Bill Gates wrote:

I moved over to LibreOffice ages ago and it works just great. It
is a bit baffling to me that anyone would pay to use MS Office
given how good the free alternatives are. Even if the fidelity
isn't great, as long as the Office alternative doesn't completely
break a file (e.g. screw up the formatting or insert weird
encoding gibberish, etc.), I say it is worth switching.

Perhaps a lot of people who use office suites are just
conditioned to think that Word is the word processor. PowerPoint
is the presentation software, Excel is the spreadsheet software.
Anything unfamiliar is treated as inferior or unprofessional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwWlYdz-qhk

It takes 10 minutes to import data into Excel, format it, and have it
ready for presentation / distribution.

LibreOffice can't connect to the same data sources that Excel can
without adding extra shit to it. Once it finally gets there, more
formatting is required before it's ready for prime time.

Biggest problem, the screen formatting doesn't auto-adjust
to the screen size so it looks dumb on a projector and requires
extra movement - where everybody giggles and laughs.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2026-04-14 12:38, Daniel70 wrote:

On 14/04/2026 4:33 pm, Yamn2 Remailer wrote:

Bill Gates wrote:

I moved over to LibreOffice ages ago and it works just great. It
is a bit baffling to me that anyone would pay to use MS Office
given how good the free alternatives are. Even if the fidelity
isn't great, as long as the Office alternative doesn't completely
break a file (e.g. screw up the formatting or insert weird
encoding gibberish, etc.), I say it is worth switching.

Perhaps a lot of people who use office suites are just
conditioned to think that Word is the word processor. PowerPoint
is the presentation software, Excel is the spreadsheet software.
Anything unfamiliar is treated as inferior or unprofessional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwWlYdz-qhk

It takes 10 minutes to import data into Excel, format it, and have it
ready for presentation / distribution.

LibreOffice can't connect to the same data sources that Excel can
without adding extra shit to it.ÿ Once it finally gets there, more
formatting is required before it's ready for prime time.

Biggest problem, the screen formatting doesn't auto-adjust
to the screen size so it looks dumb on a projector and requires
extra movement - where everybody giggles and laughs.

The biggest problem I foresee .... Once you've produced YOUR document in
or converted it into LibreOffice, those that try to view it in MSOffice (because MSO came with the Computer or that's all the Tech staff can handle), it's all Gobble-de-gook, again!!

+++------------------------ <https://www.kernelreload.com/2026/03/alemania-prohibe-los-formatos-de.html>

*Germany Bans Microsoft Formats in Public Administration and Commits to
Open Source*
March 21, 2026

Germany has just taken one of the most decisive steps in favor of
open-source software that any European government has taken in recent
years. The Deutschland-Stack, the country?s new sovereign digital infrastructure framework, stipulates that German public administrations
may only use two document formats: ODF and PDF/UA. Microsoft?s
proprietary formats?.doc, .xls, .ppt, and their variants?are excluded.

This is not a recommendation. It is not a best-practices guide. It is a binding mandate that applies to all levels of government, from the
federal government down to the municipalities.

Translated with DeepL
------------------------++-

--
Cheers, Carlos.
ES??, EU??;

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 4/14/2026 6:38 AM, Daniel70 wrote:

On 14/04/2026 4:33 pm, Yamn2 Remailer wrote:

Bill Gates wrote:

I moved over to LibreOffice ages ago and it works just great. It
is a bit baffling to me that anyone would pay to use MS Office
given how good the free alternatives are. Even if the fidelity
isn't great, as long as the Office alternative doesn't completely
break a file (e.g. screw up the formatting or insert weird
encoding gibberish, etc.), I say it is worth switching.

Perhaps a lot of people who use office suites are just
conditioned to think that Word is the word processor. PowerPoint
is the presentation software, Excel is the spreadsheet software.
Anything unfamiliar is treated as inferior or unprofessional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwWlYdz-qhk

It takes 10 minutes to import data into Excel, format it, and have it
ready for presentation / distribution.

LibreOffice can't connect to the same data sources that Excel can
without adding extra shit to it.ÿ Once it finally gets there, more
formatting is required before it's ready for prime time.

Biggest problem, the screen formatting doesn't auto-adjust
to the screen size so it looks dumb on a projector and requires
extra movement - where everybody giggles and laughs.

The biggest problem I foresee .... Once you've produced YOUR document in or converted it
into LibreOffice, those that try to view it in MSOffice (because MSO came with the
Computer or that's all the Tech staff can handle), it's all Gobble-de-gook, again!!

And if you opened your LibreOffice format document in LibreOffice and
then Save As a Microsoft office format (as identified in the Save As dialog), does the Microsoft format document then open in Microsoft Office ?

GS252-GettingStarted.odt 32,562,582 bytes

GS252-GettingStarted--Word-2010-365.docx 25,975,689 bytes <=== test this one

I don't have Office here, and the Word Online one requires logging in
and messing around (OneDrive). The OneDrive is expunged on this C:
and the OneDrive in H: doesn't have an MSA. Strange, that. So I can't
really view my conversion, but you can test that for me.

You can get a document to practice on, here.

https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/english-documentation/

https://nextcloud.documentfoundation.org/s/nktybXrKqNen5rS

GS252-GettingStarted.odt 32,562,582 bytes

Paul


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Windows Fanboy wrote:

It takes 10 minutes to import data into Excel, format it, and have
it ready for presentation / distribution.

Well it's obvious you're just a windows "spyware" fanboy. You just
love throwing $$$ to Bill Gates, Don't you? IDIOT!

If you're paying for Office, you're stupid.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)