Looking for some neat Server Build Projects
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@tim_g said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
I've been on non-MS office options since 2003 and can't be happier. And I've never met the elusive non-tech person that only can use Word. Everyone says this, but the less technical people are, the more likely they are to only know Google Sheets from what I've seen. These days, MS Office isn't some kind of universal need like it used to be. So many companies don't have it any more, the "it's the only thing that people know" argument doesn't really apply.
This is true in most cases. But in quite a few no-so-often cases, there are many MS-only office features that are used.
So, as always, you will need to fully evaluate which one you would use. If you can get away with LibreOffice, then great. You're like most people. But my point is that you should shoudl fully evaluate it first in as many production use scenarios as possible. Grab a user in each department and ask them to use it for a while and to let you know if there is something they can't do with it. Then see if they are just doing it wrong, or if it's a functionality that is missing that is only available in MS Office.
If they need those features, though, they are tech users. Those are very technical features.
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Libre and OpenOffice are ugly as snot, unless you like using programs from Visual Basic 6 era, I dunno.
I've always had trouble opening MS Office stuff within these apps, formatting goes wonky, images, tables, print layouts. Excel scripts, VBA, I use all the time.
We have hundreds of Office documents, and people send us Office documents. I have Excel files connected to data sources, used for reporting, formatting PDF output files.I tried switching once, and over weeks they could never understand the use of save-as to put things in proper formats. If you have to do anything besides ctrl-s or file-save, brains explode. Literally, entrails on the walls, it's messy. Buttons moving around and aren't in the right toolbar locations, panic ensues.
You are definitely right in that 90% of documents are like a few headings and some bold and italic here and there. And most spreadsheets are just naming the headers and entering basic data. But even if that is 90% of documents, the most important documents are the other 10%, the most critical ones, the hard ones, the advanced ones.
I've given up the battle. I bought O365 thinking we'd finally have everything in one, the newest Office, a terabyte of OneDrive. But even that was a fight. Boss though it was useless to buy everyone a license, so I was only allowed to buy 5 licenses and other people in the building are using the same accounts, since they can be used on up to five devices.
I can't win, and I'm not going to try any more. I have to take even the smallest victories as a good thing. -
@guyinpv said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
Libre and OpenOffice are ugly as snot, unless you like using programs from Visual Basic 6 era, I dunno.
I can only assume you've not really used them then. We can't be talking about the same application.
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@guyinpv said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
I've always had trouble opening MS Office stuff within these apps, formatting goes wonky, images, tables, print layouts. Excel scripts, VBA, I use all the time.
That's an issue - you are judging them to a different standard than you judge MS Office.
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@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
@guyinpv said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
@guyinpv said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
Well I guess I'll just have to buy O365 to get Word and Excel. Then buy Google Apps to get Drive. Then buy some other suite just to get a decent intranet. Then another suite to get some notes. Then another suite just to get the wiki. ffs
Why do you need Word and Excel? I mean lots of people need them but why do you?
Because all the non-techy people are used to Office. I only recently finally got them to stop using old copies of Office 2007. At least now they can use 2016 on O365. They will not use anything else, and threw a hissy fit when MS started pushing Office as a subscription model. They were THIS close to forcing us to keep using 2007 just because we happened to have those licenses and the software still runs fine.
MS's licensing model is such a pain. All I want is updated software, and all the boss wants is to not spend thousands of dollars upgrading when the old stuff "still works". And nothing compares to Word/Excel right now. Don't even bother telling me to try doing spreadsheets in the cloud in a web browser on Google. No chance of ever getting anybody around here to do that.
Non-techy people really can't tell. LibreOffice is nicer, IMHO, and easier to use. Tell management you have a free option that has been around for decades and is used everywhere and see if "free" and "fully up to date all of the time" don't matter to them. Maybe they don't, but give it a shot.
I've been on non-MS office options since 2003 and can't be happier. And I've never met the elusive non-tech person that only can use Word. Everyone says this, but the less technical people are, the more likely they are to only know Google Sheets from what I've seen. These days, MS Office isn't some kind of universal need like it used to be. So many companies don't have it any more, the "it's the only thing that people know" argument doesn't really apply.
And as Jared said, most users can't even tell when you switch. It's just a "new version" to them.
I just use Zoho for everything. My mail is through it for each of my domains and pretty much all documents are through that. Then again I hardly ever use documents and spreadsheets any more.
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Looks awfully nice to me.
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@scottalanmiller Do you know if all the formulas are the same as Excel?
Edit: Surely you can't know this, since you haven't used excel in 14 years lol I'll google.
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@tim_g said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
To compare:
They are both good. I might give MS the edge, but their themes are weaker than LO's. But LO doesn't have as nice of buttons. But I like LO's OS integration better.
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LO's NextCloud integration is nice. Just add in your link and you have NC capabilities.
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@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
Looks awfully nice to me.
Mine looks like this:
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I had mine shrunk down for the screen shot.
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@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
@tim_g said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
To compare:
They are both good. I might give MS the edge, but their themes are weaker than LO's. But LO doesn't have as nice of buttons. But I like LO's OS integration better.
Is yours using a special theme? I like your buttons better.
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@tim_g said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
@scottalanmiller said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
@tim_g said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
To compare:
They are both good. I might give MS the edge, but their themes are weaker than LO's. But LO doesn't have as nice of buttons. But I like LO's OS integration better.
Is yours using a special theme? I like your buttons better.
Just the standard Dark integration, nothing added.
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Here's Zoho
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Theme is only part of it really. Though I really wish they would modernize.
The MS ribbon didn't get good reviews when it first came out. Anything different is immediately attacked.
But over time it makes sense, organizing groups of similar buttons and collapsing the ribbon, etc. LO and OO are still just like, 'here are 142 buttons all in rows, you're welcome'.It's less about the theme I think, and more about file compatibility. I can open Word files sent to me by others, but it's not always the case an ODF or something will be compatible with some other person's Office 2010, or that the formatting will remain the same when we send it to them even if they can open it.
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@guyinpv said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
Theme is only part of it really. Though I really wish they would modernize.
The MS ribbon didn't get good reviews when it first came out. Anything different is immediately attacked.
But over time it makes sense, organizing groups of similar buttons and collapsing the ribbon, etc. LO and OO are still just like, 'here are 142 buttons all in rows, you're welcome'.It's less about the theme I think, and more about file compatibility. I can open Word files sent to me by others, but it's not always the case an ODF or something will be compatible with some other person's Office 2010, or that the formatting will remain the same when we send it to them even if they can open it.
Why would others send you Word files, though? Word is for collaboration, not something you'd get from the outside. And from the inside, once you've switched, the problem is solved.
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@guyinpv said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
Boss though it was useless to buy everyone a license, so I was only allowed to buy 5 licenses and other people in the building are using the same accounts, since they can be used on up to five devices.
Report it to MS. This is a license violation. Your boss told you to steal.
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@jaredbusch said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
@guyinpv said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
Boss though it was useless to buy everyone a license, so I was only allowed to buy 5 licenses and other people in the building are using the same accounts, since they can be used on up to five devices.
Report it to MS. This is a license violation. Your boss told you to steal.
Yeah, that's just blatant theft, no ifs ands or buts.
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@jaredbusch said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
@guyinpv said in Looking for some neat Server Build Projects:
Boss though it was useless to buy everyone a license, so I was only allowed to buy 5 licenses and other people in the building are using the same accounts, since they can be used on up to five devices.
Report it to MS. This is a license violation. Your boss told you to steal.
That's huge. Big no-no.
Licenses like that are tied to that specific user, nobody can use it, no exceptions.
Your boss should have told you to get a retail copy, which is tied to the computer, in which anybody can go up to and use.
