...

I help neighbours with IT problems and one has an ageing Dell laptop with an ancient copy of WORD on it. I got a new Windows 7 laptop that I'm gonna configure for her. I've been trying to find a way to keep the cost down for her and came across KINGSOFT OFFICE as a Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PPoint etc) alternative.

Having downloaded it & installed it on a test machine, I can't see any downside. It opens Office docs, saves them as Office docs which can be opened by MS Office. ie it seems completely compatible. And is absolutely free.

I knew there were free office packages available out there but I never realised that there were suites such as Kingsoft that not only seem to offer full MS Office compatibility but also look and feel identical to their MS equivalents.

Anyone on the forum experiences to share / any gotchas / any caveats? I can't see the downside myself, partic since the neighbour doesn't exactly push the limits of MS Office right now - just some light WP - letters, flyers etc... I'd say she won't spot the difference from the MS original software.

Interested in any feedback, or alternative products worth considering in the same vein. Ta! ...

Be true to yourself. That way happiness lies...

I use this on unix and it works a treat, the interface is a little different but better than the ribbon system office is now using

http://www.libreoffice.org/

I'm not sure you can install the individual apps from LibreOffice... I only want to install WORD functionaility...

Open to being corrected here, of course!
... ...

Be true to yourself. That way happiness lies...

There is also Open Office.

I have not used it myself, but have friends who are pleased with it.

http://www.openoffice.org/why/

Cheers - Magnus in Sweden

Open Office works well, even when Microsoft can't open it's own product!

http://www.openoffice.org/


Martin 09 FL2 HSE auto Lago Grey
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+1 for Open Office  Mine: 2012 Golf GTI Edition 35
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Note that LibreOffice is a fork of Open Office, thus the two are very similar.

When Oracle acquired Open Office (as a result of acquiring Sun Microsystems) many in the open source community took exception to the idea of Oracle 'owning' open source software and thus many Sun open source products were forked. The fork of Open Office was Libre Office, just as the fork of MySQL is MariaDB.

I'll leave you to make your own mind up regarding the politics!

P.S. I've used both Open Office and Libre Office and both are very good. But I still prefer Microsoft Office for ease of use (although I can't find anything in 2010+, and prefer the UI in 2003!)

Ive put open office on a couple of PC's at work. TBH no one has noticed the difference! I find it a good package and ive found it straight forward to use. Black MY2013 SD4 GS Auto, Wood Company Armrest, Freel2 sticker.
Gone MY2010 Freelander 2 Manual TD4.e S, Alaska White.

Open office. Slick, good functionality, and free!!!!!

+1 Open office

Another vote for Open Office. Installed it on my daughter's laptop and she is very happy with it. 2013 RR Evoque Pure Tech
2012 TD4 GS Auto Orkney Grey - gone

Open office all the way, My11 freelander 2, xs, Manual, 18" hse sparkles, sidesteps, privacy, zermatt silver metallic, almond nutmeg alacantra, twin electric towbar

Gone my09 xs D3

Openoffice is good - but not the easiest to use.
If the user is at a very basic level then they may struggle a bit more than with something like MS office. (Coming) 2016 RR Evoque td4 180 HSE Dynamc
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60 000 miles averaging 35mpg

(Gone) 2010 TD4 Manual GS - Stornoway Grey. Sold at 3yrs old & 64k miles. Final average consumption 39.2mpg.

Another vote for OpenOffice.

Before retiring I worked in IT for a large plc and introduced them to OpenOffice (free to use in all areas) and eventually it became the standard install for the vast majority of users.
Microsoft Office was only installed where a user required the advanced functions of Microsoft Office and that was mainly in he accounting/budgeting areas where Excel was used extensively with very complex spreadsheets.

Lets face it, the majority of users do not need Microsoft Office, they just need to be able to create an A4 page of text and have the ability to open a Word document. For this most of the basic FREE text editing apps will suffice. Tattoos - Why would you choose to look like the wall of a public toilet?

All the above are good although I use google drive my self now as its simple and just works and for me at home I dont have any thing confidential.

At work I have to use Office and despite having one of the latest versions and been IT iterate ( im in IT as well ) I find the 'Ribbon' a pest and actually a time waster.

Terran Terran



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