Thinking of Dumping MS Word for Libra Office

[Skwim]

Had a friend over the other day while I was working on a single page in MS Word. Looking over my shoulder she just about gasped when she saw the screen. "Good Grief!! How old is that?" she asked, commenting on the program. Heck if I knew, but because it was clear she was intimating the Word version I had was a bit old and might use an update, I went looking for its version or date. After a brief nosing round it turned out to be a version that came out in 2002. 16 years ago!!! Okay. so I'm somewhat slow to change. After finishing my project I went looking for an update. WOW! what a difference the new Word is. Only problem was that Microsoft wanted $$$ for it. Then she suggested LibreOffice, a free and open-source office suite that has six components including a word processor, which looks every bit as good as the latest Word.

​

My question: anyone here familiar with the program, and what is your opinion of it?

Thanks.

 

[shunyadragon]

Had a friend over the other day while I was working on a single page in MS Word. Looking over my shoulder she just about gasped when she saw the screen. "Good Grief!! How old is that?" she asked, commenting on the program. Heck if I knew, but because it was clear she was intimating the Word version I had was a bit old and might use an update, I went looking for its version or date. After a brief nosing round it turned out to be a version that came out in 2002. 16 years ago!!! Okay. so I'm somewhat slow to change. After finishing up my project I went looking for an update. WOW! what a difference the new Word is. Only problem was Microsoft wanted $$$ for it. Then she suggested LibreOffice, a free and open-source office suite that has six components including a word processor, which looks every bit as good as the latest Word.

​

My question: anyone here familiar with the program, and what is your opinion of it?

Thanks.

Thanks for the info. Problem with MS word is that it is now a subscription that needs to be renewed $$$. Actually your old MS word is perfectly functional and adequate.

You can up load the new one and try it out and keep your MS Word. I would assess it for the ability to transfer MS files to LibreOffice.

I have a geeky friend who put a tweaked version of Office 2016 on my computer that does not need to be renewed.

 

[Polymath257]

Libreoffice is the default for much of the Linux world. It is mostly compatible with MS products, but not completely so. For example, any macros will have issues. I personally don't do a lot of word processing with it, because I do math, but what's the harm in trying it out?

 

[Bob the Unbeliever]

Had a friend over the other day while I was working on a single page in MS Word. Looking over my shoulder she just about gasped when she saw the screen. "Good Grief!! How old is that?" she asked, commenting on the program. Heck if I knew, but because it was clear she was intimating the Word version I had was a bit old and might use an update, I went looking for its version or date. After a brief nosing round it turned out to be a version that came out in 2002. 16 years ago!!! Okay. so I'm somewhat slow to change. After finishing up my project I went looking for an update. WOW! what a difference the new Word is. Only problem was Microsoft wanted $$$ for it. Then she suggested LibreOffice, a free and open-source office suite that has six components including a word processor, which looks every bit as good as the latest Word.

​

My question: anyone here familiar with the program, and what is your opinion of it?

Thanks.

Go for it! I dumped Microsoft Office 2000, back in about 2003 or so, as I wanted security updates, etc. I had legally purchased my copy of O2k, but refused to buy the next upgrade. Started out with the "ancestor" of Libre Office (Open Office, I think it was), and switched to Libre a while back, as it's still going strong. (OO is not)

I'm glad I did-- M$ has switched to a Subscription Scam economic model.

Alas, I do miss Access, though....

 

[sun rise]

I use LibreOffice at home and am happy with it. It's much more compatible with M$Word than it used to be but not 100%.

If you use M$ Access as a database, it's reasonably different. But the spreadsheets are compatible for the simplistic use I put them to.

And I've kicked a few $$ their way because the have great products and are don't attach a suction pump to my wallet.

 

[Brickjectivity]

My question: anyone here familiar with the program, and what is your opinion of it?

Libre Office is able to save in several of the old Office file formats. It prefers to save in a format called Open Office format. It can save in PDF and several others. My opinion is try it out. It is quite good. It and most other 'Open' and 'Free' word processors can save in MS 2007 format very well, and that usually means your friends can read your documents nicely.

If you have a friend who absolutely needs a file to be in the latest Word format (although they really should not need it) you can get yourself an email account with Microsoft and use that to convert most word processor files and view them, and re-save them in the latest Microsoft format. This may take a couple of minutes, so if you have to do it frequently you should consider paying for a subscription. Otherwise go with the free software.

Another thing you may want to consider is the morality of the license. Libre office is both open and free software. That means the writers of the license believe not only that open software is convenient but that free software is important. This could matter a lot to you and to future generations, but honestly most people including myself compromise with open and/or commercial software.

 

[YmirGF]

This could matter a lot to you and to future generations, but honestly most people including myself compromise with open and/or commercial software.

I have gone with many free versions of software in recent years and now look for free offerings before I snap out my plastic. I have yet to find a free version that was not as good as what I was using before... and I've tried almost everything, LOL.

 

[74x12]

Had a friend over the other day while I was working on a single page in MS Word. Looking over my shoulder she just about gasped when she saw the screen. "Good Grief!! How old is that?" she asked, commenting on the program. Heck if I knew, but because it was clear she was intimating the Word version I had was a bit old and might use an update, I went looking for its version or date. After a brief nosing round it turned out to be a version that came out in 2002. 16 years ago!!! Okay. so I'm somewhat slow to change. After finishing up my project I went looking for an update. WOW! what a difference the new Word is. Only problem was Microsoft wanted $$$ for it. Then she suggested LibreOffice, a free and open-source office suite that has six components including a word processor, which looks every bit as good as the latest Word.

​

My question: anyone here familiar with the program, and what is your opinion of it?

Thanks.

Libre works pretty good. You may want to look into ONLYOFFICE also. It's another option that tries to be more compatible with Microsoft than Libre does.

 

[Duke_Leto]

To add to what others have said, if you use unusual formatting or include pictures in your document and use Libreoffice to save in Microsoft's .doc or .docx formats, there's a slight risk Microsoft Word won't read the document the same way and the result might look odd for anyone using it to view your document. However, the default file type Libreoffice uses, .odt, is the standard for 'document' files, and will be read the same way by virtually any office program out there, including Word. So if you're able to use the default, you should be completely fine.

Alternatively, if a .odt isn't accepted for whatever reason (which shouldn't be the case considering software that can read a .doc can read a .odt, but some institutions are odd), use a PDF. Libreoffice can export a document to a PDF quite nicely -- and PDFs generally look better than 'office' documents.

To more directly answer the question, I use it for school all the time. For what it is, I love it, and recommend it.

Generally speaking though, unless you're in school or in a workplace that requires word processors, I find a simple text editor, and perhaps software to generate PDFs, is enough for anything one might need to do.

 

[Skwim]

Thanks for the info. Problem with MS word is that it is now a subscription that needs to be renewed $$$. Actually your old MS word is perfectly functional and adequate.

You can up load the new one and try it out and keep your MS Word. I would assess it for the ability to transfer MS files to LibreOffice.

I have a geeky friend who put a tweaked version of Office 2016 on my computer that does not need to be renewed.

Yeah, for my needs it is adequate, but I'm now wondering if I couldn't be making more interesting documents. The only real problem I've ever had with the Word I have is the inability to choose line spacing. I did check Libre for importing Word copy into it and read that it's no problem.

Libreoffice is the default for much of the Linux world. It is mostly compatible with MS products, but not completely so. For example, any macros will have issues. I personally don't do a lot of word processing with it, because I do math, but what's the harm in trying it out?

Yeah, as long as it's free there is no harm in trying it out.

Go for it! I dumped Microsoft Office 2000, back in about 2003 or so, as I wanted security updates, etc. I had legally purchased my copy of O2k, but refused to buy the next upgrade. Started out with the "ancestor" of Libre Office (Open Office, I think it was), and switched to Libre a while back, as it's still going strong. (OO is not)

I'm glad I did-- M$ has switched to a Subscription Scam economic model.

Alas, I do miss Access, though....

Thanks for the encouragement.

Libre Office is able to save in several of the old Office file formats. It prefers to save in a format called Open Office format. It can save in PDF and several others. My opinion is try it out. It is quite good. It and most other 'Open' and 'Free' word processors can save in MS 2007 format very well, and that usually means your friends can read your documents nicely.

If you have a friend who absolutely needs a file to be in the latest Word format (although they really should not need it) you can get yourself an email account with Microsoft and use that to convert most word processor files and view them, and re-save them in the latest Microsoft format. This may take a couple of minutes, so if you have to do it frequently you should consider paying for a subscription. Otherwise go with the free software.

Another thing you may want to consider is the morality of the license. Libre office is both open and free software. That means the writers of the license believe not only that open software is convenient but that free software is important. This could matter a lot to you and to future generations, but honestly most people including myself compromise with open and/or commercial software.

Interesting info.

I have gone with many free versions of software in recent years and now look for free offerings before I snap out my plastic. I have yet to find a free version that was not as good as what I was using before... and I've tried almost everything, LOL.

I've heard the same thing from others as well.

Libre works pretty good. You may want to look into ONLYOFFICE also. It's another option that tries to be more compatible with Microsoft than Libre does.

Thanks.

To add to what others have said, if you use unusual formatting or include pictures in your document and use Libreoffice to save in Microsoft's .doc or .docx formats, there's a slight risk Microsoft Word won't read the document the same way and the result might look odd for anyone using it to view your document. However, the default file type Libreoffice uses, .odt, is the standard for 'document' files, and will be read the same way by virtually any office program out there, including Word. So if you're able to use the default, you should be completely fine.

Alternatively, if a .odt isn't accepted for whatever reason (which shouldn't be the case considering software that can read a .doc can read a .odt, but some institutions are odd), use a PDF. Libreoffice can export a document to a PDF quite nicely -- and PDFs generally look better than 'office' documents.

To more directly answer the question, I use it for school all the time. For what it is, I love it, and recommend it.

Generally speaking though, unless you're in school or in a workplace that requires word processors, I find a simple text editor, and perhaps software to generate PDFs, is enough for anything one might need to do.

I'm a pretty vanilla guy when it comes to creating documents so I doubt I'd likely run into too many problems. But like I said, an up to date program does look inviting. Thanks for your encouragement.

.

 

[YmirGF]

I'm a pretty vanilla guy when it comes to creating documents so I doubt I'd likely run into too many problems. But like I said, an up to date program does look inviting. Thanks for your encouragement.

Your adventure reminds me of when I decided to upgrade my ancient version of Dreamweaver. My first thought was to buy the latest incarnation but discovered it is now cloud/subscription based. I'm not a fan of that marketing model and so looked around for the newest version I could install locally on my machine. I think I ended up with CS6 or something and it is just spiffy for my needs (and is way more advanced than my ancient version). Sometimes newest isn't the best.

 

[Notanumber]

Alas, I do miss Access, though....

I would have dropped Microsoft years ago only for the need for Access. I have now installed Linux Mint 19 that comes with LibreOffice Base installed. The native databases are not powerful enough for what I want, so I installed MySql as a backend yesterday. Using this setup, I am hoping that I will be able to reproduce the business suite that is currently running under MsAccess with improvements.

I don’t like the way that IBM and Microsoft are taking an interest in Linux though.

 

[stvdv]

11 nov 2018 office
My favorite office is microsoft, but it's not free, so my second best is Kingsoft Office. It's from China, so you can be quite sure they hacked all the goodies from microsoft and made a "look a like", so the switch is very easy. You can even choose between the good old (IMO) "User Interface" of microsoft or the new one

* If you like the install version of the newest FREE Kingsoft office
Download Kingsoft Office Suite, Free download Office .exe files.

* If you like the portable versions of the newest FREE Kingsoft office
https://sourceforge.net/projects/thumbapps/files/Office/WPS Office/WPSOfficeFreePortable_10.2.0.7516_Development_Test.paf.exe/download

* The MD5/SHA1 codes to check if the download was flawless and it's the perfect file (I downloaded last week and it was):
SHA1: 30fc5aa4a4c56727deb4b21eea2f54c6db664dc0
MD5: f09da99c37d6378631c0b1e4a76c3fcb

 

[Jumi]

Since you're using 2002 Word, the whole interface has changed to Ribbon and it might be clunky and unfamiliar to you. LibreOffice uses the good old familiar kind of interface so you'll get into it no-time. If you haven't used the latest MS Word, then there's no reason not to go for the free alternative as you're not going to lose any exclusive features.

 

[Jumi]

11 nov 2018 office
My favorite office is microsoft, but it's not free, so my second best is Kingsoft Office. It's from China, so you can be quite sure they hacked all the goodies from microsoft and made a "look a like", so the switch is very easy. You can even choose between the good old (IMO) "User Interface" of microsoft or the new one

If you trust them and want their pop-up ads...

 

[Revoltingest]

I can't help you.
I've been using BOS Writer since 1986.
(No updates....ever.)

 

[GoodbyeDave]

I havn't seen Word since the 90s, but I've used Writer for for nearly 20 years and I'm very happy with it. It will usually import and export documents in Word format if you need that, although there may be a bit of tidying-up if the author has gone overboard with poorly-thought-out frames and tables.

The only grumble I've ever had was when they dropped support for the old Type1 font format, but everyone is using otf and ttf nowadays and the one Adobe font I ever used turned out to be available as a ttf.

 

[stvdv]

My favorite office is microsoft, but it's not free, so my second best is Kingsoft Office

If you trust them and want their pop-up ads...

My nifty tiny firewall does not trust Kingsoft nor Microsoft. It only trusts 1 portable browser. All other connections are BLOCKED. Even China goes on its knees

 

[Jumi]

My nifty tiny firewall does not trust Kingsoft nor Microsoft. It only trusts 1 portable browser. All other connections are BLOCKED. Even China goes on its knees

External firewall? Even then I'd rather not install things on my computer that I don't trust.

 

[stvdv]

External firewall? Even then I'd rather not install things on my computer that I don't trust.

Who said "I install anything on my computer". I rather use portable software only, which I even put on a separate partition or even disk.
So virus or hackers have no chance with me. Even if they do, I have an image of everything which I can restore in a few minutes.
Being a bit of a whizkid at least I have no fear of these kind of things, must be a smart one getting past all my tricks.