Sixteen Years of LibreOffice: Independence, ODF, and Digital Sovereignty

A Defining Moment in Free Software History

On September 28, 2010, a group of OpenOffice.org community members announced the launch of the LibreOffice project and the foundation that would support it: The Document Foundation. That announcement sparked some confusion and skepticism, along with enormous enthusiasm from those who believe in free and open source software.

That day acted as a litmus test, unequivocally separating the true supporters of free and open source software from those who were opportunistically riding the coattails of the OpenOffice.org project or waiting for the right moment to stamp their own proprietary mark on it.

Sixteen years on, LibreOffice has been independent for longer than OpenOffice.org ever was under Sun Microsystems.

🔗 Official Source: blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/09/28/sixteen-years-of-libreoffices/

The Governance Model: The Foundation That Endured

In 2010, the foundation chose a model that many criticized: a foundation that owns all the assets and manages the infrastructure, while no single company can control the community.

Sixteen years later, this model has proven to be best suited to the project’s reality. Today, the debate is no longer about software licensing and implementation costs. It has shifted to Digital Sovereignty. This concept has been championed by the foundation for over twenty years, ever since OpenOffice.org began using the standard open ODF (Open Document Format) file format.

ODF: The Only Sovereign Format

At the time, the term “digital sovereignty” was not yet in use, but the issue was already clear: control over the format in which public documents are stored, and how this format evolves, must not lie with a single company, but with the community.

In this sense, ODF is the “sovereign” format par excellence, because it does not depend on the authority of a single company — and therefore on its commercial strategies — but on the users: individuals, organizations, and businesses who use it and determine its evolution through the contributions of experts within the independent OASIS Technical Committee, which comprises companies, foundations, public bodies, and individuals.

The foundation considers ODF to be the only “sovereign” format, acting as a litmus test for office suites that claim to champion digital sovereignty yet continue to use the proprietary OOXML format, thereby submitting to Microsoft’s monopoly.

Numbers That Speak for Themselves

One million downloads per week: A steady, stable figure.
Fifty million visits per month: To the updates website.
120 language versions: An absolute record for desktop software.
Thousands of contributors: Developers, translators, testers, documentation authors, and designers.

These numbers do not come from marketing campaigns, but from sixteen years of consistent behavior.

A Message to Those Who Claim Digital Sovereignty

The foundation states in its announcement: “We would simply like all software that proclaims itself a champion of digital sovereignty to demonstrate the same level of consistency as the LibreOffice project. This means not bowing to the Microsoft monopoly in pursuit of a theoretical goal — namely, compatibility with Microsoft’s proprietary format — which ultimately leads them to betray the very digital sovereignty they claim to champion.”

LibreOffice, according to the statement, is the only office suite to use ODF as its native format without proclaiming itself a champion of digital sovereignty because, after sixteen years of consistent behavior, it does not need to chase trends to secure its place in the market.

Thanks to the Contributors

This occasion was an opportunity to thank the thousands of contributors who have built LibreOffice over the years: developers, translators, testers, documentation authors, designers, and supporters. Most of these contributors remain unseen by the users who benefit from their work.

Their efforts are evident in the quality, robustness, and flexibility of the software, in the 120 language versions, in the support options, and in the project’s presence within the global free and open source software communities.

Summary

Sixteen years of independence and commitment to free software, open standards, and digital sovereignty. What began as an announcement met with skepticism has become one of the most successful free software projects in history. LibreOffice is not just a free alternative to Microsoft Office. It is the embodiment of the idea that control over digital documents must remain in the hands of users, not in the hands of a single company.