LibreOffice
WTF is it? How do I get it? How do I use it? and does it smell of Craster Kippers?
Here's Nixie explaining LibreOffice better than I can in a quick video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sloEMUt7n5Q
she tends to play it down, it's better than the impresson she gives :)
she tends to play it down, it's better than the impresson she gives :)
plus after only 2 seconds into the video she utters the word "span.king" fnarr-fnarr
/me rubs thighs and dribbles from several places
Most people will use LibreOffice it as a replacement for MS-Word, the LibreOffice equivalent of Word is caller Writer. The whole suite also includes a spreadsheet and other bits and bobs, but for reading and writing CVs, letters, general day-day correspondence, LibreOffice does everything I need.
I don't use Microsoft Windows at all, so MS Office is not an option for me at any price, but I use LibreOffice almost every time I need to read or write any document other than a quick note. By default LibreOffice uses it's own file format. It's easily changed if you prefer to keep it in Microsoft formats. It also writes to PDF formats
THE BIGGEST QUESTION most people have is
"can I view / receive / load Microsoft Office documents?"
YES
of course you fug.in can *
I'm using BIG LETTERS because I'M SHOUTING - so listen up
To change it to a nice, compatible - with - everyone - Microsoft-y - in - the - last - 10 - years file format, you need to tell LibreOffice to either save files in the -
2007 / 2010 XML format
if you only have more modern versions of MS Office
or
Office 98 / Office 2000 / Office 2003 format
if you are an old cheapskate with very old computers or you need to send documents in the "lowest common denominator" for maximum compatibility
* it's easy - watch this short vid
here it is again by somebody else, in case you don't like Mackems
Occasionally, if you have a need to be compatible with more recent Microsoft versions (each new version of Office by Microsoft seems to have "extra added features" that aren't compatible with the previous versions, so you have to buy it again to upgrade), you can select and more recent version, like 2007-2010 XML for example, but for best compatibility with old computers, cheapskates and tight-arse computer geeks 97/2000/XP/2003 format is best as the lowest common denominator.
This is only the SAVE format you are changing , LibreOffice will read most (if not all) of the versions off documents without too many problems.
Occasional formatting errors and differences are common with the more recent or latest file format versions, but over time all of the bugs tend to get worked out as the program is worked on each day, every day of the year, by the LibreOffice maintainers, a.k.a. "the programmers"
Personally, I just use the normal ODF format, it's well documented and is a fully open standard. But I'm strange.
Proprietary is bad m'kay? You're gonna have a hard time that way
INTRODUCTION BLURB TO LIBREOFFICE
https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/libreofficeGETTING LIBREOFFICE FOR WINDOWS - it's always free, forever
https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-fresh
in most cases, if you need this help, you'll looking for Microsoft Windows version
It's also available from Sourceforge, but the LibreOffice site may be easier to understand and has instructions there to help you. It's free, be careful what you click on - anyone selling it is conning you. Be careful to get it only from www.libreoffice.org or Sourceforge to make sure you don't get a virus. You're running Windows remember, you have to be careful.
Mac, Unix, BSD and other OS users should use their normal built-in method of installing software, but Microsoft users still need to do it the hard way by themselves. I'm bggered if I know why, ask MS?
HELP / INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING LIBREOFFICE
https://help.libreoffice.org/Main_PageThe built-in help also has a search feature - use it to search for a word related to what you are trying to do
UPDATING LIBREOFFICE
https://help.libreoffice.org/Common/Check_for_Updates
Because Microsoft Windows does not use a centralised software package management and update system, Windows Update or Microsoft Update cannot update LibreOffice automatically, so you are responsible (as with most non-Microsoft programs) for keeping it up to date. Up to date software has less security problems, so this is very important, just like Windows Updates.
In practice, this means checking for a new version every few months - at the most. It's free, and usually quite painless. You can also avoid drastic changes between one version and another by keeping up to date regularly, that way there's no 3-year culture-shock like there is on the Microsoft products where you have to learn everything again because they have to justify massive changes due to the price. Nobody would buy new versions of MS Office it if it was exactly the same as the older one would they?
Step out of the gravy train, free yourself. ;-)
VIDEO TRAINING - free too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc845_FuONY&index=1&list=PL94682FC0D2ADF410I can't be rrrsed to embed the video here so the link will take you to YouTube to play the series.
Any problems, gimme a ring and I'll find some help on the Interthingy so you can help yourself.
Teach a man to fish and he'll still want Craster Kippers for the rest of his life.
Unfortunately, LibreOffice does not smell of Craster Kippers.
---
this post has been slightly sanit.ise*d so that people in the UK with restricted and censored internet connections (that's most of them) can hopefully read it.
---
Historically, LibreOffice is a fork (fork means a divergent variant of) OpenOffice, which was previously a well-respected office suite. OpenOffice became very popular when the Ubuntu operating system was popular, 2006-2011 or so (that is to say, before the introduction of Unity interface). OpenOffice is still developed, but most people I know perceived the purchase of Sun Microsystems (a very cool company who developed the original OpenOffice system for many years) by Oracle (who are quite proprietary compared to Sun) to be a VeryBadThing. Because of that, LibreOffice developers forked off (yes, that's a real, valid term) and formed LibreOffice.OpenOffice eventually was released by Oracle to the Apache Foundation, a altogether more respected outfit by many people interested in FOSS ethical standards, but the damage was already done, as most distributions of Linux and many other users had already jumped ship to avoid the Oracle taint.
All opinions here are my own perception, but Oracle will probably sue me - I have no money, so they are gonna have a hard time, m'kay?
