Office Software: Comparing Microsoft Office and LibreOffice
Most people have been introduced to word processing software by Microsoft Word and spreadsheet by Microsoft Excel. And many people think that Microsoft PowerPoint and presentation software are synonyms. To the astonishment of such people, here is the big news. There is a sophisticated open source office software that is fully capable of handling the tasks that you can imagine throwing at an office suite – LibreOffice. Open source means that the source code is available for anyone to see and modify, and you do not need to pay anything to use this software. There are ways to support the development of this software, however.
LibreOffice is cross-platform and you can use it on Windows, Mac, or Linux. In fact, it comes pre-installed in most Linux distributions. Following is a brief comparison of both office software programs.
- Microsoft Word vs. LibreOffice Writer
Microsoft Word is a sophisticated word processor evolved in decades. But the LibreOffice Writer is equally sophisticated and feature-rich. In fact, experts have given higher ratings to Writer. Both programs can handle docx files, the default format of MS Word, and odf files, the default format of LibreOffice Writer. So, you can try Writer without any fear.
- Microsoft Excel vs. LibreOffice Calc
Microsoft Excel has a high market penetration in office software market. But LibreOffice Calc is by no means behind. You can do anything in Calc that you can do in Excel. However, if your organization has already invested a lot of time and resources in building macros or other programs for Excel, it is advisable to stick with Excel.
- Microsoft PowerPoint vs. LibreOffice Impress
Both Microsoft PowerPoint and LibreOffice Impress are capable presentation programs. Again, you can do anything with Impress that you can do with the PowerPoint. But if you are making presentations and sending it to PowerPoint users, it is safer to use PowerPoint for such presentations.