LibreOffice 5.1, the next release of the popular open source office suite, has officially entered the final stage of development with the release of the Alpha version, which has been released in time for the first Bug Hunting Session due to take place from Friday, 30th October to Sunday, 1st November (posts passim).
LibreOffice 5.1 starts twice as fast as the previous version and, as well as the usual incremental interoperability improvements with MS Office file formats (including MS Office 2016), incorporates some useful new features, such as the Chart Sidebar to change settings in a more intuitive way, easier workflow with Google Drive, OneDrive and SharePoint, plus a Style Menu in Writer.
The first LibreOffice 5.1 release candidate (RC) will be available in mid December, followed by second and third RCs in January 2016, with the release version becoming available in early February, just after FOSDEM 2016 (where LibreOffice developers will provide all the technical details about the new and improved software features).
Over the last 12 months, around 300 developers have hacked the LibreOffice source code, providing over 19,000 commits, representing a weekly average of 375 commits.
Download LibreOffice
LibreOffice is available in 2 versions codenamed “fresh” and “still” for production use*.
LibreOffice 5.0.2, the current “fresh” version, is available for download, whilst LibreOffice 4.4.5, the current “still” version, is likewise available for download.
* Alpha and pre-release versions should only be used by technology experts or enthusiasts who don’t mind getting their fingers cut by bleeding edge software! Ed. 🙂