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Goodbye OpenOffice, Hello LibreOffice
Tuxman:
Worst spammer ever seen.
cyberdiva:
I second the recommendation for SoftMaker. Several years ago, I began using what I think may now be FreeOffice (it was an earlier version of SoftMaker Office). I liked it a lot, but I eventually decided to upgrade to the newer, commercial version for two reasons: it covered .docx format, and because I already had SoftMaker on my computer, I was eligible for the upgrade price. For a small fraction of what I would have to pay for Microsoft Office, I have a program that meets my needs just as well. I've experienced no compatibility problems with MS Office. (I should mention that I use TextMaker more than the other parts of the SoftMaker suite.)
Edvard:
Softmaker has one of the worst GUIs I have ever seen on Linux IMHO, and that is saying a lot. Not about my opinion, but... yeah. Horrid. LibreOffice has come a LONG way since it's roots in StarOffice, and it doesn't burn my eyeballs.
Maybe SM is a decent suite at heart, but I just couldn't get past the initial shock.
40hz:
^IMHO a wordprocessor is a wordprocessor is a wordprocessor. As is a spreadsheet.
For me, it doesn't have to look pretty or be a masterpiece of GUI design as long as it's reliable and works without any bad surprises. Truth is, virtually any WP GUI could be improved dramatically if you just cut back on the feature set. Most of the interface nightmares are caused by feature bloat which is done in order to justify the prices being charged for almost worthless and unnecessary upgrades.
8)
Edvard:
For me, it doesn't have to look pretty or be a masterpiece of GUI design as long as it's reliable and works without any bad surprises.-40Hz
--- End quote ---
For the most part, I agree, though software with a well-laid out GUI (minimal or no) goes a long way towards productivity and usability, which immediately registers it in my mind as a superior product. On the flip side, no matter how nice the GUI, prettiness cannot hide missing functionality or outright flaws for long.
The Softmaker Office GUI is just downright buggy. As in, actual bugs in how it behaves, which not only affects my perception, but restricts how I might use it. I just re-installed it to remind myself of what was wrong and yep, it's still bad.
A few items to mention, in "TextMaker":
* Dat GrayAll the toolbars and flat areas are that weird gray color brilliantly showcased by default in most of the *step window managers and the TCL ToolKit. Blah. Bleah.
* Is that a highlighted toolbar item? Or playing peekaboo?When I mouse over icons on the toolbar, it shows the top of a square shape popping up behind the toolbar. Weird.
* Now you see it, now you don'tWhen I mouse over the Paragraph Style drop-down, the arrow and 3-D parts of the widget simply go away, and can be brought back if I Minimize/Maximize the window (this only happens on the Paragraph Style dropdown).
* Show me the menuOK, those were cosmetic, now we get to where it borders on unusable.
When I actually click on a dropdown (Paragraph Style, Font, Font Size), a blank menu drops down. Blank. White. When I move the mouse down the menu (that isn't there), menu items show up highlighted under the mouse pointer. If I click on one, the menu goes away as expected, but my selection doesn't show in the box. If I highlight it, it's there, but it flashes until I remove the mouse and it's back to nothing.
Admittedly, those are UI bugs, they can be worked around, though I didn't mention them all. But why should I have to put up with something that is difficult to use, may have even deeper bugs, and is closed-source when there is a better alternative?
Maybe the Windows version is the bee's pants, but it's just not doing it for me here in Tux-land. :(
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