yes, I so agree.
Hi :) I am sick of people going on about MS Office all the time. People ask for a list of reasons why LibreOffice should be considered but are never going to listen to any of the reasons. [This started as a letter to a work-colleague but i think i would get the sack if i sent it.] Here are a few i've noticed ... 1. Each of the following versions/releases are quite different menus from each other 2007, 2010, 2013 and then radically different for 365 All those are radically different from 2003 and prior. Prior to 2003 their menus were all quite similar but now the all new ribbon-bar keeps changing quite a lot. The menus/ribbon-bar is so different between each one that many, perhaps even most, people need re-training between each one. People trained in 2010 often have trouble with 2007, 2013 and can't cope with 365. 'IT Training' organisations have huge books about the different ways of doing things in each version. People trained in 2010 who go on to get an office job might well find they struggle to use whichever other version their new workplace uses. Many of the people doing IT Training are not even looking for work that would involve using desktop computers. They just need to learn just enough to write a CV (which could be done using menus in their own language in LibreOffice rather than first having to learn enough English (US)). 2. Formats are slightly different. From 2010 they open documents from other versions in "Compatibility Mode" but that doesn't always work. Images get moved or corrupted. Paragraphs sometimes have chunks that are a different font or size. 3. The macro programming language changes between each version so that macros written for 2007 probably wont work in 2010. Sometimes people have to buy a different version of MS Office than they already have, purely to be able to run a particular macro. One of the reasons the macro language keeps being changed is due to it's vulnerability to attacks. Apparently it's fairly easy to add extra code to a macro to execute code, insert trojans, open ports. MS keep trying to make it safer and keep assuring us it is safe now but then another attack reaches the news. Many places lock-down MS Office so that it cannot open or use macros. To move to a newer version of MS Office macros need to be re-written and that might cost time and money. By contrast LibreOffice; 1. keeps the same menu layout for each different version. They just add new features into the existing menus. Retraining might be needed 1 time when people first move to LibreOffice. After that they need no new training between different versions/releases. 2. The format stays the same between different versions of the program. It is the same format used "natively" by many other programs such as IBM Lotus Symphony, Google-docs, K.Office, Calligra and others. Even MS Office 2013, and more recent, can open and use the format which is an ISO format. 3. Macros can be written in proper programming languages such as C++ or Python but people can use a slightly different version of "Basic" that is not so vulnerable. Macros are run slightly differently so that they can't cause infections. Often IT training organisations will put months into learning newer versions of MS Office and Windows but not put any time into learning LibreOffice and then grumble that LibreOffice is not identical to "MS Office" (without stating which version of MS Office they expected it to be similar to. They don't grumble about changes in MS Office and don't expect it to be easy to change versions. Even so, one was able to show me some neat tricks in LibreOffice, that i hadn't realised it could do. Getting into some petty details. LibreOffice; 1. produces better quality Pdfs more easily and gives more options for them (such as loss-less compression instead of creating smudges) 2. handles images more smoothly 3. better quality documents faster and more easily 4. more secure and robust. Even if it does run into troubles it doesn't affect other programs so much. 5. once it's open it's faster 6. works well on much lower spec machines 7. of the 4 main platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, Bsd) MS office only works on 1, occasionally 2. There wont be a Mac version of 2013. LibreOffice works on all 4. 8. handles a much wider range of formats from other programs including many MS ones that have been dropped by MS. 9. Relatively easily switches between different languages so that non-English speakers can still use it. On Windows you have to struggle to find an appropriate font and "regionalisation" but on Ubuntu it loads the font when you load the language. 10. if you want changes you can program them or pay for someone locally to do the programming. You do not have to sit back and just hope 1 monolithic organisation takes notice of your own needs. 11. it's a LOT cheaper, especially for individual people (rather than large companies who may end up employing programmers at a fraction the cost license fees would have been) Many companies, especially charities, can buy MS Office for bargain discount special deals. When an individual person tries to buy MS Office it can easily cost them over £100 and may be several hundred. Individuals usually only get some of the programs and may need to buy Publisher or other things separately. Is it morally right for a charity to expect it's service-users to spend so much more money than they need to and thus ensure the charity can keep getting special discounts? 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