openoffice vs libreoffice compatibility with ms office

Plus, you need to accept that all software sucks in some way, and all software will misbehave at times. Gives them a warm and fuzzy feeling to know that the company spent money on them. They're basically fine, but they're not perfectly compatible, and users prefer to see 'real' software on their computers. But I think all Open/Libre installations are gone now. So we started installing LibreOffice instead. We used to run quite a bit of OpenOffice, but after an update it completely broke for any user with a roaming profile - absolute disaster in a corporate environment.

We're currently running Office suites from 2007 to 2016, but also O365 and Google Apps. O365 will be preferred if you have users with multiple devices. And muscle memory is a real thing people who have always clicked on the same spot to format their documents will feel like they are wasting time in LibreOffice.īusinesses that rely on template controls for users will die without Office.

The strips of icons just don't look like legit software. The first time they export an XLS file from QuickBooks, and LibreOffice chews up the formatting, they will hate it.Įven casual users will balk at the look and feel of LibreOffice.

Any user who is accustomed to creating filtered views of data, or uses keyboard shortcuts in Excel, or who uses pivot tables, or custom formatting, will hate you. We have used Outlook Web Access, but even it is too different from real Outlook for our users and it doesn't work offline.Įxcel is the next most important app to consider because it has become embedded in business practices and operations. Outlook is so important to my users that it even prevents me from switching them to Linux. So many of our business users rely on it for their filing and communications.

Nothing ever comes close to it, LibreOffice has never even tried to match it. But it cannot replace Outlook or Excel for your users who have mastered them. LibreOffice is preferred, and I use a portable version in order to open files on machines where we don't want to waste an office license. I have chewed on this problem for five years.

Openoffice vs libreoffice compatibility with ms office