A new publication written by me has been published in today’s c’t 3/2026.1 It shows step-by-step how data from PDF forms can be automatically extracted using the open source tool pdfcpu and subsequently imported back into ERP or ticket systems using jq or curl. Completely without media breaks, proprietary software or subscriptions. By the way, the editable PDF forms are created with LibreOffice. The proprietary Microsoft Office still cannot create PDF forms by 2026. Read more

Congratulations to Telekom with its millions of MagentaCloud1 users. Throughout the year2, they will switch to Nextcloud3 and the online office service Collabora4, based on the free LibreOffice5. This is a real success story for Nextcloud and its years of work in winning over ISPs6. This reduces the arguments of proponents of Microsoft365 solutions who consider Nextcloud, Collabora, or Libreoffice as niche solutions. In recent years, I have personally seen the exact opposite. More and more people are using open-source solutions as a replacement for unpredictable and expensive subscription license models. Read more