How is Libre office nowadays? Is it a decent replacement to Microsoft Office?

www.libreoffice.org Home | LibreOffice - Free and private office suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft

Free office suite – the evolution of OpenOffice. Compatible with Microsoft .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx. Updated regularly, community powered.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/39437536

28 comments

It depends on what you want to do. If you're a business and need those advanced Excel features, those plugins for your ERP and CRM and your job is to create Powerpoints, then Libre Office will give you a lot of pain. If you're just some private person who wants to write a letter every few months, is maybe doing some light spreadsheeting to split the costs of a vacation and the only presentation you created was that one for uncle Ralphs birthday last year, Libre Office is totally ok. There really is no reason to pay for MS Office
- ^ Right here. Excel is the killer app for business. Private users will be fine on LibreOffice.

If you change the UI to the newer Tabbed Style it's a decent replacement. Still inferior in many points, but perfectly usable
- I cannot express in words how much this tip just helped me.
  Thank you so much.
  
  Have you tried interpretive dance?
- How would one enable the tabbed style?
  
  You go to View> User Interface
  https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Videos/User_interface

In a vacuum, it would be a decent replacement.
In fact, MS Office 365 is getting worse every month.
However, the world still can't seem to stop sucking Microsoft's cock.
So, to turn in an assignment in university, it has to be done in Microsoft Office.
Maybe if you write it in another program, the anti-plagiarism software will accept it, but you don't know that in advance.
And if it doesn't, your assignment counts as not turned in on time.
And in business, the old saying "no one ever got fired for buying IBM" still holds true.
Other solutions exist, but if the head of the IT department pitches ditching Microsoft, and the project fails, they risk their job.
While simply telling the C-Suite "This is how much licensing costs per year" is the safe option.
- What kind of University are you studying on? Here they always requested you to upload PDFs
  
  Here, they also request PDFs.
  But they specifically request them to be created by exporting from MS Office.
  The requirement doesn't come from the uni, it comes from the plagiarism detection service turnitin.
- I'm on my last semester of IT and, barring Lockdown Browser, I've done it in Fedora. Dual boot for that gawd-awful Lockdown Browser. That said, Libre doesn't play super nice with all the MS stuff I need to do, so it can be hair-pulling at times. But, well, MS can bite me. I wish that every PC that gets trashed because it's not Windows 11 compatible got dumped on the front lawn of MS headquarters for them to deal with.

A few weeks ago I asked for a free alternative to MS-Office and Onlyoffice was recommended to me more than Libreoffoce. .
- i prefer libreoffice too just because it's actually open and free and doesn't try to sell you on additional services
- I would say, that they have different use cases. Only office really has the Microsoft office feeling. In my opinion its also much better for creating presentations. Also, AFAIK it has a better implementation for handling Microsoft office documents. Libre office has a more unique feeling and appearance. It is my go to program for everything that isn't in any of Microsoft office formats (word documents etc.) Or presentations.
- I much prefer ONLYOFFICE as well.
- Could somebody tell me more about OnlyOffice, and why I never heard about it? It looks appealing does it work well, and do I have to pay for it?
  
  I have the link to the discussion at the time (but in German): https://feddit.org/post/6270301
- Onlyoffice also integrates better with MS office afaik

@SrMono Libreoffice would be an alternative if it were not for the fact that universities in Europe often require writing in microsoft word because of anti-plagiarism systems. In schools, I remember having Linux and not being able to complete homework assignments because I was required to give PowerPoint presentations :/
- If you get the office package you can use it in the web Interface via office.com. Luckyly my university doesn't force me to use this proprietary bullshit. Also most of the university (e.g. the VPN for connecting to the university network or the printing software for the printers) are available on Linux.
  
  @cowsareunderrated The web browser version doesn't have all the features you need - such as captioning images to give them numeration
- Hi, I feel you. This is a crosspost. In the original post I’m ranting about businesses and officals not adopting/accepting the Open Document Format.

It's ok. A bit of a learning curve to get the best settings for your needs, but its doable. To get rid of microsofts office suite its definitely an option.

The different styles are great to try out.
It will likely be a question of what you're used to and what specifically you use it for more than anything else. IMO, it's dramatically better than office 365.

28 comments