LibreOffice will now cost $8.99 on the Mac App Store

Today, The Document Foundation (TDF) announced the release of LibreOffice on Apple’s Mac App Store. Along with the release, TDF also announced that it will begin to charging for the software, pricing it at $8.99. While this isn’t a large sum for an office suite, it might come as a bit of surprise for some, as the software was previously free. The open source software suite was first released in 2011, and since that time TDF has not charged for the it. The firm announced that the money made from the software will be invested to support future development.

Italo Vignoli, who is part of marketing for LibreOffice stated:

“We are grateful to Collabora for having supported LibreOffice on Apple’s Mac App Stores for quite a long time. The objective is to fulfill the needs of individual and enterprise users in a better way, although we know that the positive effects of the change will not be visible for some time. Educating enterprises about FOSS is not a trivial task and we have just started our journey in this direction.”

The previous version of the app that was supported by the aforementioned Collabora came at a cost. The firm charged $10 for the standard version of the app, but also offered technical support for three years. So while LibreOffice was sold in the past, this new version on the Mac App Store will be TDF’s first time putting it up for sale. With the release of LibreOffice on the App Store, TDF will now attempt to draw a clear line between its consumer and business segments.

Thankfully, the Document Foundation will still offer a free version of LibreOffice for macOS through its own website. TDF states that this is its recommended method for downloading the software. If you’re asking what is different between the two versions, both version are based on the same code, but the version found on the Mac App Store does not include Java in order to adhere to rules of the store. TDF states that because Java is not included, that software will have limits when it comes to functionality. Much like the previous version, the one on the App Store will be also be supported by volunteers.

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Source: The Document Foundation 
Via: The Register