PSA: Using OpenOffice? Might want to switch to LibreOffice instead

[annathepiper]

Over on James Nicoll’s LJ, this past weekend, I saw this post wherein James was asking for help on an OpenOffice feature–and folks in the comments were advising that he should consider switching over to LibreOffice instead.

The basis for this is that apparently the code base for OpenOffice is not getting actively updated. The last release was back in October of 2015, and there is a known security issue now that hasn’t been fixed in any release of the suite yet. That issue is described here, where it is noted that there is a hotfix patch available, if you’re comfortable with trying to install that.

But more tellingly, also in the comments on James’ thread, I saw a link off to this Ars Technica article that discusses an active possibility that OpenOffice just might be shut down. Apparently Apache’s OO team doesn’t have enough active developers to support the code.

So if you’re an OpenOffice user, you might want to keep an eye on this. At minimum, you should go install the patch discussed on the security bulletin I link to above. And you should think about whether you want to continue to use OpenOffice, or maybe make the switch to LibreOffice instead, since that’s still being actively developed.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck!

Mirrored from angelahighland.com.

Comments

[maellenkleth]

Ta, eh?

We wandered over to LibreOffice a while ago, since two of our writing-group members are participating in its development and documentation. So far, so good....

[annathepiper]

Excellent. :) I only use it occasionally, and then generally if I need to edit a text file on the Ubuntu installs I work with (on my box at work, or on my work laptop). So I have very sparing experience with it.

[gerimaple.livejournal.com]

darthfrog switched me over to LibreOffice some time ago, for exactly these reasons. However, given that I hop between Android KitKat tablet, Linux desktop, and Win10 laptop, and am on the Boards of two separate non-profits, I find myself mostly using Google Docs these days. More inter-operability, more ease of co-editing, less stress for me.

[annathepiper]

Excellent. I've only occasionally dabbled in using Google Docs, so don't have experience with its current capabilities. I'm glad it's useful for you. :)