Slashdot Mirror

Try this:

LibreOffice
Apache OpenOffice
Softmaker FreeOffice
WPS Office
(they have a whole office suite, not just the word processor)
Abiword
SoftMaker Office
(again, they have a whole suite, not just the word processor)
Pages (for Mac)
(Apple does other office apps, too, but they don't seem to
market a unified suite)
Atlantis Word Processor

Some Linux applications store data in /tmp by default (Blender). Others don't even bother saving backups or delete auto-backups on exit (OpenOffice). Even VMWare saves incremental changes to your base VM image in separate images. Lose one of those incremental images due to some problem, and that's everything gone up in smoke.

https://forum.openoffice.org/e...

Excel macros are a bit of a minefield, but you can try enabling them in OpenOffice if you are feeling brave.

don't hurry.

browse these screenshots, particularly the second and third ones...

http://news.softpedia.com/news...

apache's openoffice, btw, is >>> that way >>> openoffice.org.

Office suite + Python = OpenOffice. This is already a thing.

98% of the people who use office simply type letters and notes, maybe make a simple spreadsheet or two. Openoffice is entirely up to the task.

I really have to give Microsoft credit, figuring out a way to make people pay rent on something as simple as a word processor.

Dear OpenOffice / Libreoffice team,

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make .docx the default file format!

The default .odf format is the #1 reason I've seen non-geeks give up and go back to Microsoft.

98% of the people who use office simply type letters and notes, maybe make a simple spreadsheet or two. Openoffice is entirely up to the task.

I really have to give Microsoft credit, figuring out a way to make people pay rent on something as simple as a word processor.

Openoffice is unfortunately a pretty dead project and should probably not be touched or recommended to anyone who do not know what they are doing.
Instead, go with LibreOffice (a fork of Openoffice) that is maintained and have a good amount of developers behind it.

98% of the people who use office simply type letters and notes, maybe make a simple spreadsheet or two. Openoffice is entirely up to the task.

I really have to give Microsoft credit, figuring out a way to make people pay rent on something as simple as a word processor.

Don't forget opening Word macros from OpenOffice https://www.openoffice.org/sec...

OpenOffice LaTeX and HTML extensions

Wow! I never would have guessed. Writer2LaTeX provides Writer export filters for LaTeX and BibTeX.

LaTeX/Export To Other Formats

This about LibreOffice WORRIES me: The download web page doesn't display correctly in either Firefox or Internet Explorer.

I use Apache OpenOffice, not "LibreOffice". It may not have some fringe features due to licensing differences (LibreOffice can swipe any Apache code, but not the same is not necessarily true the other way around), but nothing I am missing.

Apache uses its own license, like pretty much every thing else they do, which did cause some delay in getting the initial Apache version out as they cleaned-up and rewrote code as needed; but it is the true successor to Star/OpenOffice, not put out by a bunch of whiny crybabies who couldn't wait two fucking months for Oracle to get their shit together....

That's right, not two months after those fuckers splintered from OpenOffice, while people were still laughing at and debating the stupidness of the "LibreOffice" name (it may be better than "Ubuntu", but still, it's a shitty name nonetheless), Oracle gave the code and trademarks away - to Apache Software Foundation, instead. It was at that point when the LibreOffice people should have regrouped and joined the new Apache project instead of continuing their own. The product of the combined teams would have been better than either one individually. IBM later donated its Symphony code to Apache as well.

I trust Apache far more than I would trust LibreOffice developers, because I have trusted them for twenty years already (with httpd, among other things), while LibreOffice developers had already proven themselves to be unreliable and unstable even before their own initial release.

Like LibreOffice and every other "office" program (even Microsoft's own in some cases), Apache OpenOffice has some difficulty preserving formatting of complex Microsoft Office documents, but sticking with native formats, everything is just fine, as is opening up and even resaving simple documents (the type most people work with) in non-native formats. I set OpenOffice to be the the default for Microsoft's file types, and haven't run into any issues that made me go back to a Microsoft program to re-edit a document, everything I've needed to do could be done in OpenOffice just fine.

Microsoft no longer offers a stand alone retail purchase of "Office" that does not require an online Microsoft account to install or use. Even what you purchase at retail in a store requires a Microsoft online account to install or even to just obtain the actual product key. So we no longer buy it. Office 2010 will be the last version we use.

Our next version of "office" will be Apache Open Office, the low cost Ability Office (which has enough features for us), or even Word Perfect/Quattro Pro (from Corel, who amazingly hasn't screwed these up). It will NOT be a Microsoft product.

Looks like there are extensions already ...
OpenOffice
http://extensions.openoffice.o...

LibreOffice
http://extensions.libreoffice....

Hi,

did you try out http://extensions.openoffice.o... ?

It runs well on my system

Using python with dialogs from inside LibreOffice/OpenOffice works well. Complex programs can be built this way -- I have a 10k LOC add-on that interacts with libraries and files external to Office, as well as Writer and Calc. My project uses only modal dialogs, but non-modal should be possible too -- see https://forum.openoffice.org/e....

How easy is it? Not exactly easy; requires some digging, but there are forums available if you get stuck. Python is easier than Java for working with the UNO API, and allows more structure than Basic, so it's a good choice.

LOL, I thought this was about Apache Open Office

In fact... Here you go...

https://wiki.openoffice.org/wi...

So it scales to your 10,000 easily and readily and has around the world, Open Office has a lot of traction outside of the USA.

Some people always complain... the answer to those people is STFU unless they have a real compelling reason as in "you can not do X in Y and we need to do X to make/save/create money"

I dont like it or this is different is not a real complaint, but just whining.

Now, how much did Microsoft make from MS Office last year?

That's a red herring. They could avoid sending money to Microsoft by foregoing computers and doing all their work with pencil and paper.

The question is how much does it cost to use some other standard versus ODF? It's hard to tell because so much FUD is being spread on both sides (including this article). But if there were significant savings the switch would likely have been made a long time ago.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the idea. I use Apache Open Office and I'm quite happy with it.

Agreed, ribbons are a mess.

Why are they eating up so much precious vertical real estate instead of using simple menus, or do like OpenOffice does, and put this complexity on the side.

OO Example: http://www.openoffice.org/prod...
LO Example: http://www.libreoffice.org/fea...

I switch back and forth between OO and LO all the time, with occasional forays into Word/Excel. I much prefer OO to Word. No ribbons.

And so what, what has happened to Sun Open Office? Abandoned, rotting in Apache's abandonware collection.

Evidently not, the latest release was on Oct. 1st, 2013. By now three of the four users have probably downloaded and installed it.

The OpenOffice Alt Find & Replace extension can do that -- I've been using it for years to supplement the built-in find/replace dialog, and it's really rare that I encounter something that it can't actually tackle. That said, while it works fine in the latest OpenOffice despite the extension's age, I have no idea how LibreWriter will handle it.**

**On my computers, OOWriter can handle much larger documents without slowing down or having 'issues' than LibreWriter can -- I'm fairly sure that this is because OOW lets me choose which extensions I want (basically just Alt F&R), while LO has a bunch of science/math addons (which I don't use) coded into the program now.

Surely you can name just half a dozen companies whose user base comprises more than, say 200 people, that have switched entirely, then?

I mean, since you're so keen on citations, right?

For the Google challenged:
http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Major_OpenOffice.org_Deployments

First off, the poster above me mentioned OpenOffice. I'm using 3.3 which IIRC is the most recent OO version.

FYI - OO is now controlled by Apache and called Apache OpenOffice. AOO has released AOO 3.4. LO has released more updates since 3.3 as well. So no, you are not using the latest version of OO.

Both LibreOffice and OpenOffice.org support macros in Python or Javascript. Chances are you already know one of those, so you don't even need to learn a new language.

For what they have done, I think it is a good thing since it looks like a lot of the changes are bug fixes where language would not matter.

From the description of Lotus Symphony ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Lotus_Symphony#Features ), it looks like Eclipse is for some shell, so I do not know if that is part of what they will even consider using or not. OpenOffice may be taking ideas from it without the Eclipse requirement to develop their new task pane: http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Sidebar. The only thing I can tell is that there is a lot of C++ work in the sidebar branch of their repo.

I agree that Java was overused in places that it did not need to be. I personally prefer C and/or Python for work I do.

What's old is new again. A decade+ ago, Documentum and OpenText Livelink both had plugins that let MS Office open and save documents directly into top-notch version-controlled repositories. Then along came Microsoft with some badly-written Frontpage extensions called Sharepoint, lacking any real version control...years too late, claiming they invented the idea. Same pattern for online doc editing: Google built/acquired years of prior work to put together Google Docs/Drive, refined over multiple iterations and actually quite usable.... Along comes Office365: a pale imitation of desktop Office, yet positioned as the next big thing.

So I find the Office2013 pitch about local+cloud kind of funny, as LibreOffice/OpenOffice and Google Docs already do this... better.. cross platform... with more features...and has for years. In addition to the usual stuff at www.libreoffice.org/download/3-6-new-features-and-fixes/ .... Check this out:
http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/ooo2gd
The extension is old, but it still works like a charm on the latest LibreOffice, and provides relatively bulletproof editing and storage of documents locally/cloud and keeps them under version control. If you've seen that Google commercial where people repeatedly do a few seconds of work on each device before it's shut off or destroyed, and the work is all saved and available.... Yeah. it's like that, and it works across desktops, phones and tablets running Google Drive, and anything with a decent browser. Even my kids can't break it. Sweet.

20 million since when exactly?

You can see the details here: http://www.openoffice.org/stats/

I find it interesting that Apache gives the details to support their download numbers while LibreOffice merely waves their hands and makes claims.

http://www.openoffice.org/

Calc doesn't do VBA. Different Macro semantics. If you want help in the conversion, you can contact me at fred (dot) weigel (at) zylog (dot) ca.

Assuming you want to go it alone:

ActiveWorkBook is replaced with ThisComponent
ActiveSheet is replaced with ThisComponent.CurrentController.ActiveSheet
ActiveCell is replaced with ThisComponent.getCurrentSelection

etc.
try http://www.openoffice.org/api/docs/common/ref/index-files/index-1.html

Basically, OOo BASIC macros are really not that useful for beginners -- there is a lot of crufty stuff.

msgbox WorksheetFunctions.Average(Range("A1:A5"))

is replaced by something like

Dim oSheet, FuncService
FuncService = createunoservice("com.sun.star.sheet.FunctionAccess")
oSheet = ThisComponent.CurrentController.ActiveSheet
msgbox FuncService.callFunction("AVERAGE", _
array(oSheet.getCellRangeByName("A1:A5")))

As you can see, the VBA can be replaced, but it's not easy.

What version of OpenOffice/LibreOffice are you using? Did you (or someone) use Tools/Customize to delete Tools/Macros? (possible, and I might do it for a delivery platform). In which case, use Tools/Customize, and select Menus. Select "Tools" from the Menu pull-down and add the Macro Editor again. Or, reinstall.
 

I've been using OpenOffice, or it's fork/successor LibreOffice for years. (Lots of interesting stories about the LibreOffice/OpenOffice split. Note: the comparison article mentioned is waaay out of date)

I give the nod currently to LibreOffice v3.5, which was just released, but we'll see what Apache does with OpenOffice ('Incubating' at v3.3).

> as for the "backups" problem. I have yet to see a hacker that can infect a machine using an odf file

http://www.openoffice.org/security/bulletin.html

Although I'll admit, never seen any of those in a real use-case.

The tragedy is not that no-one is using OpenOffice, it's that millions of Windows and Mac users who downloaded it directly from the OOo website still are.

The Linux users are fine, their distros will either transition them to LibreOffice or provide security patches to OpenOffice, but the vast majority of OOo users were not slashdot readers who follow the twists and turns of OpenSource politics, they're people who don't know that Oracle bought Sun (nor care about such details); they just downloaded a free office suite. They are not getting any security updates, even as vulnerabilities are fixed in LibreOffice. They are not even getting any good information that they're being given a vulnerable, unsupported product. The OpenOffice website still has all the same download links, and the same security information, including a Security Bulletin with no mention of vulnerabilities beyond 2010.

I really think Apache and any ASF members should be ashamed. Whatever you think of having separate code-bases and a whole new incubator project, treating OOo users like this (especially when a maintained fork exists) is awful and detrimental to the standing of OSS in general.

Apache Software License 2.0 is GPL3 compatible. Which doesn't actually matter ; LibreOffice and OOo are actually released under the same license - LGPL3

The main license issue was that Sun / Oracle wouldn't accept patches without copyright attribution. This kept their options open - because they owned the copyrights of all the source, they could re-license it as they saw fit, including as a commercial product (StarOffice).

Since then I am not aware of The Document Foundation demanding copyright attribution. There was basically no point doing so - the copyrights were still owned by Oracle, so it's not as if they could ever re-license the code as anything other than the license they acquired it under. The positive effect this has is that patches are easier to get into the code because contributors don't have to enter into a legal agreement with the foundation (which they may or may not be permitted to do, depending on their employment conditions, age, etc).

Because the licenses continue to be LGPL3, LibreOffice can continue to merge patches from OOo at their leisure. Apache may only merge patches from LibreOffice if they have abandoned the practice of demanding copyright attribution (as of right now, the relevant page still demands that you sign the Oracle Contributor Agreement).

So until Apache makes it very clear what their position on copyright attribution is, they remain the less Free of the two projects, and LibreOffice definitely has a purpose, and continues to have a technical advantage, despite being somewhat overshadowed by the brand capital that the OpenOffice.org name has accrued.

It will take time to regain the same popularity/recognizability. Of course, since most Linux users have probably already switched (unless they are using an older distro), I'm talking about Windows/Mac world (which is 90% of users of OO.o).

Stroking a blow for software freedom!

Wait, this was about freedom from paying, not the "real" definition of free... dammit.

Europe's second largest migration to an open source office suite? Not even close - http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Major_OpenOffice.org_Deployments. Of course, you should also consider how many large scale migrations have never been completed, reversed mid-course, or just been considered dismal failures due to poor planning. Hopefully they will have a solid plan _before_ they proceed instead of blindly charging forward with an OpenSource-is-better closed mindset. Oh and hopefully they choose a produce that will have support and existing down the road.

I think that everybody here knows that submitting OOo bugs is an absolute waste of time. Guess what? You still can't group images properly, Impress doesn't wrap links, and to rotate an image in writer you have to open Draw to fix it and then paste it back into writer. FFS, Impress froze just then when I tried to create a new presentation to see if link wrapping is finally fixed! I know I should be *fixing* these bugs rather than just complaining about them, but who honestly has the time to familiarise themselves with the massive OOo/Libreoffice code base just to fix something so trivial that it should have been fixed years ago?

I think that everybody here knows that submitting OOo bugs is an absolute waste of time. Guess what? You still can't group images properly, Impress doesn't wrap links, and to rotate an image in writer you have to open Draw to fix it and then paste it back into writer. FFS, Impress froze just then when I tried to create a new presentation to see if link wrapping is finally fixed! I know I should be *fixing* these bugs rather than just complaining about them, but who honestly has the time to familiarise themselves with the massive OOo/Libreoffice code base just to fix something so trivial that it should have been fixed years ago?

I think that everybody here knows that submitting OOo bugs is an absolute waste of time. Guess what? You still can't group images properly, Impress doesn't wrap links, and to rotate an image in writer you have to open Draw to fix it and then paste it back into writer. FFS, Impress froze just then when I tried to create a new presentation to see if link wrapping is finally fixed! I know I should be *fixing* these bugs rather than just complaining about them, but who honestly has the time to familiarise themselves with the massive OOo/Libreoffice code base just to fix something so trivial that it should have been fixed years ago?

So instead of venting, how about asking on a forum or submitting a bug report?

OOo English Forum

Report Bugs (OOo Wiki)

So instead of venting, how about asking on a forum or submitting a bug report?

OOo English Forum

Report Bugs (OOo Wiki)

Why don't you comment on this Open Office bug requesting VIM key bindings:
https://openoffice.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=89663

Here is the relevant Open Office bug:
"Option for default copy/paste to work with unformatted text "
https://openoffice.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=103327

Please comment on that bug.

It also still doesn't seem to open or save Office files correctly, which is really needed if you want to exchange files with other people.

I have that problem as well but it isn't restricted to OpenOffice. My GF's instructors post all their assignments and lecture notes as MS Word or Powerpoint documents. Between the two versions of MS Office we have (97 and 2007), OpenOffice 3.3 and LibreOffice 3.4, LibreOffice is the one that works the most often.

The GUI also feels kind of sluggish and outdated, but that probably comes from Java.

OpenOffice doesn't use Java for the GUI. It is just used for some database backends and wizards but that is all. Most people can safely disable it and save some memory and start-up time. And LibreOffice is working on removing much of the java code.

Since they updated the icons in later versions, I think it looks fine, but some features are still pretty hard to find.

I believe that there should be a free version for peronal use

There is one here.

"Oracle is swinging around their Java assets like a machete" WTF are you talking about? The only issue with Java was so far with Google's Android, but because Google implemented their own JVM and Oracle have some patents on that technology. It's like any other stupid software patent out there.

Java is only used in OOorg for the database access. That's it, nothing more. It would be trivial to remove all Java from OOorg. In fact you can just do that: go to the preferences and remove the checkbox.

From their wiki site:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Java_and_OpenOffice.org
"Java is required for complete OpenOffice.org functionality. Java is mainly required to use the new embedded Java technology based HSQLDB database engine, or to make use of accessibility and assistive technologies. If you do not require database tables or accessibility integration or some wizards, then you do not need to download and install Java. Base (the database component) for example completely relies on Java technologies to run, but other programs (like Writer, Calc, and Impress) only need Java for special functionality (see below). "

I suspect rather that Oracle didn't have the ability, willingness, or the guts to revise the source code licensing/assignment restrictions put in place by Sun Microsystems. And maybe they would have liked to, but could not legally resolve the assignments with a change to a more open license.

No. Contributors to OO.org had to assign their copyright to Sun/Oracle, EXPRESSLY SO THEY COULD EASILY change the source code license at will...

LibreOffice does not require any copyright assignment, so if they want to switch licenses they better do it before it becomes infeasible to request permission from all the copyright holding contributors. FTFAQ:

Q: What difference will The Document Foundation make to developers?

A: The Document Foundation sets out deliberately to be as developer friendly as possible. We do not demand that contributors share their copyright with us. People will gain status in our community based on peer evaluation of their contributions - not by who their employer is.

Source code can only flow one way, from OO.org to LibreOffice / Document foundation, not vise versa. OO.org has a disadvantage: Their competitor (LO) can gobble up their codebase, but OO.org can not -- Well, depending on if you can get the developer to assign copyright. (Haven't cared to read the new Apache license for OO.org, but if it still requires assignment, they're toast).

Accessibility is a top priority for GNOME, KDE, Mozilla, OpenOffice and LibreOffice and many other major projects. Smaller projects often lack the resources to properly implement full accessibility. But then, so does the vast majority of smaller proprietary software.

http://download.services.openoffice.org/files/stable/3.3.0/OOo_3.3.0_Linux_x86-64_install-rpm-wJRE_en-US.tar.gz

Rule #2: Build solitaire directly into clones of word and excel.

You mean like this?