The announcement of LibreOffice Online this week came as welcome news to many people concerned about the paucity of online options for those who want software freedom with their online document solutions. But can open source SaaS succeed?The open source community needs a truly open alternative to current mainstream online document collaboration solutions, all of which are compromised by lock-in. LibreOffice Online will offer the full flexibility to deploy in-house or hosted cloud instances while using true open standards for its documents.Moreover, the rich capabilities of LibreOffice -- which include support for the enterprise content management interface CMIS and cloud storage -- mean the offering can rapidly mature and adapt to changing enterprise conditions. Contributions will be needed to package the software for various delivery formats, but there’s a good chance the work will attract multiple contributors wanting to escape the tentacles of Microsoft and Google.
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