Ask HN: OpenOffice or LibreOffice?

#1

Post by gsivil » Tue, Jan 25, 2011, 7:42 PM UTC

Which platform is more viable? Have you used any of these programs extensively? Is LibreOffice any better than OpenOffice in terms of equations handling? My experience with OpenOffice with respect to equations was at best terrible. I wish there was an open platform to replace Word but it seems that we are still far from that( with the respect to the developers of OO and LO).

Please do not suggest LaTeX as alternative for practical purposes(file sharing with colleagues that do not use it)

Re: Ask HN: OpenOffice or LibreOffice?

#2

Post by Mithrandir » Tue, Jan 25, 2011, 7:46 PM UTC

LibreOffice feels somewhat more fast than OpenOffice. Of course, I never had much of a problem with OO (except for speed.)

Re: Ask HN: OpenOffice or LibreOffice?

#3

Post by brudgers » Tue, Jan 25, 2011, 7:50 PM UTC

If you need the features of Office, a couple of hundred dollars is probably money well spent. Particularly when your colleagues rely on your formatting.

Re: Ask HN: OpenOffice or LibreOffice?

#4

Post by gsivil » Tue, Jan 25, 2011, 7:56 PM UTC

brudgers wrote: post #3

If you need the features of Office, a couple of hundred dollars is probably money well spent. Particularly when your colleagues rely on your formatting.

I agree with that. But imagine having to buy licenses for a group of people and at the same time giving up some of the advantages in using Linux. On top of that having 2-3 machines and getting Office for all of them is not the most trivial of expenses. I am a recent convert to Linux and the only thing that keeps my connections to MS is Word.

Re: Ask HN: OpenOffice or LibreOffice?

#5

Post by brudgers » Tue, Jan 25, 2011, 8:21 PM UTC

gsivil wrote: post #4

brudgers wrote: post #3

If you need the features of Office, a couple of hundred dollars is probably money well spent. Particularly when your colleagues rely on your formatting.

I agree with that. But imagine having to buy licenses for a group of people and at the same time giving up some of the advantages in using Linux. On top of that having 2-3 machines and getting Office for all of them is not the most trivial of expenses. I am a recent convert to Linux and the only thing that keeps my connections to MS is Word.

Free is the price, not the cost. It's easy to burn through $1000 in lost productivity - with a team of three it will take less than a day.

Re: Ask HN: OpenOffice or LibreOffice?

#6

Post by Gentleman_Ryan » Tue, Jan 25, 2011, 11:16 PM UTC

As of now, LibreOffice is equal to, if not better, then OpenOffice as it was only forked off of it about 4 months ago. If you're already using OO.o then switching to LibreOffice will be a snap and you won't have to worry about Oracle.

Re: Ask HN: OpenOffice or LibreOffice?

#7

Post by gsivil » Wed, Jan 26, 2011, 12:07 AM UTC

Gentleman_Ryan wrote: post #6

As of now, LibreOffice is equal to, if not better, then OpenOffice as it was only forked off of it about 4 months ago. If you're already using OO.o then switching to LibreOffice will be a snap and you won't have to worry about Oracle.

Do you have any idea about the future of these products?