why cant linux community create a proper word processor ?

I want to make a move to a free open source office suite , i have tried open office and libre ,they are good at simple word processing but not up to the standard of Microsoft office . i also had the opportunity to use kingsoft free office suite , i find it quite good and it can truly replace MS office but although it is free as your don't have to pay for it but it is still proprietary and not truly a free software .

my question is why can't the Linux community make an office suite like kingsoft office so we can truly make the switch to FOSS ?

Hi,

Originally Posted by ccxalee my question is why can't the Linux community make an office suite like kingsoft office so we can truly make the switch to FOSS ?

I think there is a false premise here. Why do you think the "the Linux community" can't make such software? Presumably because you perceive that "the Linux community" has not created such software. I think a more likely reason this has not happened is because the people who you suggest should do this are not sufficiently interested in such a project.

Evo2.

Originally Posted by evo2 Hi, I think there is a false premise here. Why do you think the "the Linux community" can't make such software? Presumably because you perceive that "the Linux community" has not created such software. I think a more likely reason this has not happened is because the people who you suggest should do this are not sufficiently interested in such a project. Evo2.

thank you for your reply , i have tried open source word processors and they are not up to the standard of ms office , if i am wrong in perceiving that such a software exists , can you guide me to that software ? i'd be really interested in trying it .
if the Linux community is not sufficiently interested in such projects , well they should be because i know it would help a lot of people to move from proprietary software to open source software , the only thing holding people back is applications like ms office, so they are pushed to purchase , upgrade and remain stuck with such software.

i just wish there was something free open source like Kingsoft , so i could move to linux

Hi,

Originally Posted by ccxalee thank you for your reply , i have tried open source word processors and they are not up to the standard of ms office , if i am wrong in perceiving that such a software exists , can you guide me to that software ? i'd be really interested in trying it .

Sorry I avoid word processor software whenever possible. I've have used libreoffice (and previously openoffice), abiword and a few others in the past. I don't know if they would suit your needs.

if the Linux community is not sufficiently interested in such projects , well they should be because i know it would help a lot of people to move from proprietary software to open source software , the only thing holding people back is applications like ms office, so they are pushed to purchase , upgrade and remain stuck with such software.

You seem to be assuming that "the Linux community" are interested in people moving from proprietary software to open source. I'm not aware that this is necessarily the case.

The Free Software community is interested in people moving from proprietary software to Free Software. But please note this is a different (although there is an overlap) community with a different goal (open source != Free Software).

i just wish there was something free open source like Kingsoft , so i could move to linux

I'm not familar with Kingsoft - are you saying it runs on Linux but you can't use it because it is proprietary? If so what has that got to do with Linux? Are you saying you would rather use proprietary software on a proprietary operating system as a opposed to a Free (or open source) operating system with the same proprietary software?

Would your care to clarify? I don't understand your point.

Evo2.

hi
sorry if i am unable to get my point across , kingsoft is an office suite but the functionality and outlay is almost like ms office suite and it is free to use but proprietary , i just wish there was an open source software like that and i could use it on linux , i dont want to use proprietary software on linux , i would like everything on my computer to be FOSS.

libre and open office are alright but if you have to get real work done , then they lack alot of things. since people commonly use ms office , the real problem is when i send a file to someone , the whole formatting is off. where as documents produced in kingsoft retain the formatting , even when opened in microsoft office.

i am sure linux developers can do that , if they wanted to. i asked this question on this forum in the hope that maybe an office suite like that exists and someone can guide me to it .

thanks anyway , i appreciate your answers.

Open source software is a "if you want it, do it" type of development.
If you want a feature, for example better compatibility with Microsoft Office (though IMHO the goal should be better implementations of the Open Document standards) than you have three choices:
1. Join a project and use your talent to further that goal.
2. Pay someone to do the same.
3. Convince someone on the team that your aims are worthwile and have a higher priority than existing efforts.

If you want something done, you have to involve yourself, since you are not a paying customer you can't demand things from the developers.

Originally Posted by ccxalee ...the only thing holding people back is applications like ms office, so they are pushed to purchase , upgrade and remain stuck with such software...

So, your question is, "Why isn't Linux just like Windows?" That is a frequent question. Here is a great link that explains it very well: http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

To be honest with you, the answer usually comes back in the form of a followup question, something like this: "Then why don't you purchase, upgrade and remain stuck with Windows?" What would be the point of developing an operating system and applications that are exactly like the ones available elsewhere? Would not that be just a redundant waste of time for developers? Choose what you like and use it. Don't request that everything else be changed to be just like "it". Isn't that kind of silly when you think things through?

The basic premise of this entire thread is a logical fallacy called "begging the question."

The classic example used in logic courses is: "Have you stopped beating your wife?" You cannot answer this question "yes" or "no" without in so doing appearing to accept the premise.

In like manner, this thread contains the premise, "the Linux community cannot create a proper (whatever that is ...) word processor."

In other words: troll bait, which should simply be ... treated appropriately.

The really nice thing is that, today, there are cross-platform office product suites of excellent quality, which are backed by some very deep pockets and produced to a professional standard. They run on "Linux and..."

Stay with Microsoft Office. It seems to suit your work style and need for interoperability.

There are open source solutions to the problems that people solve using Microsoft Office, but they require an investment in time to learn to use them.
If you want to prepare a technical document then use Lyx. Once you have done that, I suspect you will never use Word again.
If you want to handle imperfect data sets (i.e. real world data) and configurable graphing, then use R. I am sick of spreadsheet jockeys doing calculations that are difficult to audit and that often contain errors. I am sick of tricked up spreadsheets full of macros and code that is not transferable. I am sick of the time consuming task of configuring a graph in a spreadsheet to suit my idea of acceptable presentation.

Which is great for me. But then I need to involve my co-workers. Microsoft Office is the lingua franca of the business world. The need for interoperability is the key to the continued dominance of Microsoft Office. This need leads to IT departments continuing to purchase and install Microsoft Office, users continuing to keep using Microsoft Office, and people considering alternative solutions to be inferior to Microsoft Office.

You can run Microsoft's web-based version of MS Word at onedrive.live.com. That works fine on Linux.

The real problem is when i send a file to someone , the whole formatting is off. where as documents produced in kingsoft retain the formatting , even when opened in microsoft office.

Then your real question is: "why can't the OSS community make an office suite that perfectly handles MS Office formats?" Personally, I managed to miss those discussions on Slashdot about the technical reasons why OSS software can't work properly with OOXML, so I hope someone else can post links. As for "then why is Kingsoft able to do it?", the answer is "Kingsoft has not released that information... but it's likely that some money changed hands between Kingsoft and Microsoft."

Have you tried using the native ODT format? Or are you saving in Word DOC formats? I had similar problems where it "modified" stuff, it all looked fine in the Linux screen, but when Word people looked at it, it was all screwed up. I felt the same as you're saying, there's some other thread where a person asked about editors and it went around a lot, eventually someone noted that they use the Linux utilities, either Open Office of Libre Office (I forget) but they use the ODT format and have never had interaction problems with anyone using MS Word.

And I then took the time to look up what ODT format it, and it is a unified, common format; it's not just something invented for Linux, but rather a larger formalized standardization of documentation. I now do create all my Office Word documents under Linux as ODTs and I have no problems when MS Word people view them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Apps ?

i actually prefer open/libre office writer to microsoft word (stupid ribbon interface and no export to pdf functionaluty ...) i prefer microsoft excel to open/libre calc (it seems faster and quickfills/filtering/pivot tables seem better). i rarely make presentations so no horse in that race.

Originally Posted by ccxalee ... libre and open office are alright but if you have to get real work done , then they lack alot of things. since people commonly use ms office , the real problem is when i send a file to someone , the whole formatting is off. where as documents produced in kingsoft retain the formatting , even when opened in microsoft office. i am sure linux developers can do that , if they wanted to. i asked this question on this forum in the hope that maybe an office suite like that exists and someone can guide me to it . thanks anyway , i appreciate your answers.

my opinion is that is more of a microsoft bug. i think microsoft would have to fix that (linux developers wouldnt have access to that source code).

I believe the proper question here is why must Microsoft ( and as alluded to Kingsoft possibly paying MS for rights ) keep a format proprietary? Personally I believe that keeping a format proprietary borders on an anti-trust issue but I am no lawyer by any means. Dictating to the market that ONLY their all powerful software can do something with a file is a bit ridiculous. Very anti-competitive as far as I'm concerned but that is the way the world, and in particular the US patent office works.

Originally Posted by Tadaen I believe the proper question here is why must Microsoft ( and as alluded to Kingsoft possibly paying MS for rights ) keep a format proprietary? Personally I believe that keeping a format proprietary borders on an anti-trust issue but I am no lawyer by any means. Dictating to the market that ONLY their all powerful software can do something with a file is a bit ridiculous. Very anti-competitive as far as I'm concerned but that is the way the world, and in particular the US patent office works.

With Office 2007 Microsoft switched from their proprietary OLE Compound File Binary Format to the standardized Office Open XML format, so they actually don't use a proprietary format anymore. Libre/OpenOffice also are able to use that format. Office 2007 SP2 and later versions are also capable of using the OpenDocument Format. The problem with OOXML is that it is unbelievable complex and has different versions even in one standard, like transitional and strict. Since Microsoft, due to the complexity of the format, introduces read and write compatibility with that format only step-wise even documents that look fine in Office 2007 can look weird in later versions.

So, as rtmistler states, using one of the ODF types, like ODT for wordprocessing, may be your best bet.