edit: I realize there is Office web and it’s good but it has nowhere enough features. Also, do you guys think (Open, Libre, Only) office has as many features as Microsoft Excel?
I am taking business studies this year and you really do need excel for that. I can obviously use OnlyOffice Suite which is quite good and will get most of the jobs done, but it’s not equivalent to MS Office suite and in business you use what’s used most frequently, so yes, MS Office it is. But as much as I realize what a key role Microsoft plays in the Business, I DO NOT WANT TO PAY for it and I certainly DO NOT want to pay a subscription for it, but I want to learn it and the best way to learn is by doing it, so, I want to install MS Office Suite on Linux without actually paying for it, so how can I do it?
Skip this rant: Every freaking thing is a subscription right now, I mean, there’s positives to that, but you feel like you own nothing. Don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist or anything, but it feels like every company took “You will own nothing and be happy” to heart. Again, subscription model has it’s advantages, but I don’t want to subscribe to something I know I am going to need for the foreseeable future.
That’s true. no doubts. However, problems may arise when you need to work collaboratively on documents with other people that mainly use MS products and won’t even think to change their workflow for the sake of “freedom”. Personally, I have encountered minor UX annoyances in OnlyOffice, such as the convoluted way to resize images in presentations (you need to open “Advanced Settings” every time…) and the a-bit-messy interface for equations. Another inconvenience arose when I inserted a short video in a presentation, which didn’t later work (didn’t even show) in PowerPoint. These aren’t extremely severe issues, but may slow down productivity a bit. On the other hand, in LibreOffice Impress inline equations aren’t still available, which is something that somewhat lowers its potential utility in some scientific fields. Workarounds are available, but they are obviously a bit time consuming.
I’m not complaining, mind you. I know that “free as in freedom” may come with minor inconveniences. But for a lot of people the hassle of finding/applying funny workarounds may be a big annoyance.
I had the same issue. I even tried LibreOffice in Windows, and it still didn’t work.
Searching the web, I just found that it’s indeed issue of Windows. Specifically, with supported video codecs.
This is one of the threads: https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/portable-impress-videos-dont-play/44911
Oh, this is interesting. I hadn’t searched for the issue because it happened during a quite confusing lecture and then forgot about it. Thanks a lot.
Aside from not having a big say in our software at work, I actually do need MS Excel a lot. I haven’t found a free alternative that supports my VBA code without a really big hassle :(
Very true, it people’s experiences will vary. It is a tradeoff for what you are willing to put up with for the FOSS change in workflow.
I find that at work, I am often forced into and fully MS framework anyways. Not able to install any software I want, forced to use their garbage. It’s really frustrating, but such is the state of things at most workplaces.