LibreOffice slams rival Euro-Office as a 'de facto ally' of Microsoft lock-in
as concerns over possible Russian interference rise

Date:
Thu, 11 Jun 2026 05:05:00 +0000

Description:
LibreOffice slates Euro-Office for using Microsoft's proprietary OOXML
format, as reports reveal its Russian dependency.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Euro-Office defaults to Microsoft's OOXML format, encouraging vendor lock-in LibreOffice calls the European sovereign offering a blatant "freeware" copy of MS Office
Euro-Office and its origins, OnlyOffice, are mostly created by Russian developers The Document Foundation the organization behind LibreOffice has publicly criticized Euro-Office over concerns that it does not genuinely promote European digital sovereignty despite its marketing as a viable European alternative to the likes of Microsoft Office.

LibreOffice described Euro-Office as a "freeware clone" of its Big Tech
rival, claiming its strategy is to mimic Microsoft's interface and workflows. Conversely, OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice "are two genuine open-source
office suites, built from source code that originated in Europe," founding member Italo Vignoli wrote in an open letter . Latest Videos From Watch full video here: Euro-Office slated over multiple sovereignty concerns In the letter, Vignoli slated Microsoft's "horrible proprietary OOXML format," acknowledging the format's use in preventing sovereignty efforts by
supporting vendor lock-in. An understandable strategy by a tech vendor that, historically at least, hasn't actively supported sovereignty efforts over clear desires to grow the business.

However, while that much is understandable, Vignoli questions why
"Euro-Office defaults to the fully proprietary OOXML document format,"
arguing it simply reinforces Microsoft's ecosystem and creates a long-term dependency on the company's products. You may like Watch out Microsoft 365 European giants launch Euro-Office, a 'true sovereign office suite' EU to
back European alternatives to US dominated software and services in major
push for tech sovereignty Europe wants tech sovereignty but is this
realistic?

The original announcement described Euro-Office as a "sovereign replacement for Microsoft Office" with an "intuitive interface" and "strong compatibility." The familiar interface is believed to be intentional, to make migration easier.

European tech firms like IONOS, Nextcloud, Eurostack, XWiki, OpenProject, Soverin, Abilian and BTactic are behind the initiative. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get
all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting
your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Security concerns Another sovereignty concern is Euro-Office's potential if not slightly disconnected ties to Russia. Euro-Office is actually based on an existing project called OnlyOffice,
having only recently parted ways from that project in March 2026.

Cybernews has revealed up to 99% of the codebase can be traced back to developers working in Russian time zones with only a small proportion of contributions come from the European consortium itself.

Additionally, it appears that the new sovereign project continues to merge selected code changes from the upstream project, indicating it's still
reliant on Russian software developers.

With this in mind, users could have concerns over vulnerabilities, malicious code insertion and broader dependency risks that totally negate the sovereign effort in the first place. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/libreoffice-slams-rival-euro-office-as-a-de-fact o-ally-of-microsoft-lock-in-as-concerns-over-possible-russian-interference-ris e


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