LibreOffice rails against Microsoft Office’s ribbon interface

The Document Foundation criticizes Microsoft’s ribbon menu. According to the developers, the widespread bar is wrongly considered the gold standard. But what do you think makes the open source alternative actually better than the market leader?

Criticism of the Office standard

The developers of LibreOffice have expressed clear criticism of the widely used ribbon interface of Microsoft Office. In one Blog post The Document Foundation (TDF) argues that the popularity of the ribbon is not based on ergonomic advantages. Rather, the success is based solely on the enormous market power of the Redmond company. Many users would only judge software based on how closely it resembles the well-known model, which slows down innovation.

According to the foundation, there is no objective evidence of superior usability for the ribbons introduced with Office 2007. At that time, Microsoft replaced the usual menus with the visually dominant ribbon, which initially caused considerable protests among experienced users. One point of criticism is that the design takes up valuable vertical space, especially on modern 16:9 monitors. Experienced users are often faster with classic, deeply tiered menu structures because muscle memory works more effectively here, says TDF.

Flexibility instead of compulsion

As Neowin citing the TDF article, the makers of free software see their strength in adaptability. While Microsoft 365 or clones like WPS Office usually offer a rigid interface, LibreOffice gives the user the choice. The community developed different concepts to support different ways of working. Users can switch between various views depending on their workflow and preferences:

• Classic toolbars for traditional work
• The tab-based view (similar to the ribbon)
• Compact versions for small screens
• A sidebar-based environment for widescreens
• Context-dependent individual bars

Formats and history

In addition to the surface debate, the developers put forward technical arguments. In contrast to Microsoft’s OOXML, the native Open Document Format (ODF) guarantees long-term access to files without dependencies. The Microsoft format is considered extremely complex by experts. In practice, saved files often differ from the specifications, which makes it difficult to display them correctly in other software. Another distinguishing feature is the handling of data.

LibreOffice, which was created in 2010 as a spin-off from OpenOffice.org, completely dispenses with telemetry or advertising. While commercial suites are increasingly integrating cloud requirements and AI functions, TDF relies on local data processing. The open source code also enables independent security verification, which is crucial for authorities and data protection-conscious companies.