Apache OpenOffice or LibreOffice?

[Daikun]

I want to download a free office suite and I have two choices: LibreOffice (a fork of OpenOffice owned by the Document Foundation) and OpenOffice (the original suite, now owned by the Apache Software Foundation).

Has anyone tried these two suites? If so, any thoughts on them?

[access2godzilla]

Libreoffice all the way. It has way more developers working for it, has all the corporate backing, and thus makes massive strides in each version, with regular improvements and bugfixes. Just have a look at their release notes, if you don't believe me.

The number of people working on Openoffice are far fewer, and so are the improvements.

As far as compatibility with MS Office goes, do expect a few hiccups here and there , like formatting problems while trying to open a Libreoffice prepared document in MS Office. But, IMO it (mostly) works. But YMMV.

[Moonchild]

If your intended use is simple documents or output doesn't have to be sent as an editable document (and can e.g. be sent as PDF), then I'd agree with a2g that LibreOffice is probably a better choice of the two.

If you need full compatibility with Microsoft Office, then neither will be a good choice.
I've done professional work in office for 7 years in my translation job, and both free suites will not give enough compatibility for professional work, no matter how much is claimed. Documents created in Libre/OpenOffice will always have quirks (images, formatting, font kerning) that can completely destroy the intended layout when opened in MSO. The other way around is true as well; both free suites lack a number of features and compatibility that will break some MSO documents when opened in them.

[dark_moon]

Short: LibreOffice

Much OpenOffice devs chance to LibreOffice and LibreOffice is better then OpenOffice.

[Night Wing]

I have Open Office installed on my Windows 7 hard drives. I basically use it for one purpose though. That purpose is to open and read my archery (as in bow and arrow) files which were made by a program named the Dynamic Spine Calculator authored by a gentleman named Stu Miller. These files go back to the latter part of the year 2010.

http://www.heilakka.com/stumiller/

In linux Mint 16, the Libre Office suite comes as a default program with Mint. It also opens and reads my archery files.

If I want to install Libre Office on my Windows 7 hard drives, can they both run side by side or would I have to uninstall Open Office first? I'm asking because in many linux distros, there seems to be a conflict if both are installed side by side in linux. It's recommended by the linux OS developers to uninstall one or the other if one prefers Libre Office or Open Office when using linux.

[Supernova]

According to libre office website,
"For Windows users that have Apache OpenOffice installed, we advise uninstalling that beforehand. The two programs register the same file type associations and will conflict when the Quickstart feature is installed and enabled."

So, uninstall.

[Night Wing]

Good thing I didn't try to run both Open Office and Libre Office at the same time because of the conflicts between the two. I might have missed the warning.

Since I want to try Libre Office in Windows 7, since I've got four computers, I'll delete Open Office on one of them which is running Windows 7 and replace it with Libre Office and take it for a test spin.

I'm almost certain it will be like the Libre Office I'm used to in linux Mint. If all goes well on the test drive, then I'll put Libre Office on all four of my computers running Windows 7.

[Sarris]

Have you guys given Kingsoft Office a try? I've been using it for a couple of years. It has a smaller footprint and as far as I know, it's compatible with all the M$ stuff.

The only thing I changed was to disable the daily phone home for update, and it's good to go.

Available here: http://www.kingsoftstore.com/kingsoft-office-freeware.html

Regards;

Sarris

[Night Wing]

It has a smaller footprint and as far as I know, it's compatible with all the M$ stuff.

Are you "sure" it's compatible with "all" the Microsoft stuff?

Anyway, I sniffed around on their website via your link (thanks for providing the link) and I noticed they had a linux version. That piqued my interest.

I wonder how Kingsoft compares against both Open Office and Libre Office? I'll probably do a little research on the net to find out and look for the pros and cons.

[Sarris]

I have had absolutely no compatibility issues including docx. (Import & export to docx and others)

It's free, you should try it out. As I said, I've been using it for a couple of years.

Comparison page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_office_suites

Sarris

[Night Wing]

@Sarris

Thanks for the comparison page. You've basically done my leg work for me when comparing all three against one another.

[Sarris]

You're welcome.

Just note that that page may be (is) a bit out of date, as it shows docx (and other M$ stuff) import only. Docx (and other M$ stuff) export is now supported.

I'm interested to hear what you think.

Regards;

Sarris

[Night Wing]

Just found this site and it gives a good comparison when comparing Microsoft Office against both Libre Office and Open Office. It's a good read.

http://andybrandt531.com/2013/09/libreo ... ce-taught/

[Rohugh]

I have used Open Office for a long time without any problems but I have thought about Libre Office several times, maybe this discussion will persuade me to give it a go.

[panos]

LibreOffice has introduced new bugs and it seems they are not able to fix them.

This one https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38635 causes borders to print with thin gaps. Bad printing is unacceptable in an office suite. They have rushed a new border model without testing it thoroughly.

Another serious issue: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44617 -- but OpenOffice fixed it while LibreOffice will probably copy the fix.

Honestly, after using LibreOffice for the last year I had to revert back to OpenOffice. It may not have so many new features but it works more reliably, at least for my needs.

[mgagnonlv]

I opted for LibreOffice over OpenOffice long time ago. As one said, all those suites are mostly compatible. That is, until you do complex documents. Another thorny issue is the bullet styles which are never formatted the same way between Microsoft Office and LibreOffice/OpenOffice.

My major problem with OpenOffice was that some complex OpenOffice documents lost part of their formatting "out of the blue" during modification. There is nothing worst than having to reformat a 300-page document because suddenly page headers are interpreted differently within a given document. So far, LibreOffice has proved much more reliable.

Issues and Warnings
I like very much LibreOffice Calc and Writer. I have yet to find my way in the presentation software.

[jumba]

I like libreoffice too, if it is not fully compatible with Microsoft's documents, mainly these new X, it is Microsoft's problem. Support open document standards!

[Night Wing]

Since Microsoft Office is one of Microsoft's cash cows, I can't see Microsoft ever supporting open document standards.

[Moonchild]

I dropped a fairly complex Word 2003 doc into Kingsoft office and have to say it was doing good rendering all of it with near perfect accuracy (lots of formatting in text with in-line images, text boxes, floating and hanging indents, etc - a translated normative standards document with technical drawings). Good first impression there. Same doc in the latest LibreOffice: layout was regularly a total disaster. Now it depends on how limited the free version is and how expensive the full one ("Pro") is

[Sarris]

Re: Kingsoft Office

I only see one difference between the paid version ($69.95 US) on the free version.

Comparison chart here: http://www.kingsoftstore.com/windows/professional-office-difference

As I said in my previous post, the only thing I changed was to disable the daily phone home for update, and it's good to go.

I'm very happy with KSO!

Regards;

Sarris