Mastodawn

Large organizations and corporations moving to open source is a great thing.

If they have budget, they should still contribute and "pay" for the open source software they use.

Edit: Adding in this key quote as a positive example:

"Austria isn't just replacing Microsoft software. Unlike typical public-sector and corporate migrations, Austria's military has heavily invested in LibreOffice development itself. The armed forces have been funding the creation of new features and improvements that are now included in public releases. These additions, ranging from improved slideshow editing to better handling of pivot tables, have been rolled into the latest version of LibreOffice."

https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-european-military-just-ditched-microsoft-for-open-source-libreoffice-heres-why/

This European military just ditched Microsoft for open-source LibreOffice - here's why

It's not about the cost savings, either. Many government organizations are replacing Microsoft software for a more important reason.

ZDNET

@tinker I sincerely hope they’re paying back at least some of the money they’re saving from their M365 subs to supporting LibreOffice

zaicurity Sep 27, 2025

@WiteWulf @tinker it’s in the article:
„Austria isn't just replacing Microsoft software. Unlike typical public-sector and corporate migrations, Austria's military has heavily invested in LibreOffice development itself. The armed forces have been funding the creation of new features and improvements that are now included in public releases. These additions, ranging from improved slideshow editing to better handling of pivot tables, have been rolled into the latest version of LibreOffice.“

@zaicurity @tinker awesome, thankyou. I did skim read the article, apparently not well enough 😀

@tinker I recall writing a similar article for the international herald tribune about nations moving away from windows toward Linux …

In 2002.

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/09/IHT-it-managers-cite-security-and-competition-when-choosing-a-linux-system.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

IT managers cite security and competition when choosing a Linux system : ...while corporations take a closer look

A Cannes-based private investigator, Alain Stevens, recently switched computer operating systems from Windows to Linux. "It's a security issue," Stevens said. "Viruses which target Windows could send confidential documents from my machines

The New York Times

WTL Sep 27, 2025

@tinker It’s great to read that some organizations are giving back to open source.

scriptjunkie Sep 27, 2025

@tinker this is unfortunately not great for security though. Libre office has nowhere near the hardening, sandboxing, and SDL MS has

@sj @tinker Until MS sends over all your data to the US' cloud...

Simon Zerafa Sep 27, 2025

Well isn't that a better use of public money then sending it into the one way corporate money pit! 🙂👍

DJ Sexy Fresh Sep 27, 2025

@tinker i love that microsoft loses millions of dollars because of this. Hopefully more.

fuzzyfuzzyfungus Sep 27, 2025

@tinker It will be interesting to see if and how MS responds. In theory they could, presumably, knock together something out of the parts of O365 that still has the attitude and behavior of 2003-2007ish; I'm just not sure that they'd want that floating around, all being-an-option, when they are trying to sell the grimdark future of only copilot and azure services.

xs4me2 Sep 27, 2025

Great move, we need to get away from these corporate entities…

WorldTravelerAll7 Sep 27, 2025

Yes! 💙

I used to put Made w/ #LibreOffice on the bottom of all my #memes the free alt to #MSOffice that doesn't steal your data (like #Google docs does)

We need more usage, promotion & funding to open source software

Still waiting for libreoffice to release a version for tablets or 2in1s so i can use my pen. i do a lot of sketches & on the fly notes in powerpoint & notes

i need libre to make this 💙

#BreakTheOligarchy #WT7

Tinker ☀️Sep 27, 2025

@WorldTravelerAll7 - Does LibreOffice Draw fulfill that use case? https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/draw/

Draw | LibreOffice - Free and private office suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft

Draw, LibreOffice, ODF, open standards, creative software, vector drawing

WorldTravelerAll7 Sep 27, 2025

@tinker you would think, right? but surprisingly, no. even #LibreOffice drawing app doesn't allow for free form drawing w/ a stylist like powerpoint & OneNote do. That's the only reason I still keep OneNote on my laptops. Although, i am learning of new open source software for drawing. i just haven't found anything that will allow me to write or draw as freely as i'd like w/ a stylus as those 2

i'm really hoping LibreOffice develops something. perhaps as tablets & 2in1s become more popular💙

Tinker ☀️Sep 27, 2025

@WorldTravelerAll7 - Alas, yeah I feel ya. Well here's hoping they can and do build out that feature set.

Peter Hagen Sep 27, 2025

@WorldTravelerAll7 @tinker Inkscape?

WorldTravelerAll7 Sep 28, 2025

@peterhagen @tinker
open source. nice💙 i'll definitely check out Inkscape. i need a replacement for onenote

i'd really like #libreoffice to incorporate that feature, though. libre has been my word, spreadsheet & powerpoint for over a decade now

as a consultant, i can say it saves into ms office formats pretty seamlessly for clients, since most still use that

but i really want touch & draw functionality

plus, i don't get why people still use ms office. paying fascists to steal your data?

Jeff Fortin T. (風の庭園のNekohayo)Sep 28, 2025

@WorldTravelerAll7 @peterhagen @tinker If your goal is just to do handwriting with a stylus like on a paper pad, and not necessarily only annotations of PDFs, consider Xournal++.

Peter Hagen Sep 28, 2025

@nekohayo @WorldTravelerAll7 @tinker looks good too indeed

WorldTravelerAll7 Sep 28, 2025

@peterhagen @tinker

For me, Inkscape is not a place where i could simply start writing or drawing in a space.that was standard onenote

i assumed by this point they could simply turn what i write into text.there's some progress there.

but this still doesn't record what i write or draw like a pen would on paper. maybe i just need to learn it better.

Peter Hagen Sep 28, 2025

@WorldTravelerAll7 @tinker Inkscape is more a general design + drawing tool. I guessed you can use it for note, but it’s not designed for it. But maybe Scrivano is. It’s more like an endless canvas to draw and write on for note taking. But I’m not sure what your requirements are

Peter Hagen Sep 28, 2025

@WorldTravelerAll7 @tinker and for me it worked like a replacement for using an IPad, with a touchscreen with active pen on a Lenovo laptop for quick schema drawing etc

WorldTravelerAll7 Sep 28, 2025

i said stylist instead of stylus 🤣🤣🤣

SensibleOtter Sep 27, 2025

I had worked with and at a number of “Large Corporations” that use OpenSource software.

I can definitely say that I have seen more than a few PRs merge from our teams with fixed/enhancements.

@tinker Granted worst-case they did it as a matter of math in a purely transactional relationship, knowing that using #CCSS like #MicrosoftOffice won't get them the same features nor ability to get improvements done or tacked-on with 3rd party addons.

So even if they only improve what they want and only pay devs to do precisely that, it's still a net positive for @libreoffice and any #LibreOffice user.

Synapsenkitzler Sep 28, 2025

@tinker
At the former oganization I worked for we started an open source workgroup. One of the goals is to pay=support for the lots of free open source software which is in use. It is tricky cause the organisation is funded by public money, and it is not allowed to pay money for anything that is 'free'. But there are legal ways to do.

#opensource #publicmoney #foss #oss

Kirrus Sep 28, 2025

@tinker I've been looking for an easy way to sponsor @forgejo , and get commercial support, ever since we moved to it. For smaller companies, OSS devs really can make things easier for us :/. Like invoices! Give me an invoice please! Do many don't :(

Robert Wolff Sep 28, 2025

Hi @kirrus, Maybe @meissa could be a fit for you? I think they'd be happy to develop Forgejo fixes/features for you, and they provide proper invoices ;)
@tinker @forgejo