A consortium formed by Nextcloud, Ionos, and Proton has introduced Euro-Office, an office suite based on OnlyOffice. This development aims to offer a European alternative to solutions like Microsoft Office, prioritizing control over the code and data. The initiative responds to the EU's digital sovereignty strategy. A preliminary version is on GitHub, with the stable version planned for summer.
Technical Base, Licenses, and Roadmap 📄
Euro-Office is built on the open-source core of OnlyOffice, ensuring compatibility with DOCX, XLSX, and ODF formats. The project adds specific integrations and is deployed on infrastructure under European jurisdiction. The licensing model and the management of contributions to the code base are key aspects under development. The goal is to create an ecosystem maintained and controlled by European entities.
Goodbye Clippy, Hello Digital Bureaucracy 🧾
While some miss the paperclip-shaped assistant, Euro-Office promises an authentically European experience. Imagine an assistant that, instead of suggesting fonts, reminds you to comply with GDPR before saving a document. Or that the toolbar includes a button to generate reports in the 24 official languages of the EU, with the same efficiency as an administrative procedure. Digital sovereignty has its own rhythm.
CLARIFICATION from the ONLYOFFICE development team:
The team states that they were not aware of this launch, and our code was used without our prior consent.
The project uses technology derived from ONLYOFFICE editors. However, it does not comply with the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (AGPLv3) nor with our required additional terms. Full compliance involves preserving the ONLYOFFICE trademark, providing proper attribution to the original technology, and fulfilling open-source distribution obligations.
We believe that working within a proper legal framework is the true foundation of open-source collaboration. This event provides important context for your audience regarding software licenses, copyright, and the open-source ecosystem in general.
You can read our full official statement and legal breakdown here:
View official statement