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Ask HN: Has anyone successfully used LibreOffice for their business?

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Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully used LibreOffice for their business?

#61

Post by xwolfi »

No, it was years ago that I tried in a small startup and it just wouldn't scale as much as MS stuff. It's mostly Excel that needs to be top notch or you waste time massaging data to make the libre office Calc thing accept it.

I like Google a little bit for its ability to remote code the spreadsheet and the sharing feature, but now in a large financial institution, Excel works perfectly fine.

I suppose the Word and PowerPoint alternatives are not as bad in LibreOffice, so if that's your main tools, go for it.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully used LibreOffice for their business?

#62

Post by Ansil849 »

alduin32 wrote: post #45
Ansil849 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are there open-source implementation of Docs Yes: https://cryptpad.fr/

So I'm not sure if it's because of problems from the host of the CryptPad instance or because of CryptPad itself, but I've been using CryptPad for a collaborative spreadsheet for a weeks now, and it's been absolutely awful - Lost modifications, a lot of times ("something went wrong, please reload" and then the last 15 minutes of changes are just GONE) - Very frequent "synchronizing... please wait" screens that block…

> but Google Docs handle it fine

As opposed to files that consist of a '1' in them [1], or .ds_store files [2]. Not to mention the risk of Google just decided to lock your account for no clear reason and you losing access to all of your files, like the hundreds of horror stories out there.

[1] https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-drive-...

[2] https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-drive-...

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully used LibreOffice for their business?

#63

Post by IncRnd »

I've used LibreOffice for years. However, I've had many issues when editing a document alternatively in Excel and Libre. The alternate document editing works for some time, but Libre eventually always does something to the documents that they stopped being properly editable in one way or another.

I always use the same software that the C-suite uses for those files we transfer between us.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully used LibreOffice for their business?

#66

Post by lotsofpulp »

denkmoon wrote: post #59
bluepizza wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that everyone knows these days is Google Docs, not Office.

The fresh-off-the-line uni grads I talk to are still doing Office training as a first year course.

I have never heard of a college course about Microsoft Office at a university in the US. And I went to college in early to mid 2000s.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully used LibreOffice for their business?

#67

Post by gerdesj »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #46

I have. Been using OpenOffice.org / LibreOffice since 2005, started business in 2007, never ever had a copy of MS office. I LAUGH at silly FUD like "you can't run a business without MSOffice", "You can't read documents ", "format compatibility problems!!", because that all is just FUD. If I ever (rarely, maybe 4 times total) receive a price file or spec that is unreadable by LibreOffice, I just ask to resend it to me…

"When it became LibreOffice it became somehow more buggy and ugly."

Matter of taste - I quite like the current interface. I've just fired up Writer and it actually reminds me of Word 2 with a much higher resolution and a lot of polish. There's just enough functionality exposed via buttons and no more. There are menus with loads of functions and they are sensibly laid out.

LO is being developed at a remarkable pace. The codebase they forked from Apache that came from SO was pretty wank and had some fairly odd things going on. It's a massive job and I really like their direction.

The end result has just worked for me for at least five years now with no friction.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully used LibreOffice for their business?

#68

Post by _carbyau_ »

I would argue that the office suite is less relevant than the data.

Any suite only exists for it's output. If you use a generic format then you can convert to specialised ones as required. If you save in a proprietary format, be prepared for vendor lockin.

Say HTML5 for docs, some form of CSV/YAML for spreadsheets etc you get the idea.

Keep your data, then your suite decisions flow from that.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully used LibreOffice for their business?

#69

Post by kayodelycaon »

heretogetout wrote: post #60
NonNefarious wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it depends on what kind of user you are. If you're doing ad-hoc formatting all the time, maybe the ribbon is OK. But if you are used to managing styles and religiously applying them and using templates, I found that the new UI sucks (on both Windows and Mac). The "ribbon" was widely mocked when it came out; I'm curious as to what you find easier about it.

I wasn't a big Word user prior to the ribbon so I can't compare before and after, however I've found applying styles about as easy as it can be (select text, click the style in the ribbon). Were they in a more convenient location before?

If Word had styles prior to the ribbon, I didn’t know about it.

I imagine very few people knew they existed.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully used LibreOffice for their business?

#70

Post by kayodelycaon »

NonNefarious wrote: post #50
kayodelycaon wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I’ve found the new UI in Word to be a massive improvement. The ribbon is way easier for me to navigate and find functionality. Then again, I’m using the macOS version. It still has a menubar for less common functionality.

I think it depends on what kind of user you are. If you're doing ad-hoc formatting all the time, maybe the ribbon is OK. But if you are used to managing styles and religiously applying them and using templates, I found that the new UI sucks (on both Windows and Mac). The "ribbon" was widely mocked when it came out; I'm curious as to what you find easier about it.

The review ribbon has been very convenient. I use it constantly as an author.

Flipping between landscape and portrait and changing margins isn’t buried in an obscure dialog box. (I do this often to make signs.)

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