
With Microsoft Dumping MS Office, Consider LibreOffice for Your PC Office Suite - CrankyBear
https://www.zdnet.com/article/with-microsoft-dumping-ms-office-consider-libreoffice-for-your-next-pc-office-suite/
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GhostVII
Maybe it's just me, but there is nothing I hate more than LibreOffice. I use
it because it seems to be the best option for things like spreadsheets on
Linux, but I would rather use 10 year old Microsoft Office than LibreOffice.
It works with my GTK theme, which is nice, but it is just so unintuitive to me
compared to Microsoft word/excel.

It took me forever to learn how to do basic things like insert a XY chart in
calc, just because the UI was confusing to me, and even after using it for a
while I still keep forgetting which of the half dozen similarly styled icons I
need to use to change the axis title of a chart, for example. Or the fact that
to print off a spreadsheet in landscape, you don't do it through the print
menu, you actually have to change the page formatting options.

I'm on version 6.0, so maybe this is fixed now, or maybe I'm just not very
good at that kind of stuff, but it all seems pretty hard to use to me.

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oehtXRwMkIs
This is my gripe with LibreOffice, Gimp, Audacity, etc. They all seem to not
care about UI. You should check out 6.3 of LibreOffice though, I hear they are
improving the UI with every release these days. I personally just use LaTeX or
markdown for everything.

~~~
notus
I've gotten Gimp working pretty nicely by using some theme packs or something
that make it look and function more like photoshop. Agree on the rest though.
I use LaTeX, markdown, or google docs depending on intended audience.

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kasperni
> For example, Office 2010 support life comes to an end on Oct. 13, 2020.
> There will be no extended support unit, ala Windows 7, for it. When it's
> done, it's done.

I don't see a problem with this, it came out in 2010. They have send out free
updates for it for 10 years. That is above and beyond in my book.

~~~
russdpale
I think its bullshit. Many businesses will continue to run this software for a
long ass time and they shouldn't be forced to upgrade. Many universities have
equipment on window 98 or older, and many companies have computers still
running office 2003 for various reasons.

~~~
cbsks
You aren’t forced to upgrade, you just won’t get support from Microsoft. The
support lifecycle for every Microsoft product is here:

[https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hub/4095338/microsoft-
li...](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hub/4095338/microsoft-lifecycle-
policy)

If you need to run software for longer than it is supported then you need to
either need to negotiate a longer support contract, or be willing to live
without support. I don’t think there is anything unreasonable about that.

~~~
russdpale
See, I think that is the wrong way of thinking about it. It gives the software
manufacturer an asymmetrical advantage over the customer that I don't believe
is fair.

If the demand for the product is still there, the software manufacturer should
be forced to support it with at least basic security upgrades. We are just
asking to build an entire infrastructure on a shaky foundation because of some
ridiculous dogmatic ideology to technological progress. Progress is great, but
maintaining is what makes the world go around, just check out the salary of an
experienced COBOL programmer.

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tonyedgecombe
I thought Office 365 gave you the desktop apps as well as the online versions.
That doesn't sound like Microsoft dumping Office, rather pushing its customers
into a subscription.

~~~
cardiffspaceman
The FA's title is scaremongering. Microsoft definitely still wants you to pay
them for office software. They just don't want to support shrink-wrap-style
software so much.

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mjevans
At this point "office" software really should just fossilize on a useful
working feature set; security support being some kind of small maintenance fee
or turned over to the public universities if the software is given to the
public domain.

LibreOffice is indeed getting us closer to such a world; but at least where I
work the office drones still need "the office" software to make sure they can
open documents from other organizations... it's maddening.

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ohiovr
Onlyoffice has a desktop editor. I host my own though.

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rambojazz
What a title!

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arnon
What a low quality, agenda-pushing article. Fear-mongering at best.

