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Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] dev null> wrote:
> Last time I checked, if you want an office suite, you can buy MS Office
> or...
> ...uh, yeah, exactly. It's not that MS Office is good enough that nobody
> will pay to switch. It's that there's nothing to switch *to*. Like I
> say, MS carefully arranges it so that users have no alternatives. That
> way they don't have to waste money on, say, making a product that people
> want to use.
Yeah, that's why this page only lists MS Office:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_suite
--
- Warp
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On Thu, 13 May 2010 20:29:04 +0200, Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] dev null> wrote:
>
> If you want to use Apple software, you must buy Apple hardware.
The vast majority of computer users buy the hardware and OS in a combined
package anyway.
> Last time I checked, it's very pricey
Debatable, and even if we assume it is true, many people seem willing to
cough up the extra cash for what they consider a superior product.
> and available in only a handful of configurations, which usually can't
> be upgraded in any way.
The vast majority of computer users never upgrade their computers; they
buy new ones.
> There's no *technical* reason, however, why somebody can't go out and
> implement an alternative office suite. (Apart perhaps from file
> compatibilty.) Yet nobody has done this.
A long list of nobodies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_suite
--
FE
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>> Last time I checked, if you want an office suite, you can buy MS Office
>> or...
>>
>> ...uh, yeah, exactly. It's not that MS Office is good enough that nobody
>> will pay to switch. It's that there's nothing to switch *to*.
>
> Corel. OpenOffice. There are options for many people.
Corel?
Don't forget StarOffice (or whatever the hell the minutely-altered
edition of OpenOffice is called).
>> (Although there is hope. Give it another 5 years or so, maybe OpenOffice
>> will become good...)
>
> I use OpenOffice every day. It's good.
It's OK, and it *is* useful for fixing documents that MS Word is too
stupid to open. But it's not nearly as effective is MS Office yet.
Still, 5 years ago it was awful. Maybe it just needs time...
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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>> If you want to use Apple software, you must buy Apple hardware.
>
> iTunes.
Question: Are there any people on Earth who *voluntarily* use this??
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Warp wrote:
> Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] dev null> wrote:
>> Last time I checked, if you want an office suite, you can buy MS Office
>> or...
>
>> ...uh, yeah, exactly.
>
> Yeah, that's why this page only lists MS Office:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_suite
I don't count free open-source barely-functional MS Office clones as
"alternatives".
The suggestion was that if you're willing to pay money, you can buy an
office suite that's better than MS Office. I've yet to see one.
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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On Thu, 13 May 2010 19:45:29 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> Last time I checked, if you want an office suite, you can buy MS
>>> Office or...
>>>
>>> ...uh, yeah, exactly. It's not that MS Office is good enough that
>>> nobody will pay to switch. It's that there's nothing to switch *to*.
>>
>> Corel. OpenOffice. There are options for many people.
>
> Corel?
WordPerfect Office, from Corel.
> Don't forget StarOffice (or whatever the hell the minutely-altered
> edition of OpenOffice is called).
StarOffice predated OpenOffice; the two were co-developed for some time,
but are essentially different products now.
>>> (Although there is hope. Give it another 5 years or so, maybe
>>> OpenOffice will become good...)
>>
>> I use OpenOffice every day. It's good.
>
> It's OK, and it *is* useful for fixing documents that MS Word is too
> stupid to open. But it's not nearly as effective is MS Office yet.
> Still, 5 years ago it was awful. Maybe it just needs time...
If the last time you used it was 5 years ago, then you haven't looked at
the current versions. As I said, I use it *every* *single* *day* and it
*isn't* awful, it's quite good, and I find it provides all the
functionality that most end users need.
I wouldn't waste my time using *awful* software.
Oh, and I use it regularly to open MS Office docs (which I am often sent
by third parties) - both "traditional" files and OOXML files. No
compatibility problems that I've encountered.
Jim
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On Thu, 13 May 2010 19:48:24 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Warp wrote:
>> Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] dev null> wrote:
>>> Last time I checked, if you want an office suite, you can buy MS
>>> Office or...
>>
>>> ...uh, yeah, exactly.
>>
>> Yeah, that's why this page only lists MS Office:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_suite
>
> I don't count free open-source barely-functional MS Office clones as
> "alternatives".
Because, of course, Corel's WordPerfect office is "barely functional".
> The suggestion was that if you're willing to pay money, you can buy an
> office suite that's better than MS Office. I've yet to see one.
You just apparently haven't looked hard enough.
Jim
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On Thu, 13 May 2010 19:45:58 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> If you want to use Apple software, you must buy Apple hardware.
>>
>> iTunes.
>
> Question: Are there any people on Earth who *voluntarily* use this??
Apparently there are.
Jim
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>> Don't forget StarOffice (or whatever the hell the minutely-altered
>> edition of OpenOffice is called).
>
> StarOffice predated OpenOffice; the two were co-developed for some time,
> but are essentially different products now.
Interesting. So does StarOffice do something that OpenOffice doesn't now?
>>> I use OpenOffice every day. It's good.
>> It's OK, and it *is* useful for fixing documents that MS Word is too
>> stupid to open. But it's not nearly as effective is MS Office yet.
>> Still, 5 years ago it was awful. Maybe it just needs time...
>
> If the last time you used it was 5 years ago, then you haven't looked at
> the current versions.
I said (or intended to say) that 5 years ago it was awful, and today it
isn't. It just isn't great either.
> As I said, I use it *every* *single* *day* and it
> *isn't* awful, it's quite good, and I find it provides all the
> functionality that most end users need.
I used it to write my CV.
All of them.
> Oh, and I use it regularly to open MS Office docs (which I am often sent
> by third parties) - both "traditional" files and OOXML files. No
> compatibility problems that I've encountered.
As I say, I sometimes use OO for fixing broken MSO documents. (MSO
itself is apparently too stupid to do this.)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] dev null> wrote:
> There's no *technical* reason, however, why somebody can't go out and
> implement an alternative office suite. (Apart perhaps from file
> compatibilty.) Yet nobody has done this.
Nobody has done this? You yourself have at least heard of OpenOffice,
which is actually quite popular on the free side of the world. There are
other alternatives (many of which are more lightweight), such as KOffice,
which seems to be rather solid. From the commercial side we have some big
names like Corel WordPerfect Office (I'm pretty sure even you have at least
heard of WordPerfect), among others. On the MacOS side we have iWork, which
is Apple's own office suite, which usually means it's pretty solid (Apple
tends to invest in quality and stability).
The problem is not that alternatives don't exist. The problem is that
MS has got itself into the lucky position of being the only known provider
of office suites to most people, and even when people get aware of
alternatives, these alternative will be always and forever be measured
against MS Office ("will it open .doc and excel files?"). Sadly, for an
office to have any chance of succeeding, it has to be able to hack support
for proprietary Microsoft file formats.
--
- Warp
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