this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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Start trying some of the open source apps on Windows. For example, try using LibreOffice for a bit and see how it compares to Microsoft Office. You may be surprised to find that the difference isn’t as big as you thought.
LibreOffice works at least as well as Word on its own terms, the problem is how Microsoft deliberately breaks interoperability so you can't reliably share the documents you create on Libre with people who are going to open them with Word.
Absolutely. Works great for printing or converting to pdf, though. I just export them to docx anyway and see what happens.
Don't they both use the open format now? .odt? I haven't needed to use an office suite for a while, but I would have thought that it would force compatibility.
Word does not use odt
Sorry, first chance I've had to check.
I've just opened a new file in Word and gone to Save As, and .odt is the default choice.
OpenDocument Text (*.odt)
I wish. Try editing a document with tables.
LibreOffice is fine if all you are doing is writing a Dear Princess Celestia letter, but when you actually start doing advanced things, the jankiness of LibreOffice starts to become wasted effort. If I have to spend more time fighting the program than actually doing work, it's worth the money for Office. Especially at $70/year for M365, which is roughly 1-3 hours of work depending on what job and such.
Unfortunately the difference is huge. It's not just the cost of learning a new tool, it's that 10% of really important features are not there. For me for example it was the ability to apply a theme to an existing presentation in Impress. Well in the corporate world, it's mandatory.
Using Linux daily since 99, as my only personal OS since 2013, and still struggling with the office alternatives.
Like garbage. That’s why I haven’t invested in the time. I write large documents and do lot of research for publishing. As such learning a new tool is a pain in the ass
It does the same job but when you're using it constantly the small QOL things really matter.
Exactly. It’s taking the time to learn everything to produce a document quickly for publishing.
Even going from pc to Mac word requires an uplift.
I figure when I make the switch, it’ll cost me about 100k in lost productivity. Nothing has driven me to take that loss yet but a subscription might.
Favorite OS be damned when you have a fiscal consequence. Switching to Linux full time will cost me money at the end of it and I can't justify that until it costs me more to NOT switch to Linux.
Since most companies are moving their tools to web-based versions, the switch will be even easier.
Office already has extensive een versions. They're not entirely there yet, but good enough if you don't need advanced functionality.