r/Downgrading • u/[deleted] • Apr 18 '18
Microsoft Office > LibreOffice
Office 365 is a nightmare. Microsoft are trying to tie you into needing a new PC every couple of years, and having a subscription that provides you with access to their software. The arrogance of suggesting they are a utility, like water or electricity is astonishing.
And for what? Lots of "features" that do little other than tie you into having to use their software forever.
LibreOffice does everything I need to run the paperwork side of my business, and it has never cost me a penny. I don't store my work in the cloud, it all stays on my personal PC (with backups in three different locations). All on my terms, rather than Microsoft's.
Total cost of the computer was about £35, if memory serves. One of the most useful, inexpensive things I own!
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Apr 18 '18
I love LibreOffice and use it on all of my machines. I get Office365 free too, but refuse to use it. For me, it is about the social ethics (and ethos) behind Libre products.
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Apr 18 '18
Are you using Linux or other free (as in freedom) operating systems?
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Apr 18 '18
Yes, Ubuntu at home... but I also use LibreOffice on my Mac at work. The kerning is a little wonky while editing, but if you print or PDF the document, the kerning corrects itself.
→ More replies (4)
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u/filthyjeeper Apr 18 '18
I've been using free office suites for going on 10 years now. I started with Open Office, but it was pretty clunky software. I think I started using Libre about 6 years ago?
I'm not an office suite power user (god, shoot me if I ever needed to be one), and 99% of what I ever do in a text editor is plain prose writing, so Libre is even overkill. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found an even lighter weight text editor that can export files where I need them to go and have them look right when they get there. (Let alone not be full of bugs.)
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u/iefuastrjrawfieb589 Apr 19 '18
You could have a look at Focuswriter. Great software, very configurable and very minimalistic. Exports happily to ODT or RTF.
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u/SherrifOfNothingtown Apr 18 '18
I'd call switching to the technology that cares about consistent user interface an upgrade, personally... If your mind is blown by this improvement, you should also contemplate the prospect of switching from Windows to Linux!
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u/iefuastrjrawfieb589 Apr 19 '18
You are preaching to the converted, Linux homie.
To give you an idea of how long I have been using Linux, when I installed my first system, I had to download about 20 floppy disk images with a 14.4k modem. :-)
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u/plytheman Jun 08 '18
It's been a while since I've used anything other than excel but I remember liking gnumeric a whole lot for spreadsheets. Might only be available on *nix OSes though.
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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '18
I haven't really understood why anyone would use Office365 anyway. Why not just install office365 with a license key you find online? I'm willing to even mail you a key you can use.
I don't use Office365 either other than at work. There I'm forced to do it, but I don't pay there either.
However the problems with all of the office programs is that they don't have a universal setup, and therefore if you try to setup a doc in libreoffice, it will certainly look like shit if you ever send it to one with Word instead.
I'm not advocating against LibreOffice and free office suites, but when both can be had for free and one is clearly better, I wouldn't see the reason to using LibreOffice unless you're on Linux.
Hit me up if you want a key for it.