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Quillz
March 13th, 2007, 10:09 AM
I've been an OpenOffice fan for a long time, but I was trying out KOffice earlier today and I must say it's a very nice alternative, especially on KDE. It works with all the same file types, and appears to be just as functional, while still lighter on resources. What do you think?

Sluipvoet
March 13th, 2007, 10:15 AM
Well kOffice is certainly better than Gnome-Office, but it's no match for OpenOffice.org.

They only problem is that it doesn't really integrate in your DE and it's a very heavyweight application.

Instead of creating differant Office Suites for KDE/Gnome, they should spent their time on rewriting OpenOffice.org for GTK/QT. It can be done for Mac OS X(=NeoOffice), so it's not impossible.

cowlip
March 13th, 2007, 10:35 AM
KOffice will be crossplatform in KDE 4 (along with most other KDE apps) and you can probably already use it from SVN. This is because Qt4 has been gpl'd on windows and mac. Before they only licensed it GPL for Linux, and though someone could have ported Qt3 to Windows that's a lot of work. Will also get get some language goodies like a grammar checker and more.

2windermere
March 13th, 2007, 10:37 AM
Having moved to Open Office after my Office 2007 beta ran out, I've never thought about going back to Office. I've not tried KOffice, but I don't think I can escape from OO :) I only have one niggle with Open Office, and that's the Spreadsheet that doesn't like when I have 5000+ data points plotted onto a graph. Office Excel handles these no problem what so ever :(

slimdog360
March 13th, 2007, 10:42 AM
I havent really given koffice a good go yet, but the next time I go all out kde Im going to use it.

Jucato
March 13th, 2007, 11:43 AM
They only problem is that it doesn't really integrate in your DE and it's a very heavyweight application.

Hehe, that's the exact opposite when you use OO.o on Kubuntu, vs. KOffice. I guess the biggest factor affecting performance here is the loading of non-native libs, if you're using KOffice on Ubuntu or OO.o on Kubuntu.


Instead of creating differant Office Suites for KDE/Gnome, they should spent their time on rewriting OpenOffice.org for GTK/QT. It can be done for Mac OS X(=NeoOffice), so it's not impossible.

It's not as simple as that. For example, KOffice has access to KDE features that OO.o can't. Right now, there's an OO.o package that lets you use the KDE file dialog box and icons, but that's about it. Giving the same kind of integration to OO.o will involve more work.

I personally prefer to use KOffice because of it's better integration with KDE. However, it's not that good with MS Office formats, so I still need to keep OO.o around.

Then there's the issue of ODF not even displaying properly between OO. and KOffice and GO (GNOME Office)...

nsleiman
March 13th, 2007, 12:34 PM
i like kOffice most but due to compatibility reasons such as office formats i find OO far away enhanced and powerful so i'm using OO most of time :)

beefcurry
March 13th, 2007, 01:58 PM
I guess Gnome office is out of the league :P. OO.o is improving alot, but I would say still a long way away from MS office.

bailout
March 13th, 2007, 02:33 PM
I personally prefer to use KOffice because of it's better integration with KDE. However, it's not that good with MS Office formats, so I still need to keep OO.o around.

Then there's the issue of ODF not even displaying properly between OO. and KOffice and GO (GNOME Office)...

I was going to make a post about odf files not displaying the same on OOo and koffice. I have to say I was quite surprised and disappointed when I first saw this. I thought the whole point of odf was that it would display the same on any program that used it.

I certainly think that if just rewriting or altering OOo for the different DEs isn't practical that the various groups should certainly have joint development of certain areas and functionality. I agree that handling of MS docs is worse in koffice and don't understand why they can't just copy the relavent bits from OOo as it is open source? Also isn't OOo developing a macro language? If so this again should just be ported into koffice.

Interesting to hear people not thinking very highly of gnome office. I only used Abiword a bit when I ran gnome and quite liked it. From comments I had read on here I got the impression that gnumeric was quite good and they were probably a bit more solid than koffice.

To answer the question though, I use koffice to do basic stuff for home use and for everything else I boot into windows and use office 2003 ;)

karellen
March 13th, 2007, 02:35 PM
I'm a fan of abiword, I use it alot for writing simple to medium documents :)

quirt3
March 13th, 2007, 02:40 PM
I find both extremly bulky..... I run Abisuite....

It not only is better for the type of school stuff I do, it loads slightly faster and has a simpler GUI....

I find AbiWord is much better the OO or KO for kids, being one myself(I'm 12, but been using a computer since age 3).... I know how to use them, just find them too heavy.

GeneralZod
March 13th, 2007, 02:43 PM
I agree that handling of MS docs is worse in koffice and don't understand why they can't just copy the relavent bits from OOo as it is open source?


http://ariya.blogspot.com/2006/04/why-koffice-not-using-openofficeorgs.html

On top of this, the KOffice guys are going to concentrate almost exclusively on open formats from here on in.



Also isn't OOo developing a macro language? If so this again should just be ported into koffice.


Again, see above- OO.o technology is often tightly and nigh-on inextricably integrated into Oo.o itself. Besides, KOffice (and indeed, all of KDE4) has Kross, which is much better than a single "macro language" as it automatically allows macros to be written in any language supported by Kross (currently, IIRC, Javascript, Python and Ruby).


I don't use an office suite, but on the rare occasions I have, I used OO.o and voted accordingly :). KOffice is one to watch, though: it's currently pretty ropey, but it's also white-hot in terms of development, and its code base is far, far smaller (1/5th size!) of OO.o, and getting cleaner and more manageable all the time. Over the long term (say, 5 years or so) I can easily see if attaining parity with (or perhaps even surpassing) OO.o, especially if proprietary formats die off in favour of open ones.

Bloodfen Razormaw
March 13th, 2007, 02:49 PM
KOffice definitely. OO.o is a lost cause. Not only is it too limited in scope by only providing a few core office applications, but the code quality has degenerated to the point that it takes years of work to match what KOffice devs can do in months. All KOffice needs to compete with MS Office is to polish its existing applications. OO.o has to create a half-dozen new ones from scratch. Add to that that KOffice integrates with the leading free software desktop, uses a fraction of the resources, better ODF support, and that it is much faster, and there is not much contest.

Steveire
March 13th, 2007, 02:56 PM
I was going to make a post about odf files not displaying the same on OOo and koffice. I have to say I was quite surprised and disappointed when I first saw this. I thought the whole point of odf was that it would display the same on any program that used it.

You really shouldn't expect this to change consider the differences in html/css/javascript support across ie/ff/opera/konq etc. It depends on how well each office suite confoms to the standard, and what the most popular suite does.

DigitalDuality
March 13th, 2007, 02:59 PM
d

Kay The Bantu
March 13th, 2007, 03:05 PM
I have to say Open Office, since I've been using it before (on Windows) and hands down its a strong fav against KOffice though its a bit bulky but small price to pay for perfection(and there's the mini version)

ComplexNumber
March 13th, 2007, 03:46 PM
absolutely no contest between these 2. the only advantage that koffice has over open office is speed of loading up. OO totally kills koffice in every other department.

bailout
March 13th, 2007, 05:13 PM
http://ariya.blogspot.com/2006/04/why-koffice-not-using-openofficeorgs.html

On top of this, the KOffice guys are going to concentrate almost exclusively on open formats from here on in.

Thanks for the link. I am not a coder so sometimes I am left puzzled why things that seem obvious to me aren't done. Do you mean that koffice is going to give up trying to handle MS formats? I understand that it must be difficult to do but the lack of it certainly reduces the appeal of alternative office apps to many users.




Again, see above- OO.o technology is often tightly and nigh-on inextricably integrated into Oo.o itself. Besides, KOffice (and indeed, all of KDE4) has Kross, which is much better than a single "macro language" as it automatically allows macros to be written in any language supported by Kross (currently, IIRC, Javascript, Python and Ruby).




The problem with this is surely that documents writtern on one suite won't be usable on the other. This is surely what odf and its adoption by koffice was supposed to achieve?

bailout
March 13th, 2007, 05:18 PM
You really shouldn't expect this to change consider the differences in html/css/javascript support across ie/ff/opera/konq etc. It depends on how well each office suite confoms to the standard, and what the most popular suite does.

Surely this defeats the whole point of odf? If the different suites that use odf don't display docs in the same way then they might as well use different formats and we are back to the same problem as with MS office that you can only share docs with people who use the same program as you do.

As I understand it, odf was created by OOo and then adopted by koffice and gnome office. If this is the case then surely OOo is by deault 'correctly using the format and any incompatability is the failing of the others?

hizaguchi
March 21st, 2007, 05:40 PM
I use Gnumeric for spreadsheets and either LyX or Abiword for documents. If I ever use anything else, it's just to covert a Microsoft file to something usable, and for that OpenOffice is really the only way to go.

qalimas
March 21st, 2007, 05:48 PM
When I'm on my laptop at school taking notes, I use KOffice, it starts faster, runs quicker, and doesn't kill my battery as fast as OOo does. I do, however, keep OOo installed for when I need Word compatibility.

bruce89
March 21st, 2007, 06:25 PM
Do you prefer OpenOffice or KOffice?

Neither, they both look yucky on GNOME.

Arisna
March 21st, 2007, 06:39 PM
I prefer KOffice because it's faster, integrates well with KDE, suits my needs well, and is being developed very actively.

mivo
September 23rd, 2007, 10:30 AM
I prefer KOffice for the reasons Arisna stated. It performs much better, is well integrated into KDE and I like the design of the suite (cleaner interface). I don't require MS compatibility usually, though. I keep OOWriter around, but haven't had any need for it yet.

hessiess
September 23rd, 2007, 11:35 AM
only used open office

happysmileman
September 23rd, 2007, 01:04 PM
Have only used OO.o and didn't like it, from what i've seen of KOffice it's way better, installing it now though, looks can be decieving

pluviosity
September 23rd, 2007, 02:35 PM
I use Gnumeric for spreadsheets
I use Gnumeric for spreadsheets as well. At least to me, it seems more full-featured than the other two, especially when graphing. I don't think KSpread can export to .xls, which is bad (even though I regularly use odf) since that's the default format at my college for sharing data with lab partners, etc (I'm studying biology).

As for a word processor, I flutter between OO Writer, Abiword, and KWord; I don't particularly have a favorite.

Andrewie
September 23rd, 2007, 03:45 PM
koffice 2 is looking really good, they are going to fix the opendocument issues but they are only working on open formats. I keep a copy of openoffice and microsoft 0ffice around to open formats but I'll do most of my work in koffice

abhilashkumar
April 19th, 2008, 05:03 AM
I recently installed kOffice on my ubuntu laptop.

The 'Others' menu under applications has now got close to 50 applications in it now. Most of them without proper icons and that makes the whole place look really sad.

How do I remove these extras?

TeraDyne
April 19th, 2008, 05:11 AM
@ abhilashkumar: It might have been better to make a new topic. Anyway, to answer your question, you can right-click on the menu icon (on your bar) and choose "Edit Menu" to take them out (KDE) or disable them (GNOME). Again, it might be a good idea to make another topic in General Help.

To add to this topic (since it's a good poll), I use OpenOffice for the most part, but I like KOffice. I like OOoWriter more thanks to how easy it is to edit the dictionaries, and it's much easier to use. KWord, though, has a great interface.

Foster Grant
April 19th, 2008, 05:28 AM
This one's simple.

I don't use KDE. :)

cardinals_fan
April 19th, 2008, 05:43 AM
Gnumeric/Abiword (I won't call it GNOME Office!)

I don't like OpenOffice or KDE. Abiword is OK, and Gnumeric is crazily awesome.

jrharvey
April 19th, 2008, 05:47 AM
Since i dont use a presentation or excell like application, I really like Abiword. I think its great. Its soooo much faster and easier to use than open office writer.

DUfire
April 19th, 2008, 05:57 AM
Since i dont use a presentation or excell like application, I really like Abiword. I think its great. Its soooo much faster and easier to use than open office writer.

I like AbiWord when I'm at school rushing to print a last minute paper, but OpenOffice when I'm at home because I'm more a GUI-oriented person.
I think learning curve/easy-to-use is about the same between the two.

Also, nice location [just noticed].
Huntersville/Charlotte border here.

Mr. Picklesworth
April 19th, 2008, 06:28 AM
I for one think desktop integration is really important for a tool such as an office suite, so definitely would vote for KOffice. Having said that, I am a GNOME person, so use Abiword, myself; again, because it fits perfectly in this desktop environment... but this one is not in the poll! (2.6 is a great release. Many thanks to Ryan Pavlik, the kind soul who is taking the initiative to get it packaged for Hardy).
From the business point of view, it's important when employees can quickly learn an application, and that matter gets quite a lot easier when the application behaves just like any other in the environment. Hey, that translates perfectly to home use, too! Abiword has a far cleaner interface, even; it may not have all the features of OpenOffice, but it does a better job providing the ones it does so that people actually see and use them naturally.

Incense
April 19th, 2008, 06:50 AM
OpenOffice is an amazing peice of software, but as a KDE guy, I love the integration I get with Koffice. It's also very fast, and feels light compared to OpenOffice. The new Koffice looks very nice as well. Also. OpenOffice Draw is nothing compared to Krita.

jrharvey
April 19th, 2008, 08:43 AM
I like AbiWord when I'm at school rushing to print a last minute paper, but OpenOffice when I'm at home because I'm more a GUI-oriented person.
I think learning curve/easy-to-use is about the same between the two.

Also, nice location [just noticed].
Huntersville/Charlotte border here.

haha, i dont know too many people here that actually use linux. Good to know im not the only one around here.