iGuRu.gr: 10 questions to Italo Vignoli of LibreOffice

iGuRu.gr caught up with Italo Vignoli and spoke with him about issues that interest the majority of computer users. Italo Vignoli is a founding member of The Document Foundation, honorary president of Associazione LibreItalia, board member of the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and co-chair of the ODF Advocacy OASIS Open Project. He co-leads LibreOffice's marketing, public relations and media relations, co-chairs the certification program and is a spokesperson for the project.

Because freedom is priceless.

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Let's see what he told us.

1. Two words about yourself, what is your work with open source and LibreOffice?

My name is Italo Vignoli. I am Italian, 72 years old and have always lived in Italy, although I have had a lot of international work experience. I first encountered open source software when I was almost 50 years old, because I wanted to find an alternative to Microsoft Office and, above all, Outlook – the worst software in history – and I discovered OpenOffice. This happened in 2002. I had over twenty years of experience in technology marketing, both in-house and in a communications agency, so it was almost natural for me to start working on marketing for OpenOffice. In 2010, when LibreOffice was launched, I was part of the founding team and since then I have been coordinating marketing and communications worldwide.

2. What is your opinion about Euro-Office, should we trust IONOS?

My opinion is related to the Euro-Office announcement and for this reason it cannot be positive. The problem is not a lack of trust in the company, but the choice of a proprietary native format controlled by Microsoft – DOCX, XLSX, PPTX – which is the main means of attracting Microsoft users. As long as Euro-Office maintains this native format, it will be Microsoft's biggest ally in Europe and will force its users to remain at the mercy of the Redmond-based company.

This strategy may well have a commercial basis, as Microsoft's format is the most widely used, but it keeps users at arm's length from the digital sovereignty it claims to defend. Consequently, European citizens who choose Euro-Office will have the illusion of digital sovereignty, but in reality will remain at the mercy of Microsoft.

3. What is the Libreoffice roadmap? Will we see a workspace model from a brand we trust?

LibreOffice is like Microsoft Office – not Microsoft 365, which is a smaller version, nor Microsoft 365 clones like OnlyOffice and WPS Office – a full-fledged office suite with thousands of features. It’s hard to define a roadmap when improvements can only be incremental, given that almost all features are already available. As a result, developers are focusing on the user interface, ease of use, accessibility, and compatibility with Microsoft’s proprietary formats.

All of this is already enough for a project supported by donations – mostly from individuals – which needs to ensure its sustainability. Of course, if companies started supporting the project, instead of just using the software to save money without contributing in any way, perhaps we could consider expanding our activities. But after 16 years, it is hard to imagine that this situation will change.

4. How does marketing a free, open source project differ from traditional proprietary marketing for companies like Apple, Dell, or Adobe?

I worked for years as a communications consultant for Apple (12 years), Adobe (10 years) and Dell (4 years), as well as other similar companies, so I am very familiar with all aspects of the field.
Promoting an open source project is completely different, first of all because the relationship between product development and marketing is equal and marketing does not dictate the roadmap, as it is the case in commercial organizations. There is also the financial aspect, which is not comparable, as marketing an open source project has a budget of almost zero, so it relies on low-cost strategies, such as relations with journalists, and does not use any form of traditional advertising.

For a marketing professional, this is an interesting challenge, which really tests skills across the board and encourages the development of low-cost strategies and tactics capable of delivering significant results. LibreOffice has a strong global media presence, an extraordinary achievement considering I manage the entire global operation myself.

5. Everyday users are largely tied to proprietary suites like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. What marketing strategies are most effective in educating everyday users about digital freedom and open source?

Users make do with what they find on their computers, and Microsoft’s monopoly on desktops and Google’s monopoly on the personal cloud are at the root of the widespread adoption of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. The problem lies not with users, but with policymakers who have allowed this market distortion by leaving digital literacy education, for the past 40 years, largely in the hands of Microsoft, but also other Big Tech companies.

Faced with this situation – which is the result of a complex system that includes a monopoly on desktops and the cloud, which has become the norm, global lobbying strategies (Big Tech companies are the largest investors in lobbying at all levels), the subsequent complicity of politicians and the subsequent silence of procurement decision-makers (no one has ever been fired for choosing Microsoft) – it is impossible to approach the problem in traditional marketing terms, not least because of the obvious inequality in financial resources.

That’s why we’re focusing on creativity, responding quickly to announcements from Big Tech companies, and the challenge of gaining visibility while investing in education. The ODF campaign, which we launched in 2025 to mark the standard’s twentieth anniversary, delivered results that exceeded expectations. As a result, we decided not only to continue it, but also to explore some more technical aspects that we hadn’t considered initially, such as the horrors of the proprietary OOXML format , which supports lock-in. The challenge is to simplify concepts that are, in some cases, extremely complex – the result of years of research by Microsoft in an attempt to hide the truth.

6. What is your response to proprietary suites and the Lock-in Document Format?

Proprietary office suites would not be a problem if the native document format was standard and open and allowed seamless migration between software programs, as this would eliminate vendor lock-in and give users the freedom to choose, for themselves, the suite that best meets their needs.
This is particularly important when the user is a public body, which is responsible for interacting with citizens and, therefore, exchanging data with them. If the document format were standard and open, citizens could choose whichever office suite they wanted to use to manage their documents. However, if the format is proprietary, citizens are effectively forced to buy the suite that natively supports that format. This results in increased costs and a reduction in citizens’ personal freedoms.

The fact that there is software that supports the proprietary format does not alleviate the problem, because the proprietary format is controlled by a single company, which can decide at any time to block access to other software by silently updating the format in a way that makes the files unreadable (or, at best, difficult to read).

7. How can we help LibreOffice?

By explaining all these concepts to your readers, you educate them on the reality of digital sovereignty. These concepts are often difficult to understand for those without a technical background, but with a little imagination it is possible to find a way to explain them clearly. Many of the articles on the TDF blog approach the topic from an educational perspective, approaching the same topic from a different perspective each time. It is an approach – not the only one – but the results show that it is one of the paths worth following.

8. How many people are on the development team and how are they paid, if at all?

Each major release of LibreOffice is the result of the work of about 200 developers, 75% of whom are volunteers and 25% of whom are paid either by the foundation or by a company within the ecosystem. In the case of the foundation, the developers are paid for what we might call infrastructure-related work, as it is not customer- or domain-specific. While in the case of companies, the developers are paid for work requested by the companies' customers themselves, such as developing new features or solving problems.

Ultimately, the copyleft license ensures that all contributions are incorporated into the LibreOffice source code.

9. How do you promote LibreOffice in public sectors and organizations? What are the most common pitfalls that organizations face when transitioning to open source software and how can they overcome them?

In reality, we do not have sufficient resources for a specific promotional campaign, apart from participating in industry conferences and events. Today, public bodies are still deciding on the transition to open source software, either based on joint strategies – when politicians take the lead – or individual initiatives – when IT managers take the lead.

What has changed is the motivation: for many years it was economic, while today it is digital freedom or sovereignty.

The problems encountered during the transition are mainly psychological, linked to resistance to change on the part of users who have been accustomed to using the same tool for years without a doubt. There are technical problems, but they can almost always be solved with a workaround, the development of a new feature or the correction of a bug.

The foundation runs a certification program for migration and training professionals, which provides a list of individuals with the experience and skills to coordinate a project and ensure its success. Unfortunately, these professionals are often hired only when the transition has become problematic, and not during the analysis and planning phase of the project, when they could properly set up the process from the beginning.

10. The last answer is yours, please mention anything you think is important for LO at this time

Instead of focusing on LibreOffice, I believe it is important to write something that matters to users. Approach open source software without fear. You will discover a different world and a different way of managing technology, a world that gives you the freedom to decide which tool best suits your needs, among the thousands of programs available for free.

Of course, it takes a little willingness, and maybe a little more effort, but in the end the satisfaction is incomparable. All the tools you choose will be yours forever, and no one can ask you to pay for a subscription or license to manage what you have created – that is, your own content.

And don't be fooled by biased comments about difficulties, because open source software is incredibly easy to use, even for those with no technical background. I'm 72 years old with a degree in literature and no technical experience, but I've been using Linux for over 10 years and would never go back. Freedom is priceless.

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