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Duncan J Murray
February 20th, 2010, 07:55 PM
Hi Everyone,

Just a quick question - your favourite word processor?

I currently use OpenOffice - and I like it. It's very good at compatibility and all the advanced features, but I often don't need that stuff. Sometimes I just want something that's quick to load, has a variety of fonts and formatting, and that'll do. (If anyone remembers the old Psion organiser's word processor, something along those lines).

Any suggestions?

Duncan.

Simon17
February 20th, 2010, 07:58 PM
latex.

End of discussion.

Tibuda
February 20th, 2010, 07:59 PM
LaTeX, but I use OpenOffice for compatibility.

If you want a lightweight alternative, try Abiword.

bunburya
February 20th, 2010, 08:07 PM
I think OpenOffice will be a popular reply in this thread.

I use, you guessed it, OpenOffice. Compatibility is a big thing for me.

CharlesA
February 20th, 2010, 08:14 PM
I use gedit, is that bad?

lais
February 20th, 2010, 08:23 PM
OpenOffice

cariboo
February 20th, 2010, 08:27 PM
My favorite word processor is WordPerfect, but since they have never updated WordPerfect for Linux I use OpenOffice.

DZ*
February 20th, 2010, 08:32 PM
LaTeX, but I use OpenOffice for compatibility.

If you want a lightweight alternative, try Abiword.

If LaTeX is my favorite word processor, how would I go about typing LaTeX in it?

SuperSonic4
February 20th, 2010, 08:33 PM
Microsoft Word

KWord is a poor second

TheNessus
February 20th, 2010, 08:35 PM
Open Office.

Should Microsoft port MS Office to Linux, I'd buy it though.

Pogeymanz
February 20th, 2010, 08:54 PM
LaTeX is the only way to write a good paper.

Before I used Emacs+LaTeX, I always preferred OpenOffice Writer to MS Office Word, even when I had both on Windows and didn't know what Linux or FOSS was.

TheNessus
February 20th, 2010, 08:58 PM
LaTeX is the only way to write a good paper.

Before I used Emacs+LaTeX, I always preferred OpenOffice Writer to MS Office Word, even when I had both on Windows and didn't know what Linux or FOSS was.

See, my uni' professors accept ONLY MS word (2003 top, no docx)... But yeah Latex is superior... :(

hessiess
February 20th, 2010, 09:11 PM
Vim + LaTeX

There is just no comparison for anything over a few pages long.

ajgreeny
February 20th, 2010, 09:13 PM
Just to act devil's advocate, here are the first two paragraphs from the LaTeX web site:-


LaTeX is a document preparation system for high-quality typesetting. It is most often used for medium-to-large technical or scientific documents but it can be used for almost any form of publishing.



LaTeX is not a word processor! Instead, LaTeX encourages authors not to worry too much about the appearance of their documents but to concentrate on getting the right content. For example, consider this document:

So perhaps all those that say LaTeX are not really answering the OP's question. For a small document or letter, surely it is hardly worth learning all about using such a complicated application. It seems to me to be a backward step, but perhaps that's because I've never used, or needed to use it.

mickie.kext
February 20th, 2010, 09:17 PM
I use Emacs :)

hessiess
February 20th, 2010, 09:24 PM
For a small document or letter, surely it is hardly worth learning all about using such a complicated application. It seems to me to be a backward step.


As a whole, it is very complicated, however its also extremely easy to get started with. Keeping content and formatting separate is just a much better way to do things.

Sure you can use styles to achieve a simmaler thing in a word processor, but applying them requires a break of thought to find some GUI item, which is not the case with a mark-up language.

Frak
February 20th, 2010, 09:29 PM
Microsoft Word. I use it because I know it inside and out.

koleoptero
February 20th, 2010, 09:31 PM
See, my uni' professors accept ONLY MS word (2003 top, no docx)... But yeah Latex is superior... :(

My uni's professors only accept ps documents created in latex. Wanna switch?

koshatnik
February 20th, 2010, 09:54 PM
Scrivener>everything

Tibuda
February 20th, 2010, 09:56 PM
If LaTeX is my favorite word processor, how would I go about typing LaTeX in it?

Vim

bunburya
February 20th, 2010, 10:04 PM
Does "word processors" include what would normally be known as text editors? I use Kate as a text editor, though I also like Nano as a terminal-based editor (much simpler than Vim).

gymophett
February 20th, 2010, 10:06 PM
I'm tied between Microsoft Word, AbiWord, and OpenOffice.

bunburya
February 20th, 2010, 10:09 PM
I'm tied between Microsoft Word, AbiWord, and OpenOffice.
I have a long-standing prejudice against AbiWord because I originally used it on a laptop that was very much on its last legs, and I always remember it as being very slow, even though, AFAIK, AbiWord is known for its speed?

I must try it out now that I have a proper system.

Linux_junkie
February 20th, 2010, 10:21 PM
I have always loved to use WordStar from my DOS days. I loved its keyboard commands to do everything. None of this point and click and going through several menus or windows to get to the command you want to use. It was designed for typists. None of todays word processors are designed along those lines.

The Real Dave
February 20th, 2010, 10:27 PM
I use Nano most, and adore it, sometimes gEdit too. However, if I need something with formatting, I use OO.o. Then again, I do like Office 07, but only use it in school :)

hero1900
February 20th, 2010, 10:29 PM
recently i used lotus i think it is better than openoffice in usability

squilookle
February 20th, 2010, 10:30 PM
My favourite word processor is OpenOffice writer, although I prefer MS Office for everything else.

Dharmachakra
February 20th, 2010, 10:42 PM
Microsoft Word. I use it because I know it inside and out.

I do too... but I use it because I think it's better. OpenOffice would probably be second, and AbiWord follows closely behind. I use LyX for research papers.

MacJack
February 20th, 2010, 11:12 PM
The best WP I have ever used is Pages on a friends Mac, thought I currently don't have, need or use a word processor.

Openoffice and Microsoft Word seem to get the job done.

Gallahhad
February 20th, 2010, 11:36 PM
Microsoft Word when writing for human beings.

Geany for text editing for computers, html, python, js, css, etc.

Name change
February 21st, 2010, 12:15 AM
OpenOffice
KOffice
But I'm thinking of trying Lyx

CLI: nano, nothing comes close :D

doorknob60
February 21st, 2010, 12:21 AM
OpenOffice Writer for me. If I ever have to do presentations though, Powerpoint 2007 is my choice (via wine). OO Presentation just isn't quite as good. I like Word as much as OO Writer but since OO Writer is native and open source it's my first choice :)

Name change
February 21st, 2010, 12:25 AM
OpenOffice
KOffice
But I'm thinking of trying Lyx

CLI: nano, nothing comes close :D
I've just installed LyX and I think I just found what could be the best editor.
Hope i'll be able to use it correctly.
AFAIK it's not real LaTeX, but it is similar to it....

Swagman
February 21st, 2010, 12:31 AM
I have absolutely no need for a document (word) processor.

I send emails.

End of.

koleoptero
February 21st, 2010, 12:39 AM
GUI: Word 2007
CLI: Wordgrinder ;)

bunburya
February 21st, 2010, 12:53 AM
Does anyone know how OOCalc compares with MS Excel?

Frak
February 21st, 2010, 12:56 AM
Does anyone know how OOCalc compares with MS Excel?
Not as well. I could pull up some charts, I have them somewhere.

bpalone
February 21st, 2010, 01:34 AM
My favorite word processor is WordPerfect, but since they have never updated WordPerfect for Linux I use OpenOffice.

+1

My favorite as well. In fact I will sometimes use it in a VM just because it does a few things better. I did grab the free Softmaker Office at the end of the year last year. It does load faster and I haven't ahd anyone complain about compatibility yet. It is not free now, but they are not overly priced (that is if you don't mind using closed source).

If you want to check it out here is their web site: http://www.softmaker.com/english/index_en.htm

Duncan J Murray
February 21st, 2010, 02:21 AM
Ask a simple question... :)

Thanks for all the replies - I think that there are so many different uses for programs that capture keyboard input. I haven't used LaTeX, but I understand that is the daddy for producing great printed output, especially in science, and at the other extreme is nano/vim etc.

I suppose I'm middle of the road - I need something to make some notes. I've been using gedit, but the lack of formatting makes it a bit tricky to read if the file gets too large. Ditto for when it's printed. But openoffice takes a yawn to start up, and seems overkill for notes.

Will look into abiword and other suggestions.

Thanks,

Duncan

Tibuda
February 21st, 2010, 02:25 AM
Ask a simple question... :)

Thanks for all the replies - I think that there are so many different uses for programs that capture keyboard input. I haven't used LaTeX, but I understand that is the daddy for producing great printed output, especially in science, and at the other extreme is nano/vim etc.
Actually LaTeX is only a compiler, that creates very high-quality PDF/Postscript documents. You can use any text editor to edit LaTeX documents, including nano and vim. They are not "at the other extreme".


I suppose I'm middle of the road - I need something to make some notes. I've been using gedit, but the lack of formatting makes it a bit tricky to read if the file gets too large. Ditto for when it's printed. But openoffice takes a yawn to start up, and seems overkill for notes.

Will look into abiword and other suggestions.

Thanks,

Duncan
Yeah, I think Abiword is what you are looking for.

urukrama
February 21st, 2010, 02:48 AM
Try Ted (http://www.nllgg.nl/Ted/), a very light rtf word processor. The latest version uses GTK, so it also looks decent enough now.

RandomJoe
February 21st, 2010, 03:47 PM
If I need to produce a printed document (almost never at home, rarely at work) I use OpenOffice. But I don't care to fire up something that big on a regular basis. I do use OO Calc occasionally to view some data logging trend files with the charting. It's a bit slow, but it works.

I usually use vim for code and machine-read stuff (scripts, config files, etc) and joe (WordStar clone IIRC?) for plain text. I could probably fiddle with vim and get settings that made it do what I want for plain text, but joe does it right out of the box so I've never bothered!

My favorite OO / MS Word style editor, though, would be Word Perfect 5.0! Didn't care for the GUIfied versions, loved the DOS version way back when. Haven't used it in many years though...

Viva
February 21st, 2010, 04:06 PM
Openoffice

scouser73
February 21st, 2010, 04:43 PM
+1 for OpenOffice

Kdar
February 21st, 2010, 05:00 PM
Want to learn LaTeX. But using OpenOffice at the moment.
Geany is nice editor too.

Kantis
February 21st, 2010, 05:22 PM
Abiword. Simple and fast.

Baneblade
February 21st, 2010, 05:37 PM
MS Word

Personally i would happily use OpenOffice; it seems like a decent program from the little time i have spent with it.

Sadly the formatting on documents becomes messed up when you open it with MS Word (which nearly everybody else does). Until these basic things like formatting are fixed I cant see it gaining much traction in the mainstream.

gn2
February 21st, 2010, 07:10 PM
Word Perhect (http://www.e-2.org/perhect/frame.html) is my favourite.

yester64
February 21st, 2010, 07:54 PM
I have always loved to use WordStar from my DOS days. I loved its keyboard commands to do everything. None of this point and click and going through several menus or windows to get to the command you want to use. It was designed for typists. None of todays word processors are designed along those lines.

I remember it... oh man, this was a great program.
I always wondered what happen to it.

BobLand
February 21st, 2010, 08:34 PM
WordStar

Duncan J Murray
February 21st, 2010, 10:20 PM
Thanks Daniel for clarifying. I think Latex is going to be completely useless to me for what I was intending to use it for. Just installed Abiword - it's plain and quick to boot up.

Many thanks.

Duncan.

TheNessus
February 21st, 2010, 10:38 PM
Thanks Daniel for clarifying. I think Latex is going to be completely useless to me for what I was intending to use it for. Just installed Abiword - it's plain and quick to boot up.

Many thanks.

Duncan.
Try Lyx, it could suit your nees, no codes to learn either. just don't worry if it's ugly, with colours, since you can change those.

Pogeymanz
February 21st, 2010, 10:48 PM
Not as well. I could pull up some charts, I have them somewhere.

I would appreciate it if you did. I keep hearing how good Excel is compared to Calc, but I've done plots and function fits in Calc that had ~10,000 data points and never had a problem doing what I wanted. I just have to know what people are doing with Excel that makes it better.

azangru
February 22nd, 2010, 12:01 AM
I've just installed LyX and I think I just found what could be the best editor.
I really wanted to like Lyx, since I am too stupid or too unmotivated to learn Latex, I really did, but it seemed far too rigid, and uncustomizable, and incompatible with MS Word or OpenOffice. Apart from the input of mathematical formulas, I don't really see why people are so excited about it. The what-you-see-is-what-you-mean concept can easily be realized in MS Word or OO.o Writer using styles.

OK, I understand that Lyx (or Latex) handles certain typographical tasks better: it can automatically create ligatures, it justifies the text better. And yes, it is better at managing cross-references and possibly bibliographies. On the other hand, OO.o Writer gives you the WYSIWYG experience and pretty good control over your text, which is harder to achieve in Lyx.

I've seen papers, theses and manuals created in Lyx or Latex - they didn't look to me dramatically more impressive than what could be achieved with OpenOffice.

swoll1980
February 22nd, 2010, 12:04 AM
For most anything I would have to say word is the best for me.

Tibuda
February 22nd, 2010, 12:40 AM
I really wanted to like Lyx, since I am too stupid or too unmotivated to learn Latex, I really did, but it seemed far too rigid, and uncustomizable, and incompatible with MS Word or OpenOffice. Apart from the input of mathematical formulas, I don't really see why people are so excited about it. The what-you-see-is-what-you-mean concept can easily be realized in MS Word or OO.o Writer using styles.

OK, I understand that Lyx (or Latex) handles certain typographical tasks better: it can automatically create ligatures, it justifies the text better. And yes, it is better at managing cross-references and possibly bibliographies. On the other hand, OO.o Writer gives you the WYSIWYG experience and pretty good control over your text, which is harder to achieve in Lyx.

I've seen papers, theses and manuals created in Lyx or Latex - they didn't look to me dramatically more impressive than what could be achieved with OpenOffice.

It have advantages and disadvantages. LaTeX is customizable, but LyX does not give all the options in its GUI, so some tweaks require some advanced LaTeX knowledge. I find LaTeX defaults very sane, but I always make some tweaks.

In the end, you should use the tool you are confortable with.

Pogeymanz
February 22nd, 2010, 12:51 AM
I really wanted to like Lyx, since I am too stupid or too unmotivated to learn Latex, I really did, but it seemed far too rigid, and uncustomizable, and incompatible with MS Word or OpenOffice. Apart from the input of mathematical formulas, I don't really see why people are so excited about it. The what-you-see-is-what-you-mean concept can easily be realized in MS Word or OO.o Writer using styles.

OK, I understand that Lyx (or Latex) handles certain typographical tasks better: it can automatically create ligatures, it justifies the text better. And yes, it is better at managing cross-references and possibly bibliographies. On the other hand, OO.o Writer gives you the WYSIWYG experience and pretty good control over your text, which is harder to achieve in Lyx.

I've seen papers, theses and manuals created in Lyx or Latex - they didn't look to me dramatically more impressive than what could be achieved with OpenOffice.

Sure, they may end up looking the same, but for certain tasks LaTeX can be much easier/quicker. Often though, I can tell what was done in TeX and what wasn't. You basically said yourself what the benefits of TeX are. The only difference is the fact that it isn't WYSIWYG.

I've never actually used LyX, but it seems to be contrary to the whole point of TeX.

Tibuda
February 22nd, 2010, 12:56 AM
Sure, they may end up looking the same, but for certain tasks LaTeX can be much easier/quicker. Often though, I can tell what was done in TeX and what wasn't. You basically said yourself what the benefits of TeX are. The only difference is the fact that it isn't WYSIWYG.

I've never actually used LyX, but it seems to be contrary to the whole point of TeX.

No, LyX is not really contrary to (La)TeX. I can't explain very well, but I mean both LyX and (La)TeX you "don't worry with the document appearance, only with its contents". LyX is much different from MSWord/OOWriter.

EDIT: From http://www.latex-project.org/intro.html:

Instead, LaTeX encourages authors not to worry too much about the appearance of their documents but to concentrate on getting the right content.
and from http://www.lyx.org/:

LyX is a document processor that encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents (WYSIWYM) and not simply their appearance (WYSIWYG).

DZ*
February 22nd, 2010, 01:48 AM
Since Lyx is a front end to LaTeX, it makes little sense to compare the two.

Lyx may or may not be a good front end to LaTeX, but it can't be better or worse than what it's a front end to.

Similarly, since LaTeX is not a word processor, its comparison with word processors like abiword or whatever is moot. One would have to type LaTeX commands in a word processor!

tcoffeep
February 22nd, 2010, 05:24 AM
The only editors I use when it comes to text and documents are Vim (on windows, *bsd, and linux) and ed (on *bsd and linux).

Chronon
February 22nd, 2010, 06:26 AM
word perhect (http://www.e-2.org/perhect/frame.html) is my favourite.

lol!!

Warpnow
February 22nd, 2010, 10:57 AM
Abiword's late introduction in this thread should be a sin.

Johnsie
February 22nd, 2010, 01:33 PM
Abiword
Microsoft Word
Open Office

I would like abiword better if it was less buggy. Microsoft Word is probably the winner.

kellemes
February 22nd, 2010, 01:35 PM
Abiword indeed.

sertse
February 22nd, 2010, 01:37 PM
If It was just for myself/informal things, Abiword is good enough for me. Light and quick too.

If it's for serious things, it'll probably be passed though and checked on MS Word at some stage.

kellemes
February 22nd, 2010, 01:38 PM
If it's for serious things, it'll probably be passed though and checked on MS Word at some stage.

Why?

elcartero
February 22nd, 2010, 02:00 PM
Textmaker (Softmaker Office) for me. I grabbed one of their periodic free offers and downloaded both Linux and Windows versions which are superb. I particularly like the envelope creator which has solved an ongoing problem for me in Linux using an HP C3180 and Open Office.

bunburya
February 22nd, 2010, 05:20 PM
MS Word

Personally i would happily use OpenOffice; it seems like a decent program from the little time i have spent with it.

Sadly the formatting on documents becomes messed up when you open it with MS Word (which nearly everybody else does). Until these basic things like formatting are fixed I cant see it gaining much traction in the mainstream.

I used to find this was a major problem but lately I have found that essays I have been doing on OO transfer pretty much flawlessly to MS Word and vice versa. So I thought it had improved in that regard. Maybe it's just that my own work does not have a very complicated format.

samalex
February 22nd, 2010, 07:50 PM
Hi Everyone,

Just a quick question - your favourite word processor?

I currently use OpenOffice - and I like it. It's very good at compatibility and all the advanced features, but I often don't need that stuff. Sometimes I just want something that's quick to load, has a variety of fonts and formatting, and that'll do. (If anyone remembers the old Psion organiser's word processor, something along those lines).

Any suggestions?

Duncan.

I'll be honest, back in the day I LOVED EasyWriter and Word Perfect for MS-DOS. I still have WP setup in DosBox just for grins and giggles.

Now'days I use OpenOffice for about everything, or Google Docs for those few things I need to hit from multiple locations.

But while in Linux command line I use pico or nano, though that's more for editing config files and such... I wouldn't type a thesis on them :)

Sam

Simian Man
February 22nd, 2010, 08:01 PM
LaTeX for anything I care about at all (with vim of course). For just something I am jotting down or something, I'll use Abiword.

forrestcupp
February 22nd, 2010, 09:49 PM
Abiword is light, fast, and simple, but it is severely limited.


Word Perhect (http://www.e-2.org/perhect/frame.html) is my favourite.
Ha, ha. Someone really put a lot of effort into that.

drooze
February 22nd, 2010, 09:57 PM
It strikes me that nobody really chooses an online wordprocessor like google docs, zoho writer or the thinkfree suite.
However google seems to be betting much on these, with their all-in-the-cloud-ChromeOS...

I use Word 2007, because it's the exact same program my teachers use to open my files, and they require .doc's. In my experience, OOo just isn't compatible enough. That and I find the interface a mess, but I also find any previous version of microsoft word a mess...

I'm really holding my breath for the next OOo writer version.

Desert Sailor
February 22nd, 2010, 10:11 PM
My favorite word processor is WordPerfect, but since they have never updated WordPerfect for Linux I use OpenOffice.

Years ago, when dirt was new, Adam was a boy, and I was young, you could get WP for Linux... Is that code still kicking around, and is there any place where it could be obtained? I had a Linux-WP/CD, but can't find it now, and sure wish I had kept it.

Oh, to answer the question, I'm using OpenOffice, but missing Word Perfect.

RiceMonster
February 22nd, 2010, 10:17 PM
Microsoft Word.

Don't know latex, and I only use Openoffice if I don't want to pay for MSO

ajgreeny
February 22nd, 2010, 10:36 PM
I just looked into installing lyx on my machine to get some real idea about all this talk of lyx and LaTeX, and to do so would mean a download of 231MB of packages; yes 231MB, that's one third of the total size of an installation .iso file for the whole system, so I declined to install it.

It still seems to me, however, that all those who extol the virtues of LaTeX (and maybe lyx) are missing the point of the thread, which is about "Word Processors", not high end document producers and editors, and 231MB of downloads just to try it; no thanks, I'll stick with OOo Writer.

It's a real pity that abiword is not better than it is, as whenever I use it for a document that is more than a few pages long, particularly if there is anything copied from a web-page, it just locks solid and has to be forced to quit. There is no problem with small, simple documants, but not all of mine are simple. This has happened on all my attempts to use it since ubuntu 5.04, so I have just about given up on it now. It's a great pity!

koleoptero
February 22nd, 2010, 10:48 PM
I have to point out the absurdity of everyone saying "latex is not a word processor" yet noone's saying "nano and vim are not word processors".

Crunchy the Headcrab
February 22nd, 2010, 10:51 PM
Word 2007+.

It's simply what I'm used to and I haven't found another tool that works as well for me. Styles work wonderfully in Word.

blur xc
February 22nd, 2010, 10:53 PM
I installed latex (in cruncbang linux) and can't figure out how to run it. Just entering latex from the command line gets me to a prompt for a file name, that I can't seem to make do anything. My only way out was to close the terminal window. ctrl-c didn't work.

Thanks,
BM

Frak
February 22nd, 2010, 10:58 PM
I have to point out the absurdity of everyone saying "latex is not a word processor" yet noone's saying "nano and vim are not word processors".
Yet the people that use nano and vim are well aware that they aren't word processors.

koleoptero
February 22nd, 2010, 10:59 PM
Yet the people that use nano and vim are well aware that they aren't word processors.

While those that use latex aren't?

TheNessus
February 22nd, 2010, 11:07 PM
Open office is great, but the very ugly GUI is a killer. besides, once you go ribbon you never go back. Best if Open office implement a ribbon-like feature (and a way to disable it for those who don't like it... for whatever weird reason)

urukrama
February 22nd, 2010, 11:11 PM
I installed latex (in cruncbang linux) and can't figure out how to run it. Just entering latex from the command line gets me to a prompt for a file name, that I can't seem to make do anything. My only way out was to close the terminal window. ctrl-c didn't work.

Thanks,
BM

This will help: The Not So Short Introduction to Latex (http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/lshort.pdf). It helped me a lot when I got started with Latex

Frak
February 22nd, 2010, 11:15 PM
While those that use latex aren't?
Pretty much.

blur xc
February 23rd, 2010, 12:00 AM
This will help: The Not So Short Introduction to Latex (http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/lshort.pdf). It helped me a lot when I got started with Latex


Wow that's pretty hard core- I browsed through 40 or so pages of that, and if I did a lot of that sort of work I'm sure I'd make myself learn it, but for how little I do any word processing, esp. w/ printing in mind, there's little to gain from the investment in time. I maybe spend 10mins a week in a word processing program.

And don't get me started on the Office '07 ribbon. I hate that damn thing. It makes a few commonly used options convenient to access, but obscures the less common ones to the bowels of the software. I like my edit, view, tools, etc... dropdown menus, thank you very much.

BM

Tibuda
February 23rd, 2010, 12:04 AM
This will help: The Not So Short Introduction to Latex (http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/lshort.pdf). It helped me a lot when I got started with Latex

tl;dr, this one is shorter: http://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/

bunburya
February 23rd, 2010, 12:29 AM
Given that I already have msttcorefonts installed, does anyone know if I can get further MS Word fonts for OO? eg, Cambria and the like.

Apart from that I don't really find the OO GUI to be ugly. Maybe it could do with a little improvement but in general I prefer the simple GUI of OO (and older versions of MS Word) to the "fancier" GUI in Vista (I'm not sure about MS 7).

blur xc
February 23rd, 2010, 12:44 AM
Given that I already have msttcorefonts installed, does anyone know if I can get further MS Word fonts for OO? eg, Cambria and the like.

Apart from that I don't really find the OO GUI to be ugly. Maybe it could do with a little improvement but in general I prefer the simple GUI of OO (and older versions of MS Word) to the "fancier" GUI in Vista (I'm not sure about MS 7).

Do you have an installation of Windows on any of your home computers? If so, just copy them over... tip 170 from Ubuntu Kung Fu by Keir Thomas.

The only thing I like about office '07 is the right click fly-out menu. That's handy...

BM

Primefalcon
February 23rd, 2010, 12:52 AM
I use OpenOffice... TBH I prefer the look of MS Word 2007 though, but MS word doesn't support the wide amount of docs that OpenOffice does

bunburya
February 23rd, 2010, 12:58 AM
Do you have an installation of Windows on any of your home computers? If so, just copy them over... tip 170 from Ubuntu Kung Fu by Keir Thomas.

The only thing I like about office '07 is the right click fly-out menu. That's handy...

BM
Thanks!

DZ*
February 23rd, 2010, 12:59 AM
Wow that's pretty hard core- I browsed through 40 or so pages of that, and if I did a lot of that sort of work I'm sure I'd make myself learn it, but for how little I do any word processing, esp. w/ printing in mind, there's little to gain from the investment in time. I maybe spend 10mins a week in a word processing program.

I'm not saying that LaTeX is for you, but it is one of those things that you don't really have to actively study. You just need to look at some examples, and start reusing them. I remember that when was about to start writing my thesis, I got friend's copy in LaTeX, and then I was filling in my stuff within an hour..

Editors that support word completion and macros (like emacs) make creation of documents with equations much faster with LaTeX than with MS Word or OpenOffice.

Then, if needed, you can also reuse pieces of LaTeX in OpenOffice documents and presentations (ooolatex plugin).

audiomick
February 23rd, 2010, 01:00 AM
I use open office it at all possible. There are a couple of spreadsheets floating aroung for calculating the settings of a line array (loudspeakers) that have macros that only work in excel. That is the only reason I would use MS office for anything at the moment.
I don't actually write all that many text documents, but I do create a lot of lists, and when I have to use Excel, I feel handicapped.

PS: Abiword is named for the last 2 years of school in Germany, the Abitur, so I sort of see it as reasonable that it is a bit simple. I think it is meant to be.

forrestcupp
February 23rd, 2010, 04:04 PM
Years ago, when dirt was new, Adam was a boy, and I was young, you could get WP for Linux... Is that code still kicking around, and is there any place where it could be obtained?Here's a good place to start. (http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT3384559748.html)



And don't get me started on the Office '07 ribbon. I hate that damn thing. It makes a few commonly used options convenient to access, but obscures the less common ones to the bowels of the software. I like my edit, view, tools, etc... dropdown menus, thank you very much.

BM
+1
Ribbon is great for common tasks. But as soon as you need some feature that isn't as common, prepare to waste half your day searching for it.

Rodney9
April 12th, 2010, 04:54 AM
Textmaker (Softmaker Office) for me. I grabbed one of their periodic free offers and downloaded both Linux and Windows versions which are superb. I particularly like the envelope creator which has solved an ongoing problem for me in Linux using an HP C3180 and Open Office.

When and/or where can you get 'Softmaker office for Linux' for free ?

I'd love to get it, but at the $AU94 they want it's to expensive,
they say "you don't have to spend more for a high-end office suite"
but it's only $5 less then MS Office for Home.

Khakilang
April 12th, 2010, 05:37 AM
My favorite is WordStar but now OpenOffice.

Ioky
April 12th, 2010, 05:43 AM
yeah I love Letax. but is it even a word Processor? I though it is a just a language you can use... If so. I also like HTML + CSS too.

matthew.ball
April 12th, 2010, 05:51 AM
I'm absolutely hooked on GNU Emacs, and have been for a while. A little over a year ago I discovered the AUCTeX package, this coupled with Emacs is an awesome combination.

I only know a very small subset of LaTeX, but it's enough to get around.

Most people are only familiar with the "article" document class (perhaps because it's basically the only class that's ever used in examples online?), but you can change this, and get a huge variety of extremely professional looking documents.

Sef
April 12th, 2010, 05:51 AM
When and/or where can you get 'Softmaker office for Linux' for free ?

It is only available by paying for it, other than the trial version. Other ways of downloads, i.e., not paying for it is piracy and therefore illegal.

abhibharti
April 12th, 2010, 06:47 AM
I used IBM lotus symphony and found it good. Abiword is good too. But the best is Open office.

Chronon
April 12th, 2010, 06:51 AM
yeah I love Letax. but is it even a word Processor? I though it is a just a language you can use... If so. I also like HTML + CSS too.

You're right. It's a markup language. However, most people who use it will not want to use a WYSIWYG word processor.

Giant Speck
April 12th, 2010, 06:55 AM
Primary: Microsoft Office
Secondary: Open Office

legolas_w
April 12th, 2010, 08:29 AM
I am using MS Office and Open Office for now (MS office on wine) but I will switch to lotus symphony as it looks to have everything ms office and open office have together.

drreed
April 13th, 2010, 01:04 AM
vi

with awk, sed, and grep

Chronon
April 13th, 2010, 01:54 AM
vi

with awk, sed, and grep

Great for text editing, not for typesetting.

TheNerdAL
April 13th, 2010, 02:13 AM
OpenOffice.

harlan
April 13th, 2010, 09:31 PM
Abiword. Simple and fast.

I think the same and Abiword is my first option. But if I want to copy a web page into a document to make a pdf (tutorials, etc.) I prefer OpenOffice Writer, because it preserves the original structure of the web page (tables, images, etc.) better than others I know.

JoeWheeler
April 15th, 2010, 06:39 PM
Hmm, Ive been using OpenOffice for the past year, but reading this has just reminded me Ive got a copy of ms student office 2007 knocking about from when i set up my wifes(windows) PC, which i shall promptly install.

So my favourite word processor is MS word but I only use that for university essays, generally I just use gedit for writing notes

tica vun
April 15th, 2010, 06:45 PM
LyX on a desktop, vim with LaTeX macros on more portable devices.

Dragonbite
April 15th, 2010, 06:56 PM
I actually use Google Docs more than anything else at this point.

It's available to me at work, without installing or having a file I have to save and remember where it is, etc.

I can share it if I want others to see it, and email the link to them. At option I can also make it so they can edit it, or update the file and tell them it's updated without having to resend it or go through version hell!

Can download it as an MS Office or OpenOffice file type.

I did this during one of my classes recently and it worked out beautifully. I had the notes available when I went home, and after the class I shared the link to whomever was interested.

tadcan
April 15th, 2010, 07:20 PM
word 2007, the ribbon interface is very intuitive imo.

chriswyatt
April 15th, 2010, 11:38 PM
Wordperfect 5.1!