New version of LibreOffice ready for download

Sam Varghese
Friday, 05 August 2011 11:54

Business IT - Open Source

Just a month short of one year since it forked from OpenOffice.org, the free office suite, LibreOffice, has released version 3.4.2 aimed at both private users and businesses.

The fork occurred in September 2010 after the hackers involved in OpenOffice.org realised that Oracle, which had inherited the project as part of its purchase of Sun Microsystems, had little interest in FOSS projects unless there was a chance of adding to the bottom line.

A body named The Document Foundation (TDF) was set up and work began to improve the code. With around 300 contributors at work, LibreOffice 3.4.2 has fixed most of the important bugs identified by users in the previous version.

LibreOffice spokesman Italo Vignoli says the software can now be deployed for production needs by most enterprises.

"The Document Foundation encourages large organizations deploying LibreOffice to do so in conjunction with a support partner, who can carefully assess specific requirements, help manage migration and provide bespoke fixes for identified issues," Vignoli said in a media release.

"Purchasing LibreOffice support from a TDF partner also provides enterprises with an indirect means to contribute financially to the project, thereby funding its development, improving its stability, and accelerating its growth. Users should always refer to the release notes before deploying the new version."