LibreOffice has officially entered virtual reality
LibreOffice may be a great way to view and edit documents on any platform, but it has never entered the realm of virtual reality. That changes now, as LibreOffice is officially available on Meta Quest VR headsets.
The Document Foundation, which manages the open source LibreOffice office suite and related projects, has announced a LibreOffice Viewer application for Meta Horizon OS. This is a port of the existing Android application, which allows you to open documents in Open Document Format (ODT, ODS, ODP, ODG), Microsoft Office 2007-365 (DOCX, XLSX and PPTX) and Microsoft Office 97-2003 (DOC, XLS, PPT) file types. Limited editing capabilities are also available.
So why is this now on Meta Quest headsets? Well, Microsoft already offers Word, PowerPoint, and Excel apps on the Quest platform, which were part of an initiative by Meta to turn Quest headsets into general productivity devices. It makes sense that LibreOffice meets Microsoft on the same battlefield. Plus, porting an Android app to run as a two-dimensional window on Quest headsets doesn’t take much work, especially with apps like LibreOffice Viewer that don’t rely on Google Play APIs and services.
LibreOffice Viewer is based on the same rendering technology as LibreOffice desktop apps, so document compatibility should be strong. The Quest port doesn’t appear to have any interface changes or different functionality compared to the existing Android app. It functions as a floating window in your virtual space, just like the Quest’s default web browser and Microsoft’s Office apps.
It is important to note that LibreOffice Viewer does not require an active Internet connection. That’s an advantage over Microsoft’s Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps for Quest: They’re just wrappers around the Office web apps, and they don’t work if you lose your Internet connection or if Microsoft’s servers experience another outage.
LibreOffice Viewer was already compatible with Android XR headsets, as they can run the installation of normal Android apps from the Google Play Store. You can also install the app via F-Droid or an APK sideload on Quest headsets, but there might be rendering issues: the developers added a default window size in preparation for the official release.
You can download LibreOffice Viewer for Quest headsets from the Meta website. It’s compatible with the Meta Quest 3S, Quest 3, Quest Pro, and even the aging Quest 2. However, the Quest 2’s low resolution will likely strain your eyes when reading most documents for an extended period of time.
- Operating system
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Windows, macOS, Linux, Android
- Individual rate
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Free
LibreOffice is a free alternative to Microsoft Office, allowing you to use similar applications without having to pay any fees.
Source: The Document Foundation blog
