BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Wednesday, September 20th, 2017 -- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced that the opportunity to apply for LibreOffice certification for migrations and trainings is now available to FSF Associate Members.

LibreOffice is a free software project of The Document Foundation (TDF), a non-profit based in Germany. An office suite, LibreOffice encompasses word processing, and programs for the creation and editing of spreadsheets, slideshows, databases, diagrams and drawings, and mathematical formulae. It uses the ISO standard OpenDocument file format (ODF).

"LibreOffice is widely used, effectively fulfills a crucial free software need, and its robust community has made it even better in just a few years' time. Using LibreOffice gets many people started down the path of free software," said FSF executive director John Sullivan. "We admire The Document Foundation's steadfast commitment to free software principles."

In 2015, TDF began offering LibreOffice certification to certify "individuals actively promoting LibreOffice deployments, thanks to their competence in specific areas" including development and L3 support, migrations to LibreOffice, and LibreOffice training.

People who are certified in LibreOffice migrations and trainings are able to help companies and government offices make the switch away from proprietary office suites, and that raises the value of a deep understanding of LibreOffice. Previously, certification was only available to TDF Members and active LibreOffice project members. Italo Vignoli, Chair of the LibreOffice Certification Committee, said, "By extending LibreOffice certification to FSF members, we are widening the reach of our program to foster migrations to LibreOffice. In several geographies, the availability of certified professionals has triggered a number of large deployments in public administrations and enterprises."

FSF members can learn more about the program at https://www.documentfoundation.org/certification/program/ and fill out the application form at https://www.documentfoundation.org/certification/application/.

Fans of software freedom can become an FSF Associate Member for as little as $10/month or $5/month for students. Membership comes with an array of benefits, including the opportunity to become certified in LibreOffice migrations and trainings, and supports the FSF and the GNU Project.

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at https://fsf.org and https://gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

More information about the FSF, as well as important information for journalists and publishers, is at https://www.fsf.org/press.

Media Contact

Georgia Young

Program Manager

Free Software Foundation

+1 (617) 542 5942

campaigns@fsf.org