Ask HN: Why hasn't OnlyOffice see higher adoption than LibreOffice?

[profwalkstr]

OnlyOffice is a free and open-source (AGPL license) office suite that seems more polished and easier to use than LibreOffice. LibreOffice, compared to OnlyOffice, feels clunky, harder to use and dated.

Why hasn't it seem more adoption compared to LibreOffice, especially by Linux distros?

Why is LibreOffice favored over OnlyOffice?

[dwinkl]

I tried it a couple of years back and it seemed pretty bare bones. Now it looks way more polished but their website is confusing coming to it as an individual user. I thought I might need the “developer” edition since I am definitely not an enterprise user and was presented with a €1950 price tag. There is also Docs, DocSpace, and Workspace. Just looking at the names I have no idea how to differentiate those. So finally I find the download for the desktop apps thinking at what point will I have to pay for that?

[KomoD]

Personally, I just prefer LibreOffice for the looks of it, doesn't look like MS software, doesn't have a bunch of unnecessary stuff and they don't have any reason to screw you over since they're a non-profit, unlike OnlyOffice

[MountainMan1312]

I'd guess it's simply because most people have never heard of it.

I just downloaded it to try it out, and it looks really nice, although it completely ignores my system theme stuff so it looks extremely ugly, but that's beside the point because LibreOffice is far uglier.

There's also the fact that OnlyOffice is made by a company for profit, and that turns a lot of FOSS away. Many, including me, are into FOSS because of some underlying anti-capitalist reasons and avoid it out of principle (though I'll admit I simply didn't know of its existence).

[thisislife2]

Had never even heard of it.

And their website doesn't help at all - https://www.onlyoffice.com/ - At first, I thought it is selling some kind of add-on for Businesses to use with Microsoft Office. Then I clicked "Get it now" and saw a page that gives me options to download a Docker Image, or Cloud Images or VM Images. What the heck? Then I see the "GET OnlyOffice" link in the navigation menu and go to it - the menu pop-up talks about DocSpace, Enterprise, Workspace etc. etc. and asks to sign-in for cloud. Again, what the heck?? Then I go to the PRODUCT link that also pop-ups lot of options - like - Doc editors to integrate into your business platform .... ??? Then I see the "Desktop and Mobile Apps" option in it and click 'For Desktop'. And finally, here I find what I had been searching for - Get free desktop office suite for document editing and collaboration ( https://www.onlyoffice.com/desktop.aspx ).

When a website is designed to be "Enterprisey" - only targetting and catering to a particular audience, and totally ignores everyone else - I am not surprised its user-base is limited. As others pointed out, it doesn't seem like a place where you find free open-source software.

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I downloaded and installed it to try it out, and when I opened it, the first thing I am greeted with, without any warning or information, is a pop-up by the OS informing me that OnlyOffice wants access to my "Chromium Safe Storage" ( https://imgur.com/a/yjA3aJo ). That felt weird and confusing.

But yeah, overall, it does seem more polished than LibreOffice, with a better UI.

[kobalsky → thisislife2]

accessing chromium safe storage? maybe they are trying to get session cookies for something, seems naughty

[someoldgit]

OnlyOffice lacks an equivalent to MS Access or LO Base.

[abricot → someoldgit]

Not sure that is what keeps most away

[jmakov]

Had to find their Github project to understand, that there is a separate desktop bundle for free.

[Saris]

OnlyOffice is a web app running in a browser container so performance is really bad.

[profwalkstr → Saris]

No, they also have desktop apps. Even as Flatpaks and Snaps

[Saris → profwalkstr]

That's what I meant, as I remember the desktop apps are a browser wrapper.

[I_am_tiberius]

It was developed in Russia.

[justinclift → I_am_tiberius]

Looks like the ownership was moved to a Singaporean holding company in 2023:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnlyOffice#Ownership

The ownership info for the holding company doesn't appear to be public info, so it's definitely possible the move was just a bullshit exercise to avoid sanctions.

No real idea personally though.