3 ms·

Which is why we need to ban together. Libreoffice isn't dominate, but it has enough market share that it can't be completely ignored. Also if you are using it

Which is why we need to ban together. Libreoffice isn't dominate, but it has enough market share that it can't be completely ignored. Also if you are using it you are not alone - you are an annoying deviation, but there are enough of you that many cannot ignore you. The more people who also use libreoffice the more power we have. If we can get to just 5% market share we cannot be ignored. (it need not be libreoffice, there are other choices that support that file format well enough which is what we care about.)

Arainach 1y ago
>but it has enough market share that it can't be completely ignored. This is the Hacker News bubble in action. Most of the world, most of America, most of China, India, etc. haven't even heard of it. They ignore it and they thrive. Maybe you need to pay attention if you're dealing with certain European governments these days - I'm not sure because I completely ignore it and haven't paid attention since there was just OpenOffice and LibreOffice didn't even exist yet.
- NewJazz 1y ago
  Source on most of China/India not having heard of libreoffice?
  - tredre3 1y ago
    Kingsoft recently announced that WPS Office has 620M MAU users, the bulk of which is in China. Microsoft has even more Office users in China https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-microsoft-office-rival-reaches-093000488.html?guccounter=1 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-microsoft-office-rival... So if China has heard of LibreOffice, they clearly didn't like what they've heard...
    - spookie 1y ago
      It's the product of a government owned company... in China. What do you expect? Moreover, what you write is monitored, and you may loose documents based on what you write [1]. [1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-frozen-document-in-china-unleashes-a-furor-over-privacy-11657887259 https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-frozen-document-in-china-unle...
      - autoexec 1y ago
        > Moreover, what you write is monitored So just like MS Word then
    - NewJazz 1y ago
      So, because competitors have traction nobody has heard of libre office? That's not a logical statement.
      - Arainach 1y ago
        You can't prove a negative. Usage numbers tell the real story. Either people haven't heard of it, or, worse for proponents, they have heard of it and have decided it's not good enough.
- opan 1y ago
  I fixed a computer for some old people once who weren't the least bit technical, but they had LibreOffice installed. My guess is they found it searching "microsoft word free" or similar. A bit like how some kids end up finding Minetest/Luanti by searching "free Minecraft".
- graemep 1y ago
  > Maybe you need to pay attention if you're dealing with certain European governments these day Open document formats have been the UK standard for things like .gov.uk for many years. About a decade IIRC. Ignored by some people (notably the Office of National Statistics, of whatever its called these days). > Most of the world, most of America, most of China, India, etc. haven't even heard of it. I have come across quite a few non-tech people who use Libre Office. It has great (some people say better than MS Word with itself between version) compatibility with MS office formats.
tredre3 1y ago
LibreOffice's best guess is that they had 200M MAUs in 2019. I personally find that hard to believe and they don't explain their methodology to arrive at that number (presumably they looked at the downloads and picked a number of users based on feelings). But, if that number is true, then I suppose you're not only right, but LibreOffice is already near 5% market share.

Arainach 1y ago

>but it has enough market share that it can't be completely ignored. This is the Hacker News bubble in action. Most of the world, most of America, most of China, India, etc. haven't even heard of it. They ignore it and they thrive. Maybe you need to pay attention if you're dealing with certain European governments these days - I'm not sure because I completely ignore it and haven't paid attention since there was just OpenOffice and LibreOffice didn't even exist yet.

NewJazz 1y ago
Source on most of China/India not having heard of libreoffice?
- tredre3 1y ago
  Kingsoft recently announced that WPS Office has 620M MAU users, the bulk of which is in China. Microsoft has even more Office users in China https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-microsoft-office-rival-reaches-093000488.html?guccounter=1 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-microsoft-office-rival... So if China has heard of LibreOffice, they clearly didn't like what they've heard...
  - spookie 1y ago
    It's the product of a government owned company... in China. What do you expect? Moreover, what you write is monitored, and you may loose documents based on what you write [1]. [1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-frozen-document-in-china-unleashes-a-furor-over-privacy-11657887259 https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-frozen-document-in-china-unle...
    - autoexec 1y ago
      > Moreover, what you write is monitored So just like MS Word then
  - NewJazz 1y ago
    So, because competitors have traction nobody has heard of libre office? That's not a logical statement.
    - Arainach 1y ago
      You can't prove a negative. Usage numbers tell the real story. Either people haven't heard of it, or, worse for proponents, they have heard of it and have decided it's not good enough.
opan 1y ago
I fixed a computer for some old people once who weren't the least bit technical, but they had LibreOffice installed. My guess is they found it searching "microsoft word free" or similar. A bit like how some kids end up finding Minetest/Luanti by searching "free Minecraft".
graemep 1y ago
> Maybe you need to pay attention if you're dealing with certain European governments these day Open document formats have been the UK standard for things like .gov.uk for many years. About a decade IIRC. Ignored by some people (notably the Office of National Statistics, of whatever its called these days). > Most of the world, most of America, most of China, India, etc. haven't even heard of it. I have come across quite a few non-tech people who use Libre Office. It has great (some people say better than MS Word with itself between version) compatibility with MS office formats.

tredre3 1y ago

LibreOffice's best guess is that they had 200M MAUs in 2019. I personally find that hard to believe and they don't explain their methodology to arrive at that number (presumably they looked at the downloads and picked a number of users based on feelings). But, if that number is true, then I suppose you're not only right, but LibreOffice is already near 5% market share.