Hamstrung
It is a hamstrung version that is made available on the app store, in essence almost identical to LibreOffice Vanilla, once promoted and distributed by Collabora.
What that means is:
- no Java support anywhere (wizards, DB stuff, etc)
- no database reports with the report builder (because it requires Java)
- limited extension installation possibilities (e.g. anything that requires Java will cause it to crash) - language tool extension ? Forget it.
- no ODBC support
- currently no way of creating a new database container file that connects to a mysql/mariadb instance.
The excuse for not including Java is that Apple bans apps that call on outside frameworks, or the requirement to install an outside-the-app framework.
The version of LibreOffice available from the project website does this, and yes, it can be a pain to find the right JDK version, but it does work.
The problem as I see it currently, is that you can install extensions which call out to outside-the-app frameworks, and normally, this isn't allowed, under the app store rules. Take Collabora Productivity, for example, they simply deactivated any external extension installations.
We'll see how long this situation lasts. Maybe Apple will get fed up of receiving crash reports from users installing extensions that cause LO to barf because the extensions call out to out-of-app frameworks.
8.99€ for a crippled version of something you can get for absolutely free with a more capable functionality seems like a poor trade-off. That was always the problem with both LibreOffice Vanilla, and the Collabora Productivity offering (which cost significantly more). Additionally, almost none of the bugs raised against these products with regard to the macOS version were ever addressed, so the alleged "support for business" was non-existent.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
