Nextcloud and Ionos justify the decision for the Only-Office fork with its more modern architecture and code base compared to LibreOffice and its browser variant Collabora. „Libre Office is 35 years old and no longer the most innovative and fluid,“ said Nextcloud CEO Frank Karlitschek. „You can also notice that in the browser.“

Am I the only one reading that as “we can’t add AI to LibreOffice, so out it is”?

Microsoft alternative: Nextcloud and Ionos develop open-source ‘Euro-Office’.

Nextcloud and Ionos are promising a modern, open-source office suite for the summer. To achieve this goal, they have forked OnlyOffice.

Nextcloud, Ionos and other partners are developing an open-source office suite under the project name „Euro-Office“ as an alternative to the market-dominant Microsoft Office. The software is scheduled to be released in a first stable version in the summer. Ionos and Nextcloud announced this jointly in Berlin on Friday. „The product is intended for the entire market, from small businesses to the public sector,’“said Ionos CEO Achim Weiß.

Ionos and Nextcloud want to differentiate themselves from the open-source package openDesk from the federal-owned ZenDiS through, among other things, stronger integration of the individual applications and through AI functions. Nextcloud’s leading development is intended to ensure deeper integration. „Nextcloud is in charge,“ said Weiß. Both partners intend to hire ‘a double-digit number of developers each’ for the further development of Euro Office, according to their own statements.

However, ZenDiS can also easily use Euro-Office as an office component of openDesk, said Karlitschek. OpenDesk currently includes Nextcloud as a file exchange platform and Collabora Online as an office component. Likewise, other providers could also operate the open-source Euro-Office.

In addition to Ionos and Nextcloud, other partners such as XWiki, Soverin, OpenProject and the EuroStack initiative support the Euro-Office project. According to a press release, they encourage ‘public bodies, community contributors, and civil society organizations committed to open standards, digital rights, and sovereign digital infrastructure’ to jointly develop the software further.

A fork replacing closed source parts of OnlyOffice sounds great, does anyone know if the desktop versions also have closed source components ?

Erm, open office is a Russian Trojan horse. What is next cloud thinking?

Good. I was curious why, when EU independence from US aoftware convos came up, Nextcloud was rarely mentioned.

That sounds great! I love OnlyOffice, but it feels a bit iffy with their supposed connection to the Russian military. I hope this will be free for personal use.