this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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I’d switch at that point. I’ve only not switched because the pain isn’t worth the reward right now. I’d have to learn a bunch of new apps and hasn’t been worth it.
Start charging a subscription fee. I’ll learn to use whatever tools a priority.
Trust me, it’s already worth it. Literally every other operating system in existence is better than windows. I’d use Temple OS before going back.
Caveat: if the software you need is supported. Unfortunately that's the major reason I haven't switched
Does that include the Miley Cirus operating system?
Yes.
I was thinking, "Wait...what...?" But there it is:
https://hannahmontana.sourceforge.net/Site/Home.html
And a lot of linux programs take inspiration from Microsoft's design because they're the norm. When you think of a word processor you think of Word, same goes for all of Office 365 actually.
I think of Word 2007. All downhill after that...
Edit: Or was it 2011? I can't even remember anymore..
They implemented the ribbon menu in ~2007 office iirc, somewhen around Vista. 2003 is the old WinXP styled one with all these little menus and buttons, fugly but usable. Is that the one you've meant?
I’m having to use windows+office for work after a few years of being linux only, and god do I hate modern office’s interface.
The ribbon, on its own, isn’t super offensive to me - its just a chonky toolbar. But why on earth did they have to get rid of the classic menus?! If I don’t know where a feature is, it’s so much easier to skim through text menus than flipping from ribbon to ribbon, hovering over each button for tooltips, and popping out secondary toolbars of icons to find what I want. It’s maddening for someone who only needs to use office intermittently.
No I think it was 2011. Whatever the stable most streamlined release was before Office 365 rolled out.
Aha, okay. So we have different tastes in software. Are we supposed to fight each other now?
Yes. Grab your mswords! 🤓
If i remember correctly, 2010 introduced the ribbon and 2013 was the last edition before 365 took over
That's the one!
I think of Google Docs now because the inconvenience of not being able to have word on my own system without a price caused me to use the free alternative.
@solivine Same, and it just works better. Whenever I need a word processor or spreadsheet at home I don't need that much, and I need to be able to access it on all my devices, not just my home computer. So having the free alternative work faster, better, everywhere, then I don't even see Office as relevant anymore.
@billiam0202 @q47tx @wintermute_oregon @WeirdGoesPro @H2207
Only if you're a cretin! The only thing one should envision when thinking of a word processor is WordPerfect 1.21a for the Apple IIgs!
Envisioning Calligra Words is also acceptable.
Remove the bloatware with a free program like ShutUp10++, and Windows is a fine OS. Linux may very well be better still, but better enough to go through the effort of switching over, reinstalling everything, relearning everything, finding alternatives to programs, etc.? I doubt it. Not for me at least.
Then save yourself and use a Mac! /s
I think the general consumer mostly uses the web browser tbh.
Start trying some of the open source apps on Windows. For example, try using LibreOffice for a bit and see how it compares to Microsoft Office. You may be surprised to find that the difference isn’t as big as you thought.
LibreOffice works at least as well as Word on its own terms, the problem is how Microsoft deliberately breaks interoperability so you can't reliably share the documents you create on Libre with people who are going to open them with Word.
Absolutely. Works great for printing or converting to pdf, though. I just export them to docx anyway and see what happens.
Don't they both use the open format now? .odt? I haven't needed to use an office suite for a while, but I would have thought that it would force compatibility.
Word does not use odt
Sorry, first chance I've had to check.
I've just opened a new file in Word and gone to Save As, and .odt is the default choice.
OpenDocument Text (*.odt)
I wish. Try editing a document with tables.
LibreOffice is fine if all you are doing is writing a Dear Princess Celestia letter, but when you actually start doing advanced things, the jankiness of LibreOffice starts to become wasted effort. If I have to spend more time fighting the program than actually doing work, it's worth the money for Office. Especially at $70/year for M365, which is roughly 1-3 hours of work depending on what job and such.
Like garbage. That’s why I haven’t invested in the time. I write large documents and do lot of research for publishing. As such learning a new tool is a pain in the ass
It does the same job but when you're using it constantly the small QOL things really matter.
Exactly. It’s taking the time to learn everything to produce a document quickly for publishing.
Even going from pc to Mac word requires an uplift.
I figure when I make the switch, it’ll cost me about 100k in lost productivity. Nothing has driven me to take that loss yet but a subscription might.
Favorite OS be damned when you have a fiscal consequence. Switching to Linux full time will cost me money at the end of it and I can't justify that until it costs me more to NOT switch to Linux.
Unfortunately the difference is huge. It's not just the cost of learning a new tool, it's that 10% of really important features are not there. For me for example it was the ability to apply a theme to an existing presentation in Impress. Well in the corporate world, it's mandatory.
Using Linux daily since 99, as my only personal OS since 2013, and still struggling with the office alternatives.
My biggest argument for Linux is: Windows isn't going to get better, but Linux will.
I started using a lot of the same open-source tools that are on Linux as replacements in Windows to ease the transition. As someone else mentioned, most of the top projects strive to match the workflows of traditional Windows options. Some lemmy instances have huge posts of top tier open source alternatives to most things you need and somethings you don't.