LibreOffice 7.1-RC1 Released For Testing This Open-Source Office Suite

[danmcgrew]

There have been three posts here regarding how lame LibreOffice's Calc function is (as well as a glaring one from a flaming LO fanboy--also taking a swipe at Calc).

You want a concrete example of how thoroughly bad LO is, after all these years (laying aside the most obvious, of course: being able to send your LO-generated résumé to a prospective employer, and having it rejected out of hand because most of the world simply can't read it, using Office, as most of the world does)?--

But back to the main point:
LO takes about 500 MB of memory. Gnumeric takes about TEN MEGABYTES of memory. Gnumeric is a world-class software package which puts most all spreadsheets to shame. When did you ever see 'Fourier Analysis' in a spreadsheet. For that matter, when did you ever see 'Fourier Analysis' anywhere besides in a dedicated math-analysis program (all you completely non-technical mouth-breathers who are impressed only by the size of a program, and not by its functionality and elegance can--and definitely should--tune out right now; Gnumeric simply can't be any good because it's not big enough and not flashy enough; right?).

Well, here's a really big clue for all you room-temperature-IQ Sherlocks and blockheads:
Gnumeric runs absolute circles around Calc, and makes Calc look like the output of brain-dead basement hacker--which it very well could be. LO doesn't have any developers; all you poor misinformed schmucks who donate your money to LO / TDF have your money go only, directly into the pockets of TDF's highly-paid management. That is a fact, and that is it. Simply read TDF's mission legalese--or have it read to you.

But LO is big. And has an impressive web site. And continually, ALL the time, sends out massive updates. And still, after twelve years, and all these 'improvements' and releases and continual massive updates, is not an improvement over what started out twelve years ago to be a Microsoft Word/Office replacement.

Still waiting for a miracle, eh?

Better pack a BIG lunch.

[f0rmat]

I would love to be free of MS Office - but the compatibility is just not there. I can make Writer work and be compatible for what I do on MS Word. I can use Calc for about 90% of the spreadsheets that I do (although some of the formatting can be strange when you convert between the two). For me the deal breaker is PowerPoint compatibility. I use it extensively in my work and I simply cannot afford to invest several days (or weeks) into a product for my customer only to not have it work correctly when the customer opens it up in PowerPoint.

The other issue I have (although not with LibreOffice) is Outlook. Google mail is simply not an option. I wish that I could find a robust client that would be able to import not just my email, but also my Calendar and Contacts - preferably out of the box, but if not, than with minimal configuration. The closest I ever came to making it work was with the KDE PIM suite, but it simply does not work like I need it to. I simply cannot get the calendar imported.

[Artim]

I would love to be free of MS Office - but the compatibility is just not there. I can make Writer work and be compatible for what I do on MS Word.[...]

Well, that's not the fault of TDF, it's the fault of MS and the corrupt people declaring ooxml as an open standard, while it only exist to be incompatible and impossible to implement perfectly in any other Software. And if course MS only supports odf poorly, otherwise MS Office wouldn't have any reason left to exist

[kobblestown]

Blah blah blah

Chill out dude! And start sending your resumes as PDFs so the whole world can see them as you intended. At least in LO you have a button to directly export to PDF.

[M@GOid]

Chill out dude! And start sending your resumes as PDFs so the whole world can see them as you intended. At least in LO you have a button to directly export to PDF.

I thought exactly. If you send a document for people to READ, you sent them a PDF. If you sent them a document to EDIT, then you choose other format.

[skeevy420]

Chill out dude! And start sending your resumes as PDFs so the whole world can see them as you intended. At least in LO you have a button to directly export to PDF.

That's how I do my bids. Write them up in LibreOffice, Export as PDF, Email to Client. Easy Peasy.

[f0rmat]

Well, that's not the fault of TDF, it's the fault of MS and the corrupt people declaring ooxml as an open standard, while it only exist to be incompatible and impossible to implement perfectly in any other Software. And if course MS only supports odf poorly, otherwise MS Office wouldn't have any reason left to exist

I completely agree with you. I do not believe that it is the fault of TDF. I was just stating the issue with my use case. I wish that there was better compatibility.

[skeevy420]

I would love to be free of MS Office - but the compatibility is just not there. I can make Writer work and be compatible for what I do on MS Word. I can use Calc for about 90% of the spreadsheets that I do (although some of the formatting can be strange when you convert between the two). For me the deal breaker is PowerPoint compatibility. I use it extensively in my work and I simply cannot afford to invest several days (or weeks) into a product for my customer only to not have it work correctly when the customer opens it up in PowerPoint.

The other issue I have (although not with LibreOffice) is Outlook. Google mail is simply not an option. I wish that I could find a robust client that would be able to import not just my email, but also my Calendar and Contacts - preferably out of the box, but if not, than with minimal configuration. The closest I ever came to making it work was with the KDE PIM suite, but it simply does not work like I need it to. I simply cannot get the calendar imported.

That's a good example of the downside of using Linux or FOSS and trying to collaborate with the rest of the world. There's only so much you can do and try only for the Dark Side to become necessary. There's almost always one or two things that are deal breakers.

[f0rmat]

That's a good example of the downside of using Linux or FOSS and trying to collaborate with the rest of the world. There's only so much you can do and try only for the Dark Side to become necessary. There's almost always one or two things that are deal breakers.

Very true...not only would I have to convince my team members to use LO, I would also have to convince IT to allow us to install. Let me tell you the chances of that happening...it is not. There is almost a better chance of Microsoft asking Linus Torvalds to become CEO of Microsoft (and him accepting it) than of my organization and coworkers using LO. It is a shame - LO, for whatever its faults, is very tightly integrated which is different from the hodgepodge of programs combined together to become Microsoft Office. I think that the last real attempt that they made to try to sincerely integrate MS Office products was with the now defunct MS Clipboard, or Clip, or Paperclip, or whatever it was called. I just remember that you tie a bunch of different products into "one" clipped together product and send them/review them as one. But I think that went away in Office 98 or Office 2000.

[Vistaus]

What miracle?
If I had to pick between a paying version of LibreOffice and a free MS Office (I'm reversing willingly ), I would still pick LO any day of the week. On complex analyses documents, I work 25% faster on LO. That's all because the formatting of LO is more intuitive and consistent. I don't spend half my time formatting as in Word (even though I'm using it daily and know it very well). Also, I'm not angry at it like I'm often angry at the Office apps, as I'm fed up with how counter-intuitive it can be.

I used Impress for several pro presentations these last couple of years and it works wonderfully. I was really happy with it.

I've never used Calc professionally but I use it often for some finances, running laps reference points (with time additions, something that can be tricky in Excel), for my wine turnover (with plenty of automated stuff) and yet again I'm happy with it.

Funny, I have the exact opposite experience. Even with ODT files *only* created and used by LO, LO still screws up formatting. Word isn't perfect either, as you mention, but I'm just saying that I personally don't find LO any better in this regard. The only office app that doesn't screw up my documents at all is FreeOffice/SoftMaker Office, but the current version doesn't really scale well on my 1080p 13" screen for some reason...