Why Linux users are insistent on Microsoft Office?

eronis

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I've recently seen the video of TechHut:
I see this remark a lot, and I am really curious about why people think that the lack of MS Office is a reason not to switch to Linux. I cannot see why is that. I am a teacher trainee in ELT department. I am bound to write a lot of thesis about my department. I'm a second year student, and our professors already made us write some academic papers. I cannot see what I cannot do about these things in LibreOffice, Only Office or Google Docs. Same goes for PowerPoint. We got impressions, and I love it. Why people think these alternatives are not good enough? I'm not trying to start any flame war. I'm actually curious about it. What wisdom I do not have about MS Office that no other Office suite can replace it?
 


I am really curious about why people think that the lack of MS Office is a reason not to switch to Linux.
What wisdom I do not have about MS Office that no other Office suite can replace it?
There are some specific functions, I can't tell you which ones since I'm not a power Office user, but if you run into something that doesn't work or isn't compatible with an alternative Office you can always install a virtual machine with Windows and use Office there. So I don't see Office as a reason not to switch to GNU/Linux.
 
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What wisdom I do not have about MS Office that no other Office suite can replace it?
I don't think it is about features or the lack of them, but rather to compatibility between formats, I'm not an expert though. LO has improved in recent years in this regard, but still some people complain that some .odt file can't properly open in MS Office. That being said, you can use Onlyoffice's desktop editor https://www.onlyoffice.com/download-desktop.aspx which is fully compatible with MS Office and quite good too.
 
I don't think it is about features or the lack of them, but rather to compatibility between formats, I'm not an expert though. LO has improved in recent years in this regard, but still some people complain that some .odt file can't properly open in MS Office.
I always use docx. I use it with both Libre Office and Only Office. I never thought about using ODT to be honest... Shame on me, I guess? :oops:
 
I don't think it is about features or the lack of them, but rather to compatibility between formats.
I think I remember reading or hearing somewhere that the problem is that MS Office doesn't follow Standards but do their own thing is why compatibility issues can occur.
 
I think I remember reading or hearing somewhere that the problem is that MS Office doesn't follow Standards but do their own thing is why compatibility issues can occur.
Still, I can create PDF document if I want cross platform support, can't I? Even MS Office versions are having compatibility issues among themselves. Also, a lot of my professors and classmates use their phones to view documents and even create them. So, unless I use PDF format, there will be problems in formatting no matter what I use.
 
As a full time Linux user for quite some time now I generally only use LibreOffice.
That being said, I would point out that there are some very annoying and aggravating peculiarities when using the spreadsheet and/or word processor applications.

A search of the LibreOffice help revealed that it was a known issue and may or may not be fixed.
So, as annoying and as frustrating as it is, I had to fire up Microsoft Office.

LibreOffice is very good and I am thankful for it. But any "Office" user should use whatever application works for them and enables them to get the job done (even if you have to hold your nose while doing so).
 
Have you tried Only Office? If you can, can you look if the same specific problem you're talking about exist in it?
I have tried it and it seems to work very well. I don't like the "phone home" aspects of it and it does like to push aside any other competing apps.

I will attempt to replicate the issues I had with LibreOffice - but it may take a while. I may need a reminder :)
 
Only complaint I have with LibreOffice is it's annoying reminder telling me a newer version is available.

I don't want any newer version when the version that installed as default is working fine.
 
The guy in the video is a wanker.
Never have I heard such a hotch potched mumbled excuse for justifying windows os. Free ??!!....yes, just like brain cancer is free.

If you HAVE TO have windows to run some obnoxious piece of software that just won’t run on anything else.....then kept a laptop in a darkened room and carry out the dirty deed there.

To sully a Linux.org page with such claptrap is nothing short of blasphemy.

Really, the people of the worlds ability to think laterally is diminishing. Windows has sucked you in THAT far.

Articles/vids etc of this nature are nothing better than click bait.
 
I guess there's a ton of functionality in Excel that can't be found elsewhere but, as near as I can tell only advanced Excel users would actually notice.

Back in my day, I used Windows on the desktop for interoperability reasons. It's kinda like, "Nobody ever gets fired for buying IBM." Everybody and their kid brother can work with Windows and their file format peculiarities.
 
Only complaint I have with LibreOffice is it's annoying reminder telling me a newer version is available.

I don't want any newer version when the version that installed as default is working fine.
Open Writer or Calc, go to Tools Menu, select Options, expand the LibreOffice field on the left (if it isn't already expanded), and click on Online Update. From there, you can uncheck the box to "Check for updates automatically."
 
While I'm not a huge LibreOffice user (or any Office user for that matter), I think one of the problems is Windows dominates the desktop market, and because most of the population is so used to running it, as well as the software for it, schools and other institutions don't want to change what's become so commonplace. Another problem could be LO doesn't offer as many features as MO straight out of the box, because I know you have to download them, which can make things a little more complicated than necessary. This is why I've been thought about hiring someone (because I don't have the knowledge or skills to do so) to modify LO where it will include all of the features you have to download as extentions, and then include a feature where it notify the user when there's extentions to add. There have been times where I'd save a LO Writer document to a flash drive or external hard drive, then bring it up at the library where they're running MO, and not once have I experienced compatibility issues.
 
Another problem could be LO doesn't offer as many features as MO straight out of the box, because I know you have to download them, which can make things a little more complicated than necessary. This is why I've been thought about hiring someone (because I don't have the knowledge or skills to do so) to modify LO where it will include all of the features you have to download as extentions, and then include a feature where it notify the user when there's extentions to add. There have been times where I'd save a LO Writer document to a flash drive or external hard drive, then bring it up at the library where they're running MO, and not once have I experienced compatibility issues.
Such as? Could you give us an example, please? I'm asking because I use it as it is, so I might be unaware of those, and yes, I've installed some extensions like language tool mostly to check style mistakes, since it ships with grammar and spellchecking by default, beyond that I don't see anything else missing from the already available set of features.
 
Such as? Could you give us an example, please? I'm asking because I use it as it is, so I might be unaware of those, and yes, I've installed some extensions like language tool mostly to check style mistakes, since it ships with grammar and spellchecking by default, beyond that I don't see anything else missing from the already available set of features.

Because one of my goals is to run a business one day, I'll need budgeting templates in LO Calc in order to keep track of finances, how many employees I'd have, how many products I'd need to order, how many sales I'd make, etc. All of those are downloadable through LO's website (as seen here: https://extensions.libreoffice.org/?q=budget&action_doExtensionSearch=Search), but none of them come preloaded instead. If you bring up any program in LO, all you're given is a single, basic template, and everything else needs to be downloaded. While it sucks you can't add your own templates in MO, having them preloaded gives it one advantage over LO.
 
If you bring up any program in LO, all you're given is a single, basic template, and everything else needs to be downloaded.

Writer: 7 included templates.
Impress: 23 included templates.

I'm not sure what kinda templates you'd want for the other LibreOffice apps. Math comes with examples, Draw comes with predefined shapes, and Calc comes with a ton of built-in functions to manipulate data.

But, first and foremost, I'm not sure why you'd make up a claim like that? It doesn't benefit you, us, or anything.
 
While it sucks you can't add your own templates in MO, having them preloaded gives it one advantage over LO.
I'm not an excel/spreadsheet expert by any means, and I'd have to check, but I don't think MO comes with such templates by default, as far as I remember "special" templates for specific and/or more technical stuff have to be downloaded from Microsoft/Office's site, I might be wrong though. In the meantime, here are some interesting links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Excel check the external links as they offer some important info.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_spreadsheet_software LO supports the most file formats, yes, more than MO or any other from that list.
https://templates.openoffice.org/en/search?query=&sort_by=field_template_stats_year&sort_order=DESC bunch of templates you can use in LO. To use them:
1. Create a folder in $HOME and name it something like LO-work-templates or whatever you like. You can use $HOME/Templates folder which should be already available as well.
2. Go to that site, download the templates you think might be helpful and save them in the folder created in step 1 above.
3. Launch LO, go to File > Templates and load them.
 

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