The latest build of Collabora Office – Collabora Office 6.4 – is now available for iOS, Android, and ChromeOS – and there’s plenty of updates!
UK company Collabora Office, the team behind LibreOffice, has just issued a major update to its suite of productivity applications. Collabora Office is essentially an open-source version of Office 365 and Google Drive.
But unlike Microsoft’s Office 365, Collabora Office is 100% open-source and 100% free to use (on certain packages). The latest update, version 6.4, brings a host of updates to the software’s suite of office applications.
Collabora Office 6.4 is now available for Android, iOS, and ChromeOS. And, again, this application is completely free. So if you want to get off Microsoft’s teat, despite Outlook now being free for Mac users, maybe it is time you gave this open-source suite of tools a chance?
What’s New In Collabora Office 6.4?
Because Collabora Office runs on Android, iOS, and ChromeOS – and that requires different coding – the update brings specific changes to each platform. Let’s look at what each platform can expect from Collabora Office 6.4.
Collabora Office For iOS
- Improved Multitasking
- Third-Party Fonts
Collabora Office For Android
- Dark Mode
Collabora Office ChromeOS
- Multiple UX Changes To Improve Usability
On top of all of the above, there is a raft of speed and performance updates designed to make Collabora Office more efficient to use – both for enterprise and personal users.
If you download Collabora Office now, or you’re already running it, you can expect to start seeing the update rollout shortly. Here’s a statement from the company on when users can expect to start seeing the update:
Starting with Collabora Office 6.4.0 for mobile, we moved to a staggered release schedule. This means that new versions are made available to users gradually. Version updates will be rolled out to users in sequential waves, so some will see them sooner than others.
What is Collabora Office?
Everybody knows what Microsoft Office is. And Google Drive. Even Apple’s suite of office apps is now pretty popular. But if you don’t have a Mac and you don’t want to pay for Office 365, and you don’t want to use Google Drive for whatever reason, you have open-source options like Collabora Office.
Collabora Office is free to use, it works on desktop and mobile, and it will sync up between devices too, so you can start something on your desktop PC and then pick it up later on your phone and/or tablet.
With Collabora Office, you get three core applications: a word processor, spreadsheets, and presentations. The software is 100% free and 100% secure – there is no external storage required.
Collabora Office also has interoperability with Microsoft Office and Open Document Standard, so you can freely work on Collabora Office and share it with other users in your team running different software.
How Much Does Collabora Office Cost?
Collabora Office is open source, so the basic package – called CODE – is 100% free. CODE supports up to 20 users and is for testing and home use only (although I’m not sure how they’d check this in theory).
Next, you have Collabora for SMBs which supports up to 99 users and costs 17 EUROS per month. This package includes:
- Up-to 99 users
- LTS
- SLA
- Signed Security Updates
- Maintenance – Fixes and improvements over lifetime
- Access to our Customer Portal (Documentation = Support)
And, finally, you have the enterprise package, called Collabora for Enterprises. The cost of this package is not listed; you have to contact Collabora for a quote. The price will depend on the size of your organization.
The Collabora for Enterprises package includes:
- Volume discounts
- LTS
- SLA
- Signed Security Updates
- Maintenance – Fixes and improvements over lifetime
- Access to our Customer Portal (Documentation = Support)
- Roadmap: Product management interaction and input
- Complete support during integration process
- Customization
- Desktop Version
You can check out all the packages here. Check out how long Chromebooks last here!