Freeware to replace MS Office?

[W2R]

I have used Open Office for a decade or more, and I absolutely love it. I love it so much that I haven't tried Libre Office, which everyone seems to like better. It may be better! But I suspect that I'll never know.

[Scrapr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by omni550 As I've not ever used these...how do you access? Do you need a google account, like gmail? Sis is a bit paranoid...not sure how she'll react to storing things in a cloud. Thx. omni

Yes. Need a g mail/Google account.

How does she do e mail now? Commiecast e mail account? The g mail is portable. So she isn't tethered to one provider. I'd pitch it as a convienence thing

I am about this close to signing up my 87 year old MIL for a Google account. She had a neighbor give her an Ipad. She is all excited about it. I'm showing her all the stuff she can do. The next step will be getting her a Google account. Or Apple I guess

[timo2]

Here is the way I understand it: first there was staroffice, which morphed into openoffice, which morphed into libreoffice. Open office is technically discontinued. (I used all three of these in their time, and they all seem to be the same code, just upgraded over time). When years ago we downloaded OpenOffice, that product is now LibreOffice, IMO.

I found this old 2014 semi explanation.
https://www.howtogeek.com/187663/ope...hould-you-use/

[Just_Steve]

Quote:

Originally Posted by timo2 Here is the way I understand it: first there was staroffice, which morphed into openoffice, which morphed into libreoffice. Open office is technically discontinued. (I used all three of these in their time, and they all seem to be the same code, just upgraded over time). When years ago we downloaded OpenOffice, that product is now LibreOffice, IMO. I found this old 2014 semi explanation. https://www.howtogeek.com/187663/ope...hould-you-use/

Strange, so who sends out updates if discontinued?

Copyright © 2017 Apache OpenOffice Community Build.

[timo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Just_Steve Strange, so who sends out updates if discontinued? Copyright © 2017 Apache OpenOffice Community Build.

my bad. apparently there is some sort of a battle between libre office and open office. Which is unfortunate. from this link: "Despite being the subject of a deathwatch -- perhaps mainly by fans of rival LibreOffice -- AOO appears to be rather popular, with the 4.1.4 update racking up at least 1.6 million downloads. " https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/1...ing-super-cool

edit: every linux version I have downloaded recently has libre office.

another edit:the wikipedia page for AOO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_OpenOffice

[Major Tom]

Another vote for OpenOffice.

[target2019]

I installled libreoffice to a new win10 desktop in our home, about one year ago. apparently ms office user of more than a long time has no problem with it.

I use google docs more than before. It is in the cloud of course, and you can work locally if necessary.

The cost is perfect price point...

I'd install both.

[DrRoy]

I have a new machine and found this thread helpful.

[donheff]

I have used Libre Office for several years and it is fine. But for the last couple of years I have transitioned to Google Docs. It’s easy to use and my files are stored in the cloud accessible from all my devices.

[Red Badger]

I've used Google docs/sheets/present for years. Easily translates MS products. When my last Windows laptop retired around 2010, I replaced it with a Chromebook. Haven't found the need for any Windows products since then. YMMV!

[omni550]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Badger I've used Google docs/sheets/present for years. Easily translates MS products. When my last Windows laptop retired around 2010, I replaced it with a Chromebook. Haven't found the need for any Windows products since then. YMMV!

I've not looked into Chromebooks other than make a mental note to check them out when I need a new computer. I know they are lightweight and popular. Are there ongoing fees with them...like for cloud storage or any other "stuff" (software, etc.)? What are other plusses or minusses?

omni

[omni550]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scrapr Yes. Need a g mail/Google account. How does she do e mail now? Commiecast e mail account? The g mail is portable. So she isn't tethered to one provider. I'd pitch it as a convienence thing I am about this close to signing up my 87 year old MIL for a Google account. She had a neighbor give her an Ipad. She is all excited about it. I'm showing her all the stuff she can do. The next step will be getting her a Google account. Or Apple I guess

Sis doesn't send emails. (Don't even ask. )

omni

[Jerry1]

For those who may wonder, when using google docs, you can certainly save a document onto your hard drive (flash drive, whatever). It takes a couple small steps, but it's easy to do. Of course, once you make a copy to another media, then you have to deal with version control, but I just wanted to let people know that you're not 100% locked into the cloud.

[CaptTom]

Sun/Oracle bought OpenOffice. They still maintain it as Apache OpenOffice. A lot of folks aren't real fond of Oracle.

The open-source fork that's most actively supported is LibraOffice.

[Red Badger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by omni550 I've not looked into Chromebooks other than make a mental note to check them out when I need a new computer. I know they are lightweight and popular. Are there ongoing fees with them...like for cloud storage or any other "stuff" (software, etc.)? What are other plusses or minusses? omni

No cost as long as you are logged in to your gmail account (you can surf as a "guest", but not much else). Two other pluses: a) no anti-virus software, malware protection, ect, and never had any issue over many years; b) Chromebooks take about 10 seconds to fully boot up.

I have both an 11" (for travelling) and a 16". Both are several years old and the battery still last 5-7 yours.

When you need a new unit, at least consider giving CB's a test drive.

[Hermit]

I had Open Office installed on a Linux machine and MS Office on a Windows machine. Trying to edit documents between the two programs/machines did not work. I am sure things have gotten better in the last decade, but I have not tried the alternatives to MS Office since then.

I think in your shoes I would either go the PDF route, or Google Docs if Sis is willing to step up to a Google account, as a first choice and then either Open Office or LibreOffice as a more time consuming and training intensive backup choice if needed.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit I had Open Office installed on a Linux machine and MS Office on a Windows machine. Trying to edit documents between the two programs/machines did not work. I am sure things have gotten better in the last decade, but I have not tried the alternatives to MS Office since then.

Wow. Maybe that is some sort of problem with Linux? A decade or more ago I went back and forth from MS Office (Excel) to Open Office constantly, editing my gargantuan retirement/financial spreadsheet, and had ZERO trouble at all. But both were up to date versions of the software, both on up to date Windows machines. Normally I would not have bothered to respond to your post above, except that to me Open Office is unusually compatible and problem free in this respect, and always has been.

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Wow. Maybe that is some sort of problem with Linux? A decade or more ago I went back and forth from MS Office (Excel) to Open Office constantly, editing my gargantuan retirement/financial spreadsheet, and had ZERO trouble at all. But both were up to date versions of the software, both on up to date Windows machines. Normally I would not have bothered to respond to your post above, except that to me Open Office is unusually compatible and problem free in this respect, and always has been.

My problems were in my Word financial plan that had many embedded spread sheets, etc. My son was also using Word documents and was also switching back and forth to do his high school assignments which also had some complex embedded stuff in them and wound up needing to recreate some of the docs from scratch. Lets just say he was not happy.

I'm glad to hear you had good success. I am still using MS Office 2007 and would like to move to a later product. After I finish my house I plan to upgrade both the computer and the software and will probably move to Linux. After spending many years doing maintenance and development on Unix and Linux machines, I am quite comfortable with the environment including the command line. My financial plan also needs to be slimmed down/redone since retirement so I think everything will work out nicely.

[jim584672]

WPS Office looks a lot like MS Office...

https://www.wps.com/

I use LibreOffice.

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I have used Open Office for a decade or more, and I absolutely love it. I love it so much that I haven't tried Libre Office, which everyone seems to like better. It may be better! But I suspect that I'll never know.

I'm in exactly the same situation. Had the chance to switch to LibreOffice when we switched to Macs a few years ago but instead stuck with OpenOffice. I have the file defaults set to be the MS Office format and I can open workbooks etc to read on my iPad and iPhone when needed. (e.g. I still maintain our address book in a spreadsheet - what a dinosaur eh?)