Build a self-hosted productivity hub

All the free web applications on the internet give Linux users levels of productivity that was never available in the past. Thanks to web-based versions of applications like photo editors, note-takers and the obligatory office suite, people can use Linux and still easily collaborate with their counterparts. They can even use these across different machines, increasing their flexibility to work anywhere.

But these services present several potential risks. Firstly, using some web applications comes with a price… literally. In many cases they use the ‘freemium’ model where the basic version is free, but the one with the features you really want will cost you. You also run the risk of the provider going out of business. They may not take your data down with them, but they may only give it back in a format that’s very difficult to work with. For many Linux users however, the biggest drawback is that you’re not in control of your data with these services. They store them on far-away servers, giving you access only through the interfaces they designate – and let’s not get into all the snooping naughty admins can do.

So like many things in the open source world, the only answer is to do it yourself. There are apps that easily let you host your own email, chat services, photo albums and media streamers. But an office suite is a huge, complicated piece of software, right? Certainly there’s nothing you can do to roll your own Google Docs or Office 365…

Well, you might think that, but you’d be wrong. There’s something precisely like that, and