Office.eu launches as Europe's sovereign office platform

147 points - today at 6:22 PM

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Comments

Confiks today at 7:47 PM
This is just a Nextcloud rebrand with a confusing domain name. It claims "Core is [100%] Open Source" but no source code is provided beyond what's already available in the upstream projects, and it's not likely there will be (as this happens a lot). It's a one-man project without a track record or certifications based out of a shared office space [1].

And don't get me wrong: there's nothing wrong with starting a business rebranding Nextcloud and keeping your development closed source, as long as your honest about that, which this initiative is not.

If you're looking for a Nextcloud hoster, there's a long list of partners here [2] that contractually obligated themselves to contribute back to Nextcloud for every user they onboard.

[1] https://blog.tomaszdunia.pl/officeeu-eng/

[2] https://nextcloud.com/partners/

dabedee today at 6:42 PM
I laud the attempt and I think it's important there are more projects that try to compete with their American counterparts. I do want to gently note that if your entire pitch is "we are a bold, independent European alternative that liberates you from the hegemony of the established American players," maybe don't name your product the exact same thing as the product you're replacing? "Office." They named it "Office."
GavinAnderegg today at 6:46 PM
From the FAQ on the homepage:

    What is Office EU?
    Office EU is a European productivity suite for files, email, calendars, documents and calls, built on Nextcloud Hub. It brings Files, Talk, Groupware and Office together in one platform.
Looking through the Office EU screenshots, they do look like Nextcloud Groupware/Files/Office with the logo changed.

Mostly adding this because I wasn't sure if it was a new product or not based on a first glance over the Office EU site. Nextcloud offers recommendations for providers on their site, most of which are in the EU [0]. The Office EU website seems to be new since around January of this year [1]. More managed hosts for Nextcloud is a good thing in my book, but I'd be a bit wary to host my stuff with a brand new provider.

[0]: https://nextcloud.com/providers/

[1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20260116234614/https://office.eu...

p4bl0 today at 7:06 PM
It's always a good thing to have multiple players and I hope we can have actual EU-based alternatives, but I feel like this project, simply being a rebranded NextCloud as far as I can tell, is less interesting than La Suite numérique [1] developed by the French government or CryptPad [2] developed by XWiki, a French company based in Paris.

[1] https://lasuite.numerique.gouv.fr/

[2] https://cryptpad.org/

tiderpenger today at 6:50 PM
Microsoft draws over 3 billion dollars out of Norway yearly. We are many that want this number much, much closer to zero. At it's small steps like this that makes it possible.
niemandhier today at 8:19 PM
I prefer this : https://www.opendesk.eu/

What we need to get independent is the public infrastructures.

That has nothing to do with current tensions between Europe and the US.

It’s just unbecoming of a nation to depend in its core on the good will of another.

hmstx today at 7:39 PM
Well that's a pompous headline from the author's PR dept. "Europe" as in, "The European Union", or just some marketing trick based on making you believe it is to give it more weight?

I'm european and can still easily confuse the "European Union" and "Europe the general area" when context is lacking, it's not a big stretch of the imagination for me that people _anywhere_ could construe this as "official" as well.

All that it looks like is backed by some emanation from the city of The Hague. No mention of the EU proper. It's european owned and backed, sure, but not EU owned and backed.

Tsh, marketing. (see Bill Hicks on marketing).

haunter today at 7:46 PM
belst today at 7:11 PM
This seems to be one guy who repackages nextcloud and markets it as the "european alternative" as a quick cashcrab without any own developments
pentagrama today at 7:42 PM
About pricing [1]:

> What are the pricing plans?

> Office EU will offer simple plans for individuals and teams. Pricing will be competitive and designed to be easy to understand. We will publish full plan details closer to launch.

> Will there be a free plan?

> A free plan is planned after launch. It will be a good way to try Office EU before committing. Exact limits and features will be shared when it is ready.

[1] https://office.eu/faq

sgt today at 6:46 PM
> Office EU is a complete cloud-based office suite

Issue is.. if you are a traditional MS Office "poweruser", the last thing you want to do is spend your days in a web browser. These apps should also be available as native apps, similar to MS Word, Excel, Pages, Keynote, etc.

duxup today at 8:06 PM
I'm inclined to agree that this should have had a different name, gonna be different come up with a good name.

As for open source as they claim ... can't find the code or a link to it on their site.

So far this smells like a lot of intent but I'm not sure what this is.

EdNutting today at 7:01 PM
Am I being dumb: they say it's "open-source software" but I can't actually find a link (or links) to the software / source anywhere on the office.eu website??
Void_ today at 7:01 PM
Are we gonna talk about that cookie banner? https://cleanshot.com/share/cDQ5RMkP
CrzyLngPwd today at 8:05 PM
If the EU is successful in this endeavour, then the US will lean on them to abandon it.
rrr_oh_man today at 6:38 PM
Cheap purchased PR slop with fake articles and no product.

e.g.:

- https://hostingdiscussion.com/news/european-cloud-workspace-...

- https://www.jornaldenegocios.pt/empresas/amp/plataforma-offi...

And it seems to be repackaged Collabora (~LibreOffice):

https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/05/office_eu_suite/

bcye today at 7:09 PM
Weird product page, why would you put the number of member states and residents Europe has in your „feature“ section?
deleted today at 7:27 PM
davidpaulyoung today at 6:56 PM
You can have hosted Nextcloud on Hetzner, with Headscale, email server, Vaultwarden, and Wordpress on European infrastructure (Hetzner) individually installed just for you from Federated Computer today for $19/month unlimited user accounts. I use it every day. Human support, too...!
KellyCriterion today at 7:34 PM
Has anybody tested the Email client? Is it somehow on par with Outlook (Desktop/install version)?
dlcarrier today at 7:06 PM
Isn't Proton Docs European? Not that any European government would support them, because they don't spy on their users.
bradleybuda today at 7:03 PM
XHR requests to cookiebot.com -> dig cookiebot.com -> 141.193.213.20 -> ipinfo.io -> Austin, TX
PowerElectronix today at 6:44 PM
The EU tech ecosystem is sadder every day
jarym today at 7:07 PM
Offices are going out of fashion.. why name a product Office in 2026?
worksonmine today at 7:00 PM
I can't find any info about the people behind it. The branding, mentioning "The Hague" and the rest of the landing page seems to try really hard to fool me into believing this is official from the European Union, I wouldn't trust them with anything, just get Libreoffice.

Be careful.

himata4113 today at 6:50 PM
Has it been hugged this easily? Doesn't load for me.
nradov today at 6:52 PM
Good luck to them, but without an equivalent to Microsoft Access it's not really a replacement for Microsoft Office for many power users. (Yes, I'm aware that Access has some weaknesses as a database but for quick-and-dirty custom applications it's still the easiest platform out there.)
dlev_pika today at 6:57 PM
As an American, I remember when none of this was an issue a mere 18 months ago, and it’s crazy to think we did this to ourselves. This is all so unnecessary… and dumb, very dumb.
lashull today at 7:02 PM
wtf!? I enter my email address for an invitation, receive a link to an est. 2 pages form for answering a shit load of unrelated question, like org name, org country, last summer vacation, first time I got pimples... Is this a request to become the next pope?
worik today at 6:51 PM
This has been a longtime coming, it is not unique but it is still significant

The enormous momentum of the installed base and occupied headspace of Microsoft systems made them lazy and complacent decades ago. They have been peddling insecure unreliable software for a generation now, and believed their was no viable threat.

It took too long, but finally. Trump and his mad bad actions are good for the Europeans like a heart attack is good for your health