LibreOffice, the free alternative to Microsoft Office that’s been around for nearly two decades, has just had its most popular release ever. Version 26.8 landed on 26 August, and within a week the installer had been downloaded more than a million times – and that’s before counting everyone who updated through their Linux system.

The obvious explanation is the improved writing and typography tools, which matter to the charities, government offices and businesses that rely on the software. But there’s a more interesting candidate: LibreOffice made a point of announcing that it ships with no generative AI built in, on privacy grounds.

A day after celebrating the download record, The Document Foundation, which runs the project, went further with a blog post cheekily titled “Yes, no AI is now a feature”. The foundation was also blunt about why its position differs from its rivals’. It argued that for subscription-based companies, an AI assistant is a handy excuse to raise prices and to keep customers’ documents locked inside their own systems.

source: https://manualdousuario.net/