A couple guys I know mega corp just got rid of Microsoft Office to save money. We are talking Fortune 500 size business. Now the of course replaced it with Google which is just as bad and total shit to use, but it’s still interesting to see a company that size turn on Microsoft.
LibreOffice is quite nice. I’ve been Linux desktop for 8ish years now. Linux gaming for about a year. I love Linux gaming. Old games that windows hates usually easier to get going, stuff I bought in Steam just works and GOG close behind. I never mess with drivers and crap at all, although I hear Nvidia people have a much different experience.
I gather there are power features that MS has which makes it appealing for big businesses (although I've never used them) but why do governments use MS? They don't give a flaming fart about compatibility or efficiency so why don't they all go with the free option by default?
Free softwares have liability issues with government agencies and big corpos. If something went wrong, they need clear definitions for who is responsible for what happened and be punishable/accountable for such (whether they can do it is another matter).
Free softwares have those "use it at your own risk" clauses also since it was given free without exchange of values, there's no valid contract that requires the software company to perform certain functions or have post sales updates/services. Even if big corpos don't want to use Microsoft, they'd still pay some companies to make custom softwares where the requirements and responsibilities are clearly defined instead of using free softwares that nobody's there to take responsibility or resolve issues when something went wrong.
I've used the LibreOffice Calc (Excel) the most. Honestly I'd be shocked if it's not enough for 99% of business use case. It's a bit different though. A bit ten years ago in design. In a good way in my opinion, but if you hand that to someone who lives in Excel they'd bitch about the differences. If there's big corps pushing to Google Sheets though, that cat is already getting let out of the bag.
I suspect the PowerPoint copy is kinda mediocre. Honestly, I've really never launched it.
If I was suggesting a home or light office user wanting a place to keep budget spreadsheets and do a few docs, etc. Don't even waste time pirating MS Office. Libre is fine. Or there's OpenOffice too, I used that a long time ago.
On the contrary, you get to brag about your giant budget to other government golems. The bigger the waste, the more "successful" and "necessary" your agency looks.
why don't they all go with the free option by default
That question almost always goes to corporate support contracts. If I'm a big accounting firm and Excel breaks business-wide one day, I can get MS on the phone and fix it. I don't have to wait for some random guy in Eastern Europe who develops software as a hobby to get around to a patch when he has free time. Every second that my software isn't working is lost revenue. That's why enterprise paid for support contracts in the first place. Once a company is big enough, it only trusts the risk management style that's common with other big companies.
The free software you see get big corporate adoption is usually stuff in the programming sphere, where the company itself already has employees who can deal with it or another large company using it explicitly has people dedicated to supporting it. Like why OpenSSL has massive adoption and OpenOffice doesn't.
I ran into issues trying to get Black and White installed on a VM, so I still don't think it's ready for prime time, but it handled Notepad++ a lot better than I was expecting it to, so there's some progress being made.
I've always had issues with VMs either way. Especially with graphics and games. Those old games are going to take tinkering regardless, you are just less likely to run into a "This totally won't work" barrier like Windows 10 (or worse 11).
Someone who's just an I buy my games on Steam person, it's exceptional for any game that doesn't require kernel spyware. Pretty much just works. Although, still I'd say I hear Nvidia users have to fight it a lot more. I have never even tried it on an Nvidia system.
A couple guys I know mega corp just got rid of Microsoft Office to save money. We are talking Fortune 500 size business. Now the of course replaced it with Google which is just as bad and total shit to use, but it’s still interesting to see a company that size turn on Microsoft.
LibreOffice is quite nice. I’ve been Linux desktop for 8ish years now. Linux gaming for about a year. I love Linux gaming. Old games that windows hates usually easier to get going, stuff I bought in Steam just works and GOG close behind. I never mess with drivers and crap at all, although I hear Nvidia people have a much different experience.
I gather there are power features that MS has which makes it appealing for big businesses (although I've never used them) but why do governments use MS? They don't give a flaming fart about compatibility or efficiency so why don't they all go with the free option by default?
Free softwares have liability issues with government agencies and big corpos. If something went wrong, they need clear definitions for who is responsible for what happened and be punishable/accountable for such (whether they can do it is another matter).
Free softwares have those "use it at your own risk" clauses also since it was given free without exchange of values, there's no valid contract that requires the software company to perform certain functions or have post sales updates/services. Even if big corpos don't want to use Microsoft, they'd still pay some companies to make custom softwares where the requirements and responsibilities are clearly defined instead of using free softwares that nobody's there to take responsibility or resolve issues when something went wrong.
I've used the LibreOffice Calc (Excel) the most. Honestly I'd be shocked if it's not enough for 99% of business use case. It's a bit different though. A bit ten years ago in design. In a good way in my opinion, but if you hand that to someone who lives in Excel they'd bitch about the differences. If there's big corps pushing to Google Sheets though, that cat is already getting let out of the bag.
I suspect the PowerPoint copy is kinda mediocre. Honestly, I've really never launched it.
If I was suggesting a home or light office user wanting a place to keep budget spreadsheets and do a few docs, etc. Don't even waste time pirating MS Office. Libre is fine. Or there's OpenOffice too, I used that a long time ago.
It's not their money, why do they care if they have to spend it?
On the contrary, you get to brag about your giant budget to other government golems. The bigger the waste, the more "successful" and "necessary" your agency looks.
They’re filled with retarded boomers, niggers, and women. These idiots can barely use computers in general.
If only you knew how bad things really are...
That question almost always goes to corporate support contracts. If I'm a big accounting firm and Excel breaks business-wide one day, I can get MS on the phone and fix it. I don't have to wait for some random guy in Eastern Europe who develops software as a hobby to get around to a patch when he has free time. Every second that my software isn't working is lost revenue. That's why enterprise paid for support contracts in the first place. Once a company is big enough, it only trusts the risk management style that's common with other big companies.
The free software you see get big corporate adoption is usually stuff in the programming sphere, where the company itself already has employees who can deal with it or another large company using it explicitly has people dedicated to supporting it. Like why OpenSSL has massive adoption and OpenOffice doesn't.
I ran into issues trying to get Black and White installed on a VM, so I still don't think it's ready for prime time, but it handled Notepad++ a lot better than I was expecting it to, so there's some progress being made.
I've always had issues with VMs either way. Especially with graphics and games. Those old games are going to take tinkering regardless, you are just less likely to run into a "This totally won't work" barrier like Windows 10 (or worse 11).
Someone who's just an I buy my games on Steam person, it's exceptional for any game that doesn't require kernel spyware. Pretty much just works. Although, still I'd say I hear Nvidia users have to fight it a lot more. I have never even tried it on an Nvidia system.