I forced it on our office over maybe 15 years ago, I’ve finally just about stopped receiving complaints. The vast majority of the push back was document compatibility, but not in the way you think.
The problem was the original document was created by a fucktard or opened by one, so many people don’t know how to correctly format a document using styles, know how to use page breaks, line breaks, etc etc. that’s us recieving documents and creating documents.
To be fair I didn’t initially fully understand this as well, but it literally took me 4 hours to read the manual.
Other problems include Microsoft’s fuckery using a supposedly open standard and allow proprietary code/content within the same open standard.
I have spent the last several weeks re-creating documents like this there were developed and maintained by one guy for 38 years.
There’s a half page drawing done in word that is lines and boxes and text all as text and positioned with spaces and tabs. I think I took a screenshot of it and just made it all one picture
I’ve heard it said that Excel is the second best program for everything. DB? Excel. CRM? Excel. Word editor? Browser? Calendar? Doom? Yup, you guessed it.
Just like Outlook, which my users essentialy used as a file storage… Sadly I’m not joking that when the first SSDs came out I had a user who I installed an SSD in his PC just to put his stupid PST files on, because having them on a HDD would cause his Outlook to have a meltdown.
It’s a trade-off for sure, but they’re both free/FOSS. So it’s worth test driving both.
I used primarily open office and Libreoffice 10-15 years ago and it was dated then but competitive. Trying it this year left me feeling like it hadn’t gotten much interface work in that time.
I really wish the team would invest in a serious overhaul that’s long overdue. The back end, especially when it comes to huge files, outperforms onlyoffice by a mile. But for me, only office is faster to use because the navigation is so much easier.
I really don’t like Microsoft, but the two products I think Microsoft got mostly right are Microsoft Office and Visual Studio. I really can’t find comparable products.
Open office and forks feel like Microsoft Office 97. While usable, it takes me twice as long to do things. I would almost prefer to use a LaTeX editor over word. Excel? Idk
From a business perspective, it doesn’t make sense to switch to libre office. W10 support also ends 10/25. It is highly irresponsible for an IT department to continue to use EOL products so they should be changing to W11 and new Microsoft office
For individuals, I mean…. I just installed a W10 VM to give me more time to find a Linux compatible alternative to turbo tax and to use visual studio so idk
You can use the IRS’ new Direct File service. It’s what we should’ve had ages ago, letting citizens file their taxes directly without a for-profit middle man. There are still a couple of scenarios they don’t support, since it’s still in development and is only in it’s second year of use, but in my experience it’s already competent and helpful.
And, as a bonus, you don’t have to give any money to Intuit/TurboTax to keep lobbying the government to make our tax code as arcane as possible so that people need their services to file taxes.
Freetaxusa.com does pretty much what turbo tax does. Federal filing for free, pretty sure they just charge $15 for state. If your taxes are too complex for freetaxusa you probably shouldn’t use turbo tax anyway.
Another vote for Freetaxusa. TurboTax might be marginally easier to use, but it is far more expensive and Intuit is a horrible company. If you hate filing taxes (because of the complexity), that is because Intuit and H&R Block lobby congress to keep things complicated so they can sell you their products.
Works exactly like TurboTax without giving any money to Intuit. Federal filing is free but you do have to pay to file state taxes through them ($14.99). It will ask several times if you want to buy their audit protection but you can just select no and keep going.
So I did consider that before going with the VM. My big issue with that is that it looks like a lot of sensitive information is stored online, whereas TurboTax stores my information on the local machine and only transmits as needed.
Sounds… typical. The last one is really why I don’t like TurboTax to begin with. But I don’t know how to find a tax consultant so… TurboTax it is for me
It means it’s time for businesses to figure out how to use LibreOffice
I forced it on our office over maybe 15 years ago, I’ve finally just about stopped receiving complaints. The vast majority of the push back was document compatibility, but not in the way you think. The problem was the original document was created by a fucktard or opened by one, so many people don’t know how to correctly format a document using styles, know how to use page breaks, line breaks, etc etc. that’s us recieving documents and creating documents. To be fair I didn’t initially fully understand this as well, but it literally took me 4 hours to read the manual.
Other problems include Microsoft’s fuckery using a supposedly open standard and allow proprietary code/content within the same open standard.
The number of people who move text around by adding spaces is too damn high!
Did they learn to type on a typewriter?
Who needs align right when you can just hold the space-bar till it’s there, or if you are a pro tab then space for perfect alignment
I have spent the last several weeks re-creating documents like this there were developed and maintained by one guy for 38 years.
There’s a half page drawing done in word that is lines and boxes and text all as text and positioned with spaces and tabs. I think I took a screenshot of it and just made it all one picture
And don’t get me started with special macros and basic code that only works in ms office.
Databases basically built inside excel 😐
I’ve heard it said that Excel is the second best program for everything. DB? Excel. CRM? Excel. Word editor? Browser? Calendar? Doom? Yup, you guessed it.
Just like Outlook, which my users essentialy used as a file storage… Sadly I’m not joking that when the first SSDs came out I had a user who I installed an SSD in his PC just to put his stupid PST files on, because having them on a HDD would cause his Outlook to have a meltdown.
I’m so happy I don’t have end users any more…
Or Access, which is the real reason my office will never switch. It’s an ever growing mountain of labor to transfer that to something else
yea who ever things that is a good idea, while we have MariaDB, PostgreSQL and Valkey should be fired.
Or OnlyOffice. It lacks a lot of features but is an easier sell in a lot of cases because of the much more modern interface.
Libreoffice with the ribbon interface looks about the same to me.
OnlyOffice is basically an electron browser app IIRC which is why the performance is so poor.
It’s a trade-off for sure, but they’re both free/FOSS. So it’s worth test driving both.
I used primarily open office and Libreoffice 10-15 years ago and it was dated then but competitive. Trying it this year left me feeling like it hadn’t gotten much interface work in that time.
I really wish the team would invest in a serious overhaul that’s long overdue. The back end, especially when it comes to huge files, outperforms onlyoffice by a mile. But for me, only office is faster to use because the navigation is so much easier.
I really don’t like Microsoft, but the two products I think Microsoft got mostly right are Microsoft Office and Visual Studio. I really can’t find comparable products.
Open office and forks feel like Microsoft Office 97. While usable, it takes me twice as long to do things. I would almost prefer to use a LaTeX editor over word. Excel? Idk
From a business perspective, it doesn’t make sense to switch to libre office. W10 support also ends 10/25. It is highly irresponsible for an IT department to continue to use EOL products so they should be changing to W11 and new Microsoft office
For individuals, I mean…. I just installed a W10 VM to give me more time to find a Linux compatible alternative to turbo tax and to use visual studio so idk
If you’re in any of these states:
You can use the IRS’ new Direct File service. It’s what we should’ve had ages ago, letting citizens file their taxes directly without a for-profit middle man. There are still a couple of scenarios they don’t support, since it’s still in development and is only in it’s second year of use, but in my experience it’s already competent and helpful.
And, as a bonus, you don’t have to give any money to Intuit/TurboTax to keep lobbying the government to make our tax code as arcane as possible so that people need their services to file taxes.
Apparently my state is lagging behind the times
Freetaxusa.com does pretty much what turbo tax does. Federal filing for free, pretty sure they just charge $15 for state. If your taxes are too complex for freetaxusa you probably shouldn’t use turbo tax anyway.
Another vote for Freetaxusa. TurboTax might be marginally easier to use, but it is far more expensive and Intuit is a horrible company. If you hate filing taxes (because of the complexity), that is because Intuit and H&R Block lobby congress to keep things complicated so they can sell you their products.
To replace TurboTax I reccomend freetaxusa.com.
Works exactly like TurboTax without giving any money to Intuit. Federal filing is free but you do have to pay to file state taxes through them ($14.99). It will ask several times if you want to buy their audit protection but you can just select no and keep going.
So I did consider that before going with the VM. My big issue with that is that it looks like a lot of sensitive information is stored online, whereas TurboTax stores my information on the local machine and only transmits as needed.
Any feedback to the contrary would be appreciated
You shouldn’t trust TurboTax so much.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/03/01/turbotax-privacy-tax-return-2024/
They also keep trying to trick you into giving consent:
https://www.moneytalksnews.com/are-turbotax-and-hr-block-sharing-your-personal-info/
They also lobby to keep taxes complex.
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free
Sounds… typical. The last one is really why I don’t like TurboTax to begin with. But I don’t know how to find a tax consultant so… TurboTax it is for me
Visual studio code has vs codium, which is a free and open source alternative. I’ve tested it a bit and it’s really nice! But yeah, not vs
Yeah I tried vscode but it’s just similar enough to vs yet different enough to be frustrating
It would save them so much money!
Came here to answer this :D surely didn’t read that article