[libreoffice-users] Re: Compatibility 2

On 4/20/11 5:05 AM, Tom Davies wrote:
> Hi :)
> There seems to be an assumption that MS Office would be un-installed or that
> people would be forced to stop using MS Office and that the change would have to
> be implemented 'overnight'.  None of that assumption is valid.

Agreed, it would be a gradual change, but it would change.  Having two 
office suites installed means more work for IT support for the program 
and it's features, plus supporting the interchange of files.  And, you 
will always have those users who will not make a voluntary switch from 
old to new until forced, causing continuing difficulty is sharing files. 
 I'm not IT, but been there done that when the switch was made from 
WordPerfect (the better program IMO) to MS Word.

> People could and probably would continue to use MS Office but would gain access
> to the extra functionality offered in LibreOffice.  This is much the same as
> Adobe Acrobat Writer which office workers are often expected to install or
> upgrade in order to read pdf.
>
> Pdf is dominant on websites as THE way that documents are available for
> download.  Often there is a download link nearby in case anyone has not got the
> latest version.  People seem to consider it completely normal to have to
> download and update Acrobat but it doesn't stop them using MS Office.

I suspect no one considers having a special program to read PDF's as 
being "strange" is because only recently have office suites started to 
be able to read and create PDF files.

I haven't used MS Office for a long time now, but if memory serves, 2003 
can't do anything with them, 2007 can only create.  I don't know about 2010.

I've not done any kind of comparison, but I'd bet no office suite can 
match the features of Adobe Reader 9.  And I'd bet 10 has even more 
features.  So, until the office suites can "meet or exceed" Reader's 
abilities to work with PDF files, there's going to be a separate program 
to read and manipulate them, plus Acrobat or similar to create them.


Ken


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