Openoffice vs libreoffice
Discussion
We recently bought a couple of new laptops, and rather than pay MS a fortune I thought I'd try Libre office. All seemed well, but we've noticed you save a "word" document with pictures, they are missing next rime you open the document. It seems to be a common problem.
Is openoffice any better, or does it suffer similar quirks? Up until this issue I thought libreoffice was great, and in some ways better than MS office.
I want to settle on one, and pay a suitable donation for the product, but it needs to be reliable at the basics.
Is openoffice any better, or does it suffer similar quirks? Up until this issue I thought libreoffice was great, and in some ways better than MS office.
I want to settle on one, and pay a suitable donation for the product, but it needs to be reliable at the basics.
I now use open office all the time after getting sick of paying so much for MS stuff. Works brilliantly and have never had any of the issues you mention with pictures disappearing from documents. I also email all my stuff from home to work and vice versa and none of the computers have had any sort of issues with opening anything. I am now struggling to see why any home user would pay for MS office.
I thought openoffice and libreoffice were pretty much the same thing? But libreoffice is apparently the most futureproof of the two as development arrangements are in place.
I use Libre Office and it is brilliant. I will never go back to MS office - it really is scandalous what they charge for it
I use Libre Office and it is brilliant. I will never go back to MS office - it really is scandalous what they charge for it
LibreOffice is a relatively recent fork of OOo. I did think OOo was getting canned in favour of LibreOffice but it seems to be alive still. Anyway, I doubt they're much different but you never know, one might not suffer the particular issue bugging you personally. Both are pretty great, but they're always going to up against it with the MS document formats.
The free version of Kingsoft office is, imo, streets ahead of either
http://www.kingsoftstore.co.uk/download/index.html
http://www.kingsoftstore.co.uk/download/index.html
Go for Libre Office.
My understanding is that Libre Office is the team that started Open Office, Oracle got involved and starting mentioning charging so they told them to get stuffed because that wasn't why they started the project in the first place. They started Libre Office to get back on track with the original plan and they have essentially taken the core skill set with them. Libre Office seems a little more sorted and deals with the latest MS Office files with less corruption and compatibility issues.
They are both currently free and very similar to use so it makes little difference which you go for, you can change any time.
My understanding is that Libre Office is the team that started Open Office, Oracle got involved and starting mentioning charging so they told them to get stuffed because that wasn't why they started the project in the first place. They started Libre Office to get back on track with the original plan and they have essentially taken the core skill set with them. Libre Office seems a little more sorted and deals with the latest MS Office files with less corruption and compatibility issues.
They are both currently free and very similar to use so it makes little difference which you go for, you can change any time.
grumbledoak said:
If you like. Not so sure about 'crap', though. Or particularly interested in tedium re: standards.
The simple fact is that the file format never was the reason business buys Office.
You brought up the tedium on standards, which you're clearly missing the point with. But as it seems neither of us are particularly interested I won't list the many reasons.The simple fact is that the file format never was the reason business buys Office.
The OP's asking about the differences between two different Office suites he's interested in, why some businesses (including my own) buy Office is totally irrelevant.
I find Libre Office ok for home stuff, but really struggle with docx that need to be read by work colleagues using MS as it seems to mess about with formatting. Docx format is not particularly well supported IMO.
I also use Excel a lot with large and complex sheets, its too time consuming to make these work in Libreoffice calc
If you have kids MS office is very cheap. I think I bought 3 licences from a student software company for £30
I also use Excel a lot with large and complex sheets, its too time consuming to make these work in Libreoffice calc
If you have kids MS office is very cheap. I think I bought 3 licences from a student software company for £30
blueg33 said:
I find Libre Office ok for home stuff, but really struggle with docx that need to be read by work colleagues using MS as it seems to mess about with formatting. Docx format is not particularly well supported IMO.
I also use Excel a lot with large and complex sheets, its too time consuming to make these work in Libreoffice calc
If you have kids MS office is very cheap. I think I bought 3 licences from a student software company for £30
I do have kids, do you have a link for that deal. When I looked it seemed to be about £100 per PC, and I needed to buy MS Publisher separately.I also use Excel a lot with large and complex sheets, its too time consuming to make these work in Libreoffice calc
If you have kids MS office is very cheap. I think I bought 3 licences from a student software company for £30
98elise said:
I do have kids, do you have a link for that deal. When I looked it seemed to be about £100 per PC, and I needed to buy MS Publisher separately.
Have you looked at office 365 premium?http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/buy-microsoft-of...
I know I is subscription based, but 80 quid a year for 5 PCs and it includes publisher
LibreOffice has many quirks and oddities, and a bad compatibility with Microsoft Office formats.
I recommend SoftMaker FreeOffice, so far it's the only free office suite that lets me open, edit, and save all Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats properly. I never had problems (e.g. formatting losses, crashes, ...) going back and forth.
It has a several more merits, e.g. it's fast, compact, offers pdf export, portable usability,... try it out and compare it with LibreOffice by yourself:
freeoffice com
I recommend SoftMaker FreeOffice, so far it's the only free office suite that lets me open, edit, and save all Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats properly. I never had problems (e.g. formatting losses, crashes, ...) going back and forth.
It has a several more merits, e.g. it's fast, compact, offers pdf export, portable usability,... try it out and compare it with LibreOffice by yourself:
freeoffice com
98elise said:
I do have kids, do you have a link for that deal. When I looked it seemed to be about £100 per PC, and I needed to buy MS Publisher separately.
Sadly no longer available from the place I use www.software4students.co.ukMS changed the rules regarding academic versions with 2013.
Cheapest option now is University edition ... but you need to be able to prove the academic status. You got anyone at Uni?
You can stil get MS Office 2010 Home and Student version on Amazon , around £140 which is a 3 PC license:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Office-Home-Stud...
but does not include Publisher.
I'm not a big DTP user so can't comment on Publisher per se, but I've used Serif Pageplus for many years and find it very good. They have a basic free version, might be worth looking at:
http://www.serif.com/desktop-publishing-software/
Edited by sgrimshaw on Thursday 14th November 11:21
TBear said:
LibreOffice has many quirks and oddities, and a bad compatibility with Microsoft Office formats.
I recommend SoftMaker FreeOffice, so far it's the only free office suite that lets me open, edit, and save all Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats properly. I never had problems (e.g. formatting losses, crashes, ...) going back and forth.
It has a several more merits, e.g. it's fast, compact, offers pdf export, portable usability,... try it out and compare it with LibreOffice by yourself:
freeoffice com
FreeOffice does not write the later MS Office formats, docx, xlsx etc, but does read them.I recommend SoftMaker FreeOffice, so far it's the only free office suite that lets me open, edit, and save all Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats properly. I never had problems (e.g. formatting losses, crashes, ...) going back and forth.
It has a several more merits, e.g. it's fast, compact, offers pdf export, portable usability,... try it out and compare it with LibreOffice by yourself:
freeoffice com
To be able to write the later file formats you need the commercial version, SoftMaker Office 2012.
TBear said:
LibreOffice has many quirks and oddities, and a bad compatibility with Microsoft Office formats.
I recommend SoftMaker FreeOffice, so far it's the only free office suite that lets me open, edit, and save all Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats properly. I never had problems (e.g. formatting losses, crashes, ...) going back and forth.
It has a several more merits, e.g. it's fast, compact, offers pdf export, portable usability,... try it out and compare it with LibreOffice by yourself:
freeoffice com
ignore the sales trollI recommend SoftMaker FreeOffice, so far it's the only free office suite that lets me open, edit, and save all Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats properly. I never had problems (e.g. formatting losses, crashes, ...) going back and forth.
It has a several more merits, e.g. it's fast, compact, offers pdf export, portable usability,... try it out and compare it with LibreOffice by yourself:
freeoffice com
Have used several of them and I'd stick with Libra Office.
However, in a company or as a power user, I do see the merits of MS Office. We've tried a couple of implementations/moves to the free stuff and did discover a number of stumbling blocks you wouldn't encounter in a regular home environment.
Also, for the tools they deliver I think the prices are quite reasonable. The fact that you can get 95% of the experience for free is just mind boggling.
However, in a company or as a power user, I do see the merits of MS Office. We've tried a couple of implementations/moves to the free stuff and did discover a number of stumbling blocks you wouldn't encounter in a regular home environment.
Also, for the tools they deliver I think the prices are quite reasonable. The fact that you can get 95% of the experience for free is just mind boggling.
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