Question what is advantage of Ms office over openoffice/libreoffice?

[brannsiu]

what is advantage of Ms office over openoffice/libreoffice?
(if I am only a light user that will type some text and make some simple income and expense records with spreedsheet) Is it better to get Ms office in the long run

 

[kerberos_20]

ms office is closed software, you cant do any change to software (through api hooks maybe)
open ofice/libre office is open source, you can do changes to software

its about same as windows vs linux logic
money loundry vs free

if you want to use just spread sheets, there are more options than just this for free
https://www.google.com/sheets/about/ - google sheets
https://www.wps.com/ - wps office
http://www.gnumeric.org/ - gnumeric
https://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=561 - spread32

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

what is advantage of Ms office over openoffice/libreoffice?

ease of use and compatibility with previous versions is really the only good thing about MS software.

you should test out any trial versions available and see which fits your needs the best.

 

[MrLitschel]

I have both. MS Office and LibreOffice are fine for casual use but if using macros within spreadsheets, documents, etc, you will have a huge learning curve with LibreOffice. The documentation for MS Office is all online and covers almost all aspects from the Basic Beginner to MS Professional. LibreOffice documentation is extremely sparse in utilizing any of the advanced functionality. I have to constantly go to the Apache OpenOffice Basic Programming site in order to figure out some "How to...." because LibreOffice doesn't have much.

Both are fine - Its users choice to either Spend Money or use a Free Stuff.

 

[Grobe]

As stated several times, Open source vs. Paid.

Well, here is some more practical differences (may not apply to all MS licenses) - not including the web based version of MS Office.

• MS Office doesn't include a formula editor, this is something one must buy as a separate addon. In Libre Office there are the Math program that integrates into Calc (spread sheet), Writer and Impress (presentations) - and it also works as a separate application, making it easy to create long formulas, then save as separate file and then when finnishet can be inserted into the main document.
• Libre Office ships with a separate drawing program, simply called "Draw" that both can be used as a standalone application but also integrates into the other applications (insert into spreadsheet, document or presentation).
• Libre Office can be used as a portable application, can put it on a usb stick and use it without touching system settings (i.e. can use without administrator account).
• In Libre Office (applies to all application within the suite) you can rearrange the buttons excactly the way you want. And you can map the keyboard shortcuts all your own way. If I'm to paste as unformatted text into Word I have to press Alt+H, V, T (sometimes the Alt+H fails to activate so then the key presses insert errors into the document). Cannot change that in MS Office.
• The default interface in Libre Office is the standard toolbar setup. You can change to Ribbon menus (called tabbed in Writer) and several other variants. MS Office use the ribbon menu interface. User cannot change to default toolbar interface.
• Libre Office can be used on Linux. In fact it ships with most Linux distributions (distro) as standard so in most cases the user don't have to dealing about installing it. Since most distros also provide a Live desktop (booting from bootable usb stick in a temporary but fully functional OS) you can edit documents even on a computer that doesn't have a working OS installed.
• In MS Office, I hear stories from some users telling there is a warning that indicate that the license isn't valid. This can have different reasons, in some cases MS Office shut down immediately after the user click on the OK button for that message. This feature is not to be found in Libre Office (I don't miss it either).
• In MS Office, your name can be tagged in documents. While using Libre Office, I can upload a .ods file and call myself whatever username I want to (to appear in the file). But If I upload an Excel file to a web forum, I may run a risk of other users get my real name/address (very scary if this is part of documentation that reveals information that may cause some involved to seek revenge). The default user information metadata in LibO is all fields being blank until the user manually fill in those fields.

Also - at times I have to work with Excel/Word at work, while working with Libre Office at home, so regarding my personal taste, I think also:

• The pivot function is easier to work with using LibO.
• The workflow in general is better using LibO.
• Working with styles - in my opinion it just works better in LibO. I feel that in LibO I have more control.

 

[USAFRet]

MS Office:
Full compatibility with what you use at work.
MS Access

As a dev who does integrate Office tools and user data, I do need MS Office.
But if I didn't get it for $20 from the Home Use Program (associated with my employer), I wouldn't have it at home.
I have LibreOffice on all my secondary systems.

I have found an incompatibility between Excel and LibreOffice Calc....LibreOffice has a much smaller number of columns. Can't remember the specific number in Excel and Calc. I found this trying to convert an xls into Calc.
In the VAST majority of use this is not a problem. But it is there.

Unless you really need all the functionality of MS Office, LibreOffice is just fine.

 

[Old Molases]

If you don’t need to collaborate on documents or spreadsheets with Microsoft Office users, LibreOffice will satisfy the needs of anyone looking for a fully-featured, mature office suite.
If you do need to share and edit docs with Microsoft Office users, watch out for the gotchas with fonts on non-Windows platforms, and other formatting glitches that can creep in. Things are a lot better than they were, but complicated document layouts and power user spreadsheets can still pose problems.

 

[Grobe]

MS Access

Libre Office Base

I often see this particular module of the suite isn't included when it ships along with a Linux Distro, but when installing the full Libre Office package, the Base is also included.

My current Fedora installation is a good example where Libre Office Base isn't installed by default, but I don't need to install the whole package over again, I can search for the Base package name - and for those especially interested, this is how I would do it:

Spoiler: How to instal Libre Office Base only (use active root password)

$ su
<enter your root password here>

# dnf search 'Libre*Base'
Last metadata expiration check: 1:13:46 ago on Tue 22 Feb 2022 05:22:52 PM CET.
======================================================= Name Matched: Libre*Base =======================================================
libreoffice-base.x86_64 : Database front-end for LibreOffice

Assuming the root password is activated, if not use sudo in front of each command instead.

Now, we know that the full name of the package is libreoffice-base.x86_64 and we can install the package by using dnf command.

# dnf install libreoffice-base.x86_64

Hit Y for yes, and when finished, enter exit to exit from root user, or just use Ctrl+D that just does the same as exit command.

 

[USAFRet]

Libre Office Base

I often see this particular module of the suite isn't included when it ships along with a Linux Distro, but when installing the full Libre Office package, the Base is also included.

My current Fedora installation is a good example where Libre Office Base isn't installed by default, but I don't need to install the whole package over again, I can search for the Base package name - and for those especially interested, this is how I would do it:

Spoiler: How to instal Libre Office Base only (use active root password)

$ su
<enter your root password here>

# dnf search 'Libre*Base'
Last metadata expiration check: 1:13:46 ago on Tue 22 Feb 2022 05:22:52 PM CET.
======================================================= Name Matched: Libre*Base =======================================================
libreoffice-base.x86_64 : Database front-end for LibreOffice

Assuming the root password is activated, if not use sudo in front of each command instead.

Now, we know that the full name of the package is libreoffice-base.x86_64 and we can install the package by using dnf command.

# dnf install libreoffice-base.x86_64

Hit Y for yes, and when finished, enter exit to exit from root user, or just use Ctrl+D that just does the same as exit command.

Ah yes...Forgot about Base.