A new version of the Arch Linux based Manjaro Linux has been released



Here the announcement:

After six months of development, version 18.1 of Manjaro Linux is now available. Juhraya offers numerous improvements, especially with regard to Office productivity applications and package management.

LibreOffice or FreeOffice: the choice is yours
Until now, only LibreOffice has been preinstalled. The latest version of Manjaro give you now a choice during installation. With the latest stable version 18.1 of the operating system, you can opt for the no-cost Office suite FreeOffice 2018 from the German software developer SoftMaker, still go for LibreOffice or even skip to install any Office Suite at all.

The FreeOffice suite targets users who value seamless compatibility with Microsoft Office. It uses the current Microsoft file formats DOCX, XLSX and PPTX natively. Due to demand from the Manjaro community, FreeOffice has been extended to support the earlier Microsoft formats DOC, XLS and PPT as well as the standardized document format OpenDocument Text (ODT). Additionally a darkmode got added aswell. Newcomers to Microsoft Office will quickly find their way around the professionally designed ribbon interface. For users who prefer to work with a classic user interface, FreeOffice can be changed on-the-fly to offer menus and toolbars.

FreeOffice can be used both at home and commercially without restrictions. SoftMaker released its first version of FreeOffice for Linux in 2012 and has been supporting it ever since with regular updates and feature improvements that will benefit all Manjaro users as well.

Standard FlatPak and Snap support through bauh
Another significant innovation in Manjaro 18.1 is the integrated support for FlatPak and Snap packages. For this purpose, the graphical package management tool “bauh” (formerly known as “fpakman”) is now available to users.

Improved desktop integration
All three of Manjaro's desktop editions—Xfce, KDE, and Gnome—have been significantly enhanced with new features designed to bring the desktop and operating system into perfect harmony. This includes the new “Matcha” theme of the Xfce Edition, KDE's completely redesigned messaging system variant and new buttons for the Gnome version. It uses Xfce 4.14, KDE Plasma 5.16 and Gnome 3.32.

  Manjaro Linux 18.1.0 released