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Comment by dhimes | Hacker News Reader

I would be very happy if the kids became conversant in libre office. It has all the functionality they need and they would be comfortable with it going into college.

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I'm a big fan of free software. My desktop is Linux. But I almost never use LibreOffice. Can't access and edit the docs on my Android, nor my wife's work Mac. Nor my parent's Windows PC when I visit them. I'm definitely not installing software on my parent's PC. I'll be responsible for the next 100 "something isn't working" phone calls.

Is there no way to install LO on the Mac or Android? Do you use Google Docs instead?

Can't install stuff on my wife's company Mac. But a browser is everywhere. Yes, I begrudgingly use Google Docs. One big challenge to alternative offerings is compatibility. There is usually little resistance to asking someone to accept a Google Doc or an MS Doc. I wish there were a widely accepted open source alternative.

Agree. I even started using Google Docs with a contractor. Not happy about it, but it more-or-less worked. I'm on a slow network and I find Google Docs annoyingly unresponsive.

For basic-to-semicomplex tasks (I'm sure it'd be different if writing a book or something) I've found Google Docs/Slides/Sheets to be easier to use and more feature-rich (…you still can't crop pictures in LibreOffice…)

> (…you still can't crop pictures in LibreOffice…)

You can. It has been in Draw and Impress for a long time, and since LibreOffice 5.0 it's supported in Writer and Calc as well. 5.0 was released 2 years ago.

I agree. I have no problems at all doing any basic stuff in LibreOffice. I've not done any serious programming in it though (db connect to fields in writer etc.)

For us we only have 2 of us to cover all technology in our district. That is every from servers to networking to security appliances to the apps on the kindergarten iPads to writing custom tools for admin. We have to carefully choose tools we can manage in mass. I wish we could offer more, but there is no money for it.

I think you make a great point and I must say I really don't understand the downvoting going on in this thread.

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