LibreOffice's no-AI release set a download record; weekly growth barely changed

The Document Foundation counted 1,031,162 first-week downloads of LibreOffice 26.8, up from 642,564 for 25.8. Its weekly series ran 35.7% above 2025 before the no-AI release and 35.0% above afterward.

The Document Foundation says LibreOffice 26.8, released on 26 August without generative AI features, had the best first week of any release: 1,031,162 downloads, compared with 642,564 for LibreOffice 25.8 a year earlier. Some have read the 60% increase as public support for leaving AI out of office software.

The Foundation's weekly table shows no change in that trend. Across all versions and platforms, downloads were 35.7% above 2025 in the ten weeks before the release and 35.0% above in the five weeks after. The no-AI release arrived during a rise that was already under way, while the record first week measures how quickly existing users update.

The two figures count different things. A first-week total counts downloads of one new version, most of them from people already using the suite. After 25.8 shipped in August 2025, the Foundation introduced a new Windows update mechanism that shows users a new-features page and asks them to support the project. Windows accounts for 79.6% to 86.4% of weekly downloads in recent months. Most people who downloaded 26.8 in its first week could therefore have seen a prompt that 25.8 users never saw. That update funnel can set a first-week record regardless of what a release contains.

The weekly download statistics show whether more people arrived. The comparison needs to account for 25.8 shipping on 20 August 2025, six days earlier in the calendar than 26.8. In the ten weeks from 8 June to 10 August 2026, before either release, downloads grew 35.7% over the matching weeks of 2025. In the five weeks from 31 August to 28 September, after both releases, they grew 35.0%. Windows downloads grew 28.3% and 28.9% over the same periods. Comparing the release weeks shows the update surge: 1,137,771 downloads in the week of 24 August, against 735,975 in the 25.8 release week, 55% more. The series then returned to its earlier pace. A pledge that brought in new users would leave a higher plateau after the spike; there is none.

The other platforms show the same pattern, at a higher level. MacOS downloads were 104% above 2025 before the release and 92% above afterward. Linux downloads, combining deb and rpm packages, were 80% and 63% above. Both platforms were already close to double their earlier levels before the Foundation discussed AI: in the four weeks from 11 May, macOS downloads were 106% above 2025 and Linux downloads 89% above. Windows was only 6% higher in those weeks, then reached 24% in the week of 8 June and has mostly stayed between 19% and 61% since. Weekly Windows growth varied just as widely from January to April, from minus 16% to plus 47%, so one week says little. The Foundation's record gives no cause for the June step. The only dated possibility is Microsoft's commercial price update for Microsoft 365 suites, effective 1 July 2026, though nothing connects enterprise renewals to a particular week of Windows downloads.

The stance is more useful as a specification. The Foundation explained its reasoning in a 3 September post: "for a company that sells subscriptions, an AI assistant justifies a price increase and strengthens the case for keeping all documents within its own infrastructure". It then listed six conditions for any AI feature in the default installation: it must run under user-controlled execution; send no content out without authorisation; produce no telemetry; avoid dependence on a single provider; write output in ODF; and remain entirely optional and removable. The Foundation says no integration meets all six conditions today, and that the criteria "do not amount to a definitive rejection". Extensions that call a local model through Ollama or LM Studio already exist.

Each condition can be tested separately, making the list more useful in a tender than a slogan. A public tender could include all six requirements and ask bidders to price the same suite without AI features. Download charts cannot show that kind of decision, even though it is where a no-AI position could win or lose business. Price matters because AI bundles have been one way suite prices are rising. The UK Competition and Markets Authority's 29 July investigation notice says Microsoft gave existing Personal and Family subscribers Copilot and other features at no extra cost from January 2025 through the rest of their terms, then moved them to a higher-priced plan at renewal. Classic Personal costs £59.99 a year, compared with £84.99 with the added features, a 42% increase. Classic Family costs £79.99, compared with £104.99. The authority has reached no conclusion about whether Microsoft broke the law. There is no public Classic plan for commercial suites, so business buyers have to ask for the price without AI.

The commercial bill is about to change too. Microsoft's Partner Center announcements say usage-based billing becomes the default for new Microsoft 365 Copilot Business subscriptions bought through CSP on 1 December 2026. The date moved from 2 November, which Microsoft had communicated earlier. Part of the AI line on a reseller's quote will shift from a fixed fee to a meter.

None of these changes is likely to appear in LibreOffice's weekly table in December. Downloads have not reacted to any announcement this year, including the no-AI pledge. When the billing switch arrives, Windows growth will still be in the 24% to 31% band it has held since the release. The record of whether the stance matters will be in tender documents, not download logs.

The deadline is 30 November, when the 26.2 branch reaches end of life. That autumn, CVE-2026-63277 showed that a Calc file could load and run Java code from a remote location; users on 26.2 received the fix in 26.2.5. Vulnerabilities found after 30 November will be fixed only in 26.8 and the paid ecosystem builds, which receive security updates for three to five years. An organisation that stays on 26.2 after that date will be running an office suite without patches. Moving to the community build costs nothing in licence fees, though its Start Centre now carries a donation banner. The enterprise route requires a multiyear service contract. The same Microsoft CSP reseller quoting those desks a day later will be selling Copilot Business with usage metering on by default.