Six good reasons to download LibreOffice 4.0

It's been just a few weeks since the first LibreOffice 4.0 release candidate made its debut, but on Thursday the Document Foundation officially launched the final version of the free and open source office productivity suite.

“The Document Foundation announces LibreOffice 4.0, the free office suite the community has been dreaming of since 2001,” the announcement reads. “LibreOffice 4.0 is the first release that reflects the objectives set by the community at the time of the announcement, in September 2010: a cleaner and leaner code base, an improved set of features, better interoperability, and a more diverse and inclusive ecosystem.”

I've already looked in some depth at the roster of new features included in this popular suite, but earlier this week I had a chance to speak with LibreOffice developer and SUSE distinguished engineer Michael Meeks about the new release.

Based on what I've learned, there are six very good reasons to download this freshly updated software.

1. Big gains in interoperability

Interoperability with other formats and software is a boon for any user, but it's particularly critical for enterprise users.

“For businesses, I think the key feature of this new release would be improved interoperability,” Meeks told me. “We've done a whole lot of work under the covers that's really helped improve the quality of our interoperability and our confidence in it.”