LWN: Comments on "LibreOffice 5.0 released"

LibreOffice 5.0 released

etrusco — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 20:57:54 +0000

Definitely feels snappier on Windows. However, I've experienced a lot of regressions in .doc compatibility and had to switch back to 4.4 :-(

LibreOffice 5.0 released

cwatson — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 15:28:44 +0000

Hiding menu items is not an improvement. Tool bars have always been customizable so if you need more screen real-estate removing unused items from the toolbar has always been an option. Major changes to the UI force the users to spend valuable time hunting for icons that used to be right in front of them.

Congrats to LO 5.0 developers

davidgerard — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 11:42:34 +0000

Seconded. A reported bug is a fixable bug!

Congrats to LO 5.0 developers

jospoortvliet — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 06:05:07 +0000

Report the glitches so they can fix them!

LibreOffice 5.0 released

dashesy — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 17:25:55 +0000

This washed-out-ness started from Windows 7, when I no longer could distinguish the active window in the title-bar (it got just a little bit of a gloss!), I remember I tried the high-contrast mode and yes it was a joke. Perhaps in the last decade more students graduated from college with a shiny-is-cool UI school of thought, and with Macbooks in their backpacks.

Luckily for me, I no longer have to deal with any Windows now for more than 2 years.

LibreOffice 5.0 released

drag — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 19:57:14 +0000

Most people I talk to that mention it are not what you would call very experienced users in any environment, besides maybe web browsing on Windows.

Congrats to LO 5.0 developers

augustz — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 19:01:03 +0000

A big congrats to the LO 5.0 developers.

Especially on Windows machines LO 5.0 appears noticeably "snappier". This in turn makes it much more pleasant to use LO.

Still some import glitches for Word docs but it's getting a LOT nicer!

LibreOffice 5.0 released

ccchips — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 17:11:17 +0000

Windows 10 is even worse than Office. The selection bar colors are washed-out in File Explorer, almost to the point of uselessness, and their "high-contrast" modes are an absolute joke--try using File Explorer in high-contrast mode with ANY customization and you'll see what I mean. In fact, I believe it's safe to say that Windows' user experience has been sorely on the decline since XP, which was, from usability perspective, the best operating system they ever did.

Please, LO, NEVER COPY MICROSOFT UI, EVER!

The nice features and behavior of LO are more indications of why proprietary software stinks, and why I'm hoping to eventually get onto Linux for my mobile needs. Without having to jump through hoops to do it.

LibreOffice 5.0 released

raven667 — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 15:17:10 +0000

I use O365 at work at a higher-ed institution but I don't find it particularly unreliable or confusing but my co-workers seem to have a lot more trouble than I do with it. Maybe because I've used MS Exchange with a lot of clients I'm just more flexible or have learned to avoid flaky parts. I find that having used a wide variety of desktops as my daily work system means that differences don't confuse or bother me so much and I'm not so attached to any particular workflow that I can't effectively use something else. Some people seem to get really dug in to particular tools which seems to cause a lot of pain when they inevitably have to change.

LibreOffice 5.0 released

dskoll — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 13:42:56 +0000

I concur. LO 5.0 is great and continues the tradition of smooth, important improvements without jarring and gratuitous changes. Thank you, everyone who contributes to LibreOffice!

LibreOffice 5.0 released

drag — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 13:24:15 +0000

> Huh. Is it that bad?

From what I understand. It's unreliable and confusing. Microsoft does stuff like introduce different places files may end up based on sync'ng features and it's difficult for users to know were their documents are. That sort of thing.

Due to how Microsoft's licensing schemes work the people working in education are going to be the first people hardest hit by the forced upgrades. So if you know somebody that works at a university or community college or something like that it's likely they've already been upgraded to 365 and will give you a first hand account about their experiences with the software.

LibreOffice 5.0 released

rgmoore — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 23:57:37 +0000

I think the idea was that they're copying Microsoft's tendency to replace something familiar and comfortable with something radically new and different. That certainly seems to be the common complaint with all of those things.

Honestly, though, I think this complaint is way overblown. Yes, it's frustrating to have something familiar and comfortable replaced, but doing so is necessary if you want to make a radical improvement. I hated Microsoft's ribbon interface when I first started using it, but after some time adapting, I find that it's actually easier to use than their old menus were. Similarly, I expected to hate GNOME 3, but I've found it to be an improvement, especially with the right extensions installed. We shouldn't let that initial frustration with the unfamiliar blind us to the possibility than the new thing is actually better.

LibreOffice 5.0 released

davidgerard — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 19:32:50 +0000

Huh. Is it that bad? At work we moved off Lotus Notes and would either end up with O365 or GApps, we went for Google in the end. And people mostly like it.

The Google word processor and spreadsheet are ... primitive, though. If you want to do anything even slightly complicated - or read a docx reliably - then calling out to LO is needed.

LO 5.1 has work being done on a much nicer interface to GDrive, which works really well (if you're the sort of person who does real work with LO git master, as I am).

That said, outlook.com could take back corporate email just by supplying customer service ... I can confirm that Google treats its paying customers with precisely the same contempt it has for its free ones.

LibreOffice 5.0 released

davidgerard — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 19:29:08 +0000

Michael Meeks' post details work on the VCL event loop, where a lot of gratuitous interrupts and weird timings were fixed.

LibreOffice 5.0 released

davidstrauss — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 19:26:04 +0000

My reading may have been a bit broad, though. The comment accused those projects of either doing things a bit crazy *or* copying Microsoft, not specifically the latter.

LibreOffice 5.0 released

drag — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 19:23:49 +0000

Cute failure attempt to troll there.

....

Regardless the Office 365 initiative from Microsoft is a major flop. Their cloud offerings are unreliable and confusing to use. Not to mention it locks users into monthly payment fees and makes Office nearly impossible to pirate.

I am serious about this. I've known many people that were 'converted' over to using 365 and it's a usability nightmare. Nobody likes it. It's a disaster of the highest order.

So right now is the time to strike. If the LibreOffice wait for Microsoft to get it's act together then it will be a major lost opportunity.

LibreOffice 5.0 released

rwhogg — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 19:21:16 +0000

Never mind, I misread the comment. Sorry...

LibreOffice 5.0 released

rwhogg — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 19:20:07 +0000

I don't think they were accusing GNOME of copying Microsoft, just of making sweeping UI changes and then being presumptuous in assuming users would appreciate them. (And I know it took some time, but IMO GNOME 3 classic mode plus a few extensions is at least 95% as good as GNOME 2 was, so at least they've responded to criticism).

LibreOffice 5.0 released

davidstrauss — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 19:07:12 +0000

This is the first time I've seen GNOME or systemd accused of trying to copy Microsoft, at least in any substantial way. What, exactly, are they copying from Microsoft that isn't widely present in other systems?

LibreOffice 5.0 released

coriordan — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 18:13:23 +0000

Ok, that sounds like a nice improvement.

LibreOffice 5.0 released

ebirdie — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 18:05:38 +0000

Subjective experience, but LO5 feels a lot snappier. 4.x brought improvements in the snappiness, but clicking around LO5 feels even better. My eyes haven't yet cought any visual changes.

LibreOffice 5.0 released

coriordan — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:54:00 +0000

The blog entry says: "new icons and major improvements to menus and sidebar".

LibreOffice 5.0 released

shmget — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:52:41 +0000

https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/5.0

LibreOffice 5.0 released

dashesy — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:36:06 +0000

In fact it does such a nice job, when an old document is not opened correctly in new a MS Office I recommend using LO! Every release it gets faster and more usable, FOSS at its best.

LibreOffice 5.0 released

coriordan — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 16:26:24 +0000

From the screenshots of Writer, I can't see how the interface has been changed:

https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/screenshots/

I'm happy with the interface, but out of interest, what are the changes?

LibreOffice 5.0 released

Rehdon — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:37:48 +0000

After having had to use Microsoft Word and its "ribbon interface" because of work requirements (sigh ...), I can only concur: Libre Office is at the moment the Office suite with the sanest UI. So kudos to the LO developers!

Rehdon

LibreOffice 5.0 released

gb — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 12:44:23 +0000

Than I read "new significantly improved user interface" I hold my breath recalling Word interface "improvement", systemd "improvement", gnome 3 "improvement", kde plasma "improvement" which either little bit crazy or just copy of Microsoft ideas. Than I am looking to screenshots and feel great relief. Not this now, not this product, hurrah.