One of the main headaches that always troubles those who switch from Microsoft Word to LibreOffice is the lack of compatibility with Microsoft formats. Though format specified by The Document Foundation are taken as standard for far reaching compatibility, we all know how much the closed-source giants follow standards. I remember the days when I created a well formatted .doc in LibreOffice but when opened in MS Word all the formatting was lost.

Things have changed, and are changing fast. A developer, Brennan Vincent from University of Arizona, has created a MS Publisher Import Filter as a Google Summer of Code project that works great when importing files to MS Word. This filter is targeted at LibreOffice version 3.7, so currently its in testing phase. Though this filter works only with Publisher 2003 file-format, the results are promising. You can grab the source code from this link.

Here are some pictures that depict the usability of the filter. The first is the screenshot of a random file opened in Microsoft Publisher, while the later, the same file opened in LibreOffice Draw.

A new version of LibreOffice is planned later this year which promises a new UI design. Mobile Application of LibreOffice is also currently being planned.