Release History section to get a feel for the frequency of updates and types of features being added.
2. Read: Professor’s Perspective
I have used LibreOffice exclusively since its release. I do not use Microsoft Office in my workflow at all. Why? Not because LibreOffice is sexier, easier, or cheaper (though I do enjoy the price) – but to demonstrate that it is completely possible to function without paying a license fee for word processing, building spreadsheets, or giving presentations. There are occasional hassles, but I have found few and they are easily surmountable. There are hassles in any software, MS Office included. I choose LibreOffice to make myself independent of Microsoft’s upgrade cycles and lock-in strategies.
LibreOffice hassles are almost exclusively due to file compatibility between Open Document Format (ODF) and Microsoft’s various document formats. As you might guess, LibreOffice uses ODF by default (though you can set a different default under Options | Load/Save). It reads and saves Microsoft’s binary formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt) with excellent compatibility. It can also read and save to Microsoft’s 2007+ OOXML formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) with good, but imperfect compatibility. This imperfect compatibility causes frustration when passing files between various MS Office versions and LibreOffice. As a workaround, I ask people to provide me with .doc or .pdf files if they’re using MS Office.
Another negative comment I’ve heard about LibreOffice is that the user interface is ugly and outdated. There are a few icon sets to choose from (Tools | Options | LibreOffice | View) and there have been some minor user interface (UI) updates in the past, but overall it is similar to MS Office 2003. From one perspective, it could use a refresh – which is a regular discussion topic. Another perspective is that changing the UI is a double-edged sword – users must relearn the interface. A stable UI is a desirable trait to many. Whichever angle you take, its functionality and overall stability have been excellent in my experience.
I frequently introduce LibreOffice to new students for pedagogical reasons. We can all use the same, current software, with the same UI – regardless if the student has OSX, Windows, or Linux. It is free of charge, and provides a stable, unified experience during classes. Finally, I can share its free texts and related FOSS software like Zotero (for citation management).
Would I change LibreOffice if I could? Sure. I’m not a fan of how it handles bullet and numbering formatting, which I use a lot; but I’ve learned to work with it. Impress is not my favorite slide software, but I can deal with it. I use Google Slides sometimes (I can pass files between Impress and Google Slides because Google plays nice with ODF and PPTX). These small gripes are well worth the long term benefits of using LibreOffice.
3. Read ODF vs. OOXML
Open Document Format (aka OpenDocument, or ODF) is widely accepted as a vendor-neutral open standard. Microsoft’s more widely used .docx (also known as OOXML, or Microsoft 2007/2010 XML) formats are cause for concern. The “Transitional” version that all MS Office users save to (as default) was flatly rejected as an ISO standard. After a convoluted, and controversial process, an ISO standard was approved bearing the same name (ie “Strict” OOXML). MS Office 2013 and 2016 implement Strict OOXML, but not as default – that’s still the “Transitional” OOXML that didn’t get approved.
There are excellent reasons for adopting ODF, especially future-proofing your data. Luckily MS Office 2013 and 2016 have very good ODF compatibility. This makes it easy to deal with MS Office-using colleagues. Converting to PDF also aids interoperability.
4. Read LibreOffice and OOXML
The Document Foundation is an “independent self-governing meritocratic entity. in the form of a charitable Foundation under German law”. It was developed to free the LibreOffice community from constraints imposed by a corporate sponsor. At this site, the LibreOffice community explains their stance on OOXML. “ODF’s absence of lock-in future proofs investment in both documents and software, to the great benefit of all citizens, governments and businesses.”
5. Read MS Office Supports ODF 1.2
This 2015 article notes that, in part, the UK government push to adopt open standards encouraged MS Office full support of the latest ODF. This makes life easier for ODF advocates, and it’s a great example of open standards advocates standing their ground.
Activities
1. Install LibreOffice
If you run into problems during this activity or the following assignment:
- Consult the user documentation, either on the website or in the software.
- Research the solution yourself. Use a Google advanced search, and look for forum discussions on the issue.
- Ask for help in #libreoffice on the Freenode IRC network.
- If you’re still unable to find a solution, post your question to our Laulima course site in Forums under Help.
We will be using LibreOffice for all remaining assignments, which should be submitted in ODF.
2. Install Zotero and the Connector for your browser of choice.
Zotero is a citation manager. Zotero lets you build a library of research sources including citation data (date, title, authors, publisher, etc.) and copies of the sources (PDFs, website copy, etc.) when available. You can even take notes on the sources right in your Zotero library.
3. Install the Zotero plugin for LibreOffice
Once you have installed the plugin, an additional toolbar is available in LibreOffice. For help, try Google search, and use our Laulima Help Forum if needed. (There is also a plugin for MS Word)
Zotero toolbar in LibreOffice
Assignment
See the LibreOffice Writer and Zotero exercise in Laulima Assignments – Plan 60 to 90 minutes depending on your experience with this software (Writer and Zotero). Submit the assignment files in Laulima Assignments tool.
Additional Material
- OpenDocument Format (Wikipedia)
- Is OpenDocument an Open Standard? Yes!
- Firefox software license (Wikipedia)
- Apache OpenOffice.org – OpenOffice.org was the project from which LibreOffice forked. It has since been transferred from Oracle to the Apache Foundation.