LibreOffice 25.8 has landed, and while it packs in new features and speed improvements, the biggest headline is who just got left behind. If you are still running Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1, this is the end of the road. LibreOffice will not run on those systems anymore, and there are no workarounds. The suite has slammed the door shut.
For years, LibreOffice kept older Windows users afloat while Microsoft and other developers moved on. That lifeline is gone. Anyone stubbornly clinging to Windows 7 or 8 now has two choices: upgrade or stay stuck on outdated software. LibreOffice has made it clear that it will not carry dead platforms any further.
And the cuts do not stop there. 32-bit Windows builds are on their way out, with deprecation already in place. On the Mac side, 25.8 is the last release that runs on macOS 10.15. Starting with LibreOffice 26.2, only macOS 11 and newer will be supported. In other words, if your computer is too old to run modern systems, LibreOffice is walking away.
For everyone else, there is plenty to like. Writer now offers cleaner hyphenation at page breaks, new controls for tracked changes, and the ability to redact images directly. Performance has been tuned so massive documents and giant tables no longer crawl.
Calc users get a huge boost with Excel-style functions like CHOOSECOLS, TEXTSPLIT, TAKE, and WRAPCOLS. Spreadsheets filled with formulas, charts, and conditional formatting load much quicker, cutting down on wasted time.
Impress supports embedded fonts in PPTX files, Draw highlights page boundaries more clearly, and a new Viewer mode lets documents open in read-only form. PDF export has been upgraded to the PDF 2.0 standard with AES-256 encryption and PDF/A-4 archiving, ensuring compatibility and security.
Even the interface is smoother. Passwords can be revealed in dialogs, searches handle diacritics better, and macOS users get improved integration. Meanwhile, ScriptForge expands scripting power for both Basic and Python, making automation more flexible.
LibreOffice 25.8 is available now, free as always. But make no mistake: the developers have drawn a line in the sand. If you are still on Windows 7 or 8, you are no longer invited. The suite is marching forward, and those systems are left behind in the dust.
