Users who download the software through the Mac App Store will be charged a one-time fee. Since its inception, The Document Foundation has made all versions of LibreOffice free.
Italo Vignoli, head of marketing and public relations at LibreOffice, said that the change was reflective of a new marketing strategy where TDF will focus on releasing free, community versions of LibreOffice. Vignoli says that the LibreOffice client on the Mac App Store is not based on the same source code as the base LibreOffice project. External dependency are not allowed on the Mac App Store, so libreoffice doesn't include java.
Vignoli said the goal is to draw a clear distinction between professional services and community releases. Vignoli said that they were grateful to the company for having supported LibreOffice for a long time. The goal is to fulfill the needs of individual and enterprise users in a better way. It's not a trivial task to educate enterprises about free and open source software.
The version of LibreOffice hosted on the Mac App Store is uncertain as to who will maintain it. The general manager of the productivity company implied that TDF would lead the charge.
It is to be hoped that the proceeds from the distribution of LibreOffice on the Mac App Store will be reinvested into the development of LibreOffice itself. 10% of our revenue was donated to the TDF to make sure there was no financial loss from missed donations. When the Apple app-store reduced its commission rate, we increased that as well.
Vignoli made it clear that LibreOffice will not be available through the Mac App Store. Users have to download the release from the website instead of using the App Store features such as automatic updates.
Some might think the new charge is consumer-hostile. It costs $100 per year to publish an app on the App Store, with Apple taking a 30% cut of sales, and many open source projects have commercial flavors as their licenses don't prevent developers from creating paid apps. For example, the open source painting programs Paint.NET and Krita are available for free from the projects' websites but charge for downloads through the Microsoft Store, the proceeds from which go towards development and support.
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