Item: LibreOffice
Rating: 10
Author: Mauricio E Gleizer

Overall Satisfaction with LibreOffice

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Here at GISMarxev I use LibreOffice every time I need to edit documents via PC. Those traditional industry documents such as text, spreadsheets, presentations, and PDF formats. Yes, you're right -- it's our substitute champion for the MS Office package, and not only for being completely costless, but also for two other important reasons:
1) It is functionally compatible with the Microsoft package for both opening and exporting files.
2) It maintains a simple and user-friendly interface that wisely hides the most sophisticated features from the average user.

Pros and Cons

Pros

It is available for installation on the three major PC platforms: Windows, Linux, and Mac (including official application stores for these systems).
It has always been able to open, edit and/or export files (even with specific formatting) in MS Office proprietary formats without piracy, as it is completely costless.
It is constantly updated (certainly much more than MS Office), which ensures more security, stability, and new features.

Cons

Paid, online, fast problem-solving technical support.
An online version that is really similar and compatible with LibreOffice for desktop, similar to MSOffice 365.
An updated service that works within the LibreOffice itself.

Return on Investment

Positive: LibreOffice comes with 6 completely free apps, allowing you to use financial resources with other tools.
Positive: LibreOffice 6 can be installed for free (and legitimately) on all machines in the organization and also on employees' personal computers.
Negative: In certain situations, the employee's custom of using MS Office may require conducting training workshops for LibreOffice's use in a similar quality, which requires time and perhaps hiring instructor.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft Office 2016 and Apache OpenOffice

LibreOffice's biggest advantage over MS Office is its gratuity, but its cleaner interface and the fact that it is naturally multiplatform are also important features.
As for Apache OpenOffice, the time that this suite "was in the hands" of Oracle caused development delays (even stalled), so LibreOffice today has a larger and more stable developer and user base, which translates into faster and more constant updates.

Support Rating

Online, through the various forums and lists of experienced users, and also on the LibreOffice website itself.

Key Insights

Do you think LibreOffice delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with LibreOffice's feature set?

Yes

Did LibreOffice live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of LibreOffice go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy LibreOffice again?

Yes

Other Software Used

QGIS, Ubuntu Linux, Trello, Android

Likelihood to Recommend

LibreOffice is ideal for organizations and people who don't want and/or can't pay for MS Office. Even in environments where the use of the Microsoft tool is well established, the familiar interface and ease of importing/exporting files from all commonly used applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) efficiently helps a lot during the transition period.
Therefore, it is only in situations where the official MS Office license has already been purchased (purchased or donated) that exclusive use of LibreOffice would not be recommended, but as licenses do not last forever, this situation may change.

Comments

Please log in to join the conversation

LibreOffice, the best.