One of Linux desktop's most iconic default apps is suddenly up for debate. A thread on Fedora's Discourse forum, proposing that Fedora retire LibreOffice as its default office suite and ship Collabora Office instead, has turned into one of the most active discussions on the forum in recent memory without a single formal change actually being on the table.

How the Thread Started

The proposal came from a Fedora user frustrated with what they described as LibreOffice's outdated interface, along with recurring compatibility problems opening complex Word and PowerPoint files issues serious enough that they said they had switched to WPS Office at times just to avoid formatting getting mangled. After trying Collabora Office, which shares LibreOffice's underlying engine but ships a redesigned interface, they proposed Fedora swap it in as the out-of-the-box default.

What Collabora Office actually is: Collabora Productivity, the company behind the self-hosted Collabora Online suite, released a standalone desktop version of Collabora Office in November 2025. It's built on the same LibreOffice codebase Fedora already ships, but reworks the interface to mirror Collabora Online's web-based look, drops Base and the Java dependencies that come with it, and skips Draw and Math entirely. The older, LibreOffice-style interface Collabora previously sold to enterprises was renamed Collabora Office Classic.

A Real Debate, Not a Pile-On

The discussion has split roughly into camps rather than settling one way. Some commenters back the switch on interface grounds alone. Others have pushed back with concerns specific to Fedora's packaging standards: Collabora Office is distributed mainly as a Flatpak rather than through the RPM-based packaging Fedora prefers for default applications, its licensing arrangement differs from LibreOffice's straightforwardly community-governed model, and critics worry it functions as a funnel toward Collabora's paid Online and enterprise services. A third group has proposed skipping the argument altogether by having Fedora ship no office suite by default at all, leaving the choice including web-based options entirely up to the user.

Where This Actually Stands

Despite the volume of discussion, nothing has moved past the forum stage. No formal Fedora Change proposal has been filed for FESCo, Fedora's engineering steering committee, to review, and adopting or removing a default application at that level requires exactly that kind of proposal and vote. In practice, that means Fedora Workstation still ships LibreOffice by default today, and anyone wanting to try Collabora Office in the meantime can already install it themselves from Flathub.

Still, the fact that replacing LibreOffice is being seriously discussed at all is notable on its own. LibreOffice has been Fedora's default office suite for well over a decade, ever since Fedora moved on from OpenOffice.org, and Red Hat engineers were historically among its core contributors. Whether this thread turns into an actual Change proposal or simply fades the way plenty of energetic Discourse threads do is the thing worth watching next.

Sources

  • Fedora Discussion, "Suggestion: Retire Libreoffice; ship Collabora as the default office suite out-of-the-box": discussion.fedoraproject.org
  • Phoronix, "Fedora Discussion Raises The Idea Of Replacing LibreOffice With Collabora Office," September 24, 2026: phoronix.com

This article was written by DigitalEscapeTools based on the Fedora Discourse thread, Phoronix's reporting, and publicly available information at the time of publication.