TOG Solutions

Over the course of the past few weeks, the main players in the quest for the best free and open-source alternative to Microsoft Office ramped up with LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice making release updates.

First came LibreOffice, which, since its branching from the original OpenOffice project, has been plugging away constantly on making improvements and upgrades. Two weeks ago, LibreOffice 3.6 became available, with a minor upgrade, 3.6.1, released today.

In LibreOffice 3.6., The Document Foundation, the organization that has spearheaded the project, added several new features that include the addition of word count to the status bar, improved support for importing Office SmartArt and the inclusion of a PDF export with watermark option. In addition, the newest version of LibreOffice includes a complete makeover of the splash screen and Start menu.

In May, Apache released OpenOffice 3.4, marking the first version upgrade since the Apache Software Foundation assumed control of the project from Oracle. Last week, Apache OpenOffice 3.4.1 was made available, adding additional language support and fixing a number of errors, including Undo and Redo issues within Calc and the non-detection of Java.

The announcement of the release of Apache OpenOffice 3.4.1 also included plans for the release of version 3.5 early next year, plus plans for a major upgrade to 4.0, also planned for next year. Apache has already set up a Google Moderator site for users to lend their input on what should be included in OpenOffice 4.0.

As upgrades continues, the distinctions between the two programs are becoming clearer. LibreOffice, for its part, has the edge, considering OpenOffice’s long lull in development purgatory. At this point, Apache is lagging behind, as LibreOffice is not only able to install the wide array of extensions in the OpenOffice library, but also is available as a portable version, capable of being installed on any removable storage device.

For future versions of both programs, what will be at stake is the ever-expanding mobile and tablet market. LibreOffice appears to be primed to created an Android-friendly version, and this should be the likely direction of Apache OpenOffice as it looks to their future in 4.0.

No matter the case, the big winner in this race to upgrade is the users of both platforms, since this will give them a better side-by-side comparison of the two.

In the interest of full disclosure, TOG Solutions supports both projects and will continue to provide training and support for both LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice. In fact, we are happy to report that in addition to the return of OpenOffice Wednesday, TOG Solutions will also present a weekly feature of LibreOffice on a day of the week to be determined.