I ended up canceling Microsoft Office after them raising the cost an extra 30 bucks.
Im using Softmaker Office instead.


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Re: canceling microsoft office
By: Utopian Galt to All on Thu Jun 26 2025 08:35 pm

I ended up canceling Microsoft Office after them raising the cost an extra 30 bucks. Im using Softmaker Office instead.

I've been using libreoffice for many years - it works pretty good and is cross platform too. The biggest difference is that it doesn't have an outlook equivalent.
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On 26 Jun 2025, Utopian Galt said the following...

I ended up canceling Microsoft Office after them raising the cost an
extra 30 bucks.

I was paying yearly for this as well, but found I was using Office at home less & less, it was cheaper just to pay for OneDrive storage.

Im using Softmaker Office instead.

This worked for Office on both my Mac & Windows PC:
https://massgrave.dev

And also for Windows on a couple of VMs.

Linus talked about this powershell script back in Dec of 2024: https://youtu.be/yJkRd9py5mA?si=_uCn4uWn4R6n-Ccm&t=448



Jay

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On 26 Jun 2025, Utopian Galt said the following...

I ended up canceling Microsoft Office after them raising the cost an extra 30 bucks.

I was paying yearly for this as well, but found I was using Office at home less & less, it was cheaper just to pay for OneDrive storage.

Im using Softmaker Office instead.

This worked for Office on both my Mac & Windows PC:
https://massgrave.dev

And also for Windows on a couple of VMs.

I tried to use that for Win10pro 32bit and it did't do anything for me.

Linus talked about this powershell script back in Dec of 2024: https://youtu.be/yJkRd9py5mA?si=_uCn4uWn4R6n-Ccm&t=448

Jay

... Why are skeletons so calm? Because nothing gets under their skin

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Re: canceling microsoft office
By: Basis to Utopian Galt on Fri Jun 27 2025 04:07 pm

I've been using libreoffice for many years - it works pretty good and is cross platform too. The biggest difference is that it doesn't have an outlook equivalent.

Libreoffice plus Evolution was pretty good, and if you got creative, you could sync it with multiple sources, or try a buggy implementation of Exchange connectivity.
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BY: Basis (21:4/117)

|11B|09> |10I've been using libreoffice for many years - it works pretty good and is|07
|11B|09> |10cross platform too. The biggest difference is that it doesn't have an|07
|11B|09> |10outlook equivalent.|07
|11B|09> |10Convolution BBS - Convolution.us|07
emclient is not that bad.


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On 27 Jun 2025, Basis said the following...

I've been using libreoffice for many years - it works pretty good and is cross platform too. The biggest difference is that it doesn't have an outlook equivalent.
Convolution BBS - Convolution.us

For the Outlook "equivalent" I use Thunderbird. It works well for me, LibreOffice I started using in 2007 and have never looked back.. I have to use Office 365 at work and if my IT department didn't lock us down so much I would install Libre there too!


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Re: canceling microsoft office
By: Utopian Galt to All on Thu Jun 26 2025 08:35 pm

I ended up canceling Microsoft Office after them raising the cost an extra 30 bucks.
Im using Softmaker Office instead.

Wise move. There is no reason whatsoever for a domestic user to pay a subscription for this sort of thing when there are packages you can run locally.

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Re: Re: canceling microsoft office
By: Bucko to Basis on Sat Jun 28 2025 07:01 am

For the Outlook "equivalent" I use Thunderbird. It works well for me, LibreOffice I started using in 2007 and have never looked back.. I have to use Office 365 at work and if my IT department didn't lock us down so much I would install Libre there too!

I find Thunderbird to be one of those necessary evils. If you just want to do Email then about every other FOSS email client in the block is just lighter and better. The problem is maybe you want carddav and caldav integration, to sync your contacts and tasks - specially important in workplace scenarios where addressbooks are shared within departments. The Thunderbird is about the only usable FOSS alternative I can think of.


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I find Thunderbird to be one of those necessary evils. If you just want
to do Email then about every other FOSS email client in the block is
just lighter and better. The problem is maybe you want carddav and
caldav integration, to sync your contacts and tasks - specially
important in workplace scenarios where addressbooks are shared within departments. The Thunderbird is about the only usable FOSS alternative I can think of.

FOSS or not.. is there anything like Outlook that could be used as Outlook alternative for multiple types of email+collab services (calendar integration is actually a must unfortunately).

on Mac there is Mail, but it sucks equally to Thunderbird when I think about details. I could even consider buying (one time... not subscription) for a decent email/communication client that could help me consider replacing Outlook in work environment (still enabling me to connect Exchange Online services if I needed them).

any recommendation or comment?

-h1

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I ended up canceling Microsoft Office after them raising the cost an

I don't think I've used M$ Orrifice since... 2012 maybe.. I'd have to hunt out the disc the check the year :) Since then its been OpenOffice...

ST

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For the Outlook "equivalent" I use Thunderbird. It works well for me,

Second that!

ST

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Re: Re: canceling microsoft office
By: hollowone to Arelor on Sun Jun 29 2025 12:35 pm

FOSS or not.. is there anything like Outlook that could be used as Outlook alternative for multiple types of email+collab services (calendar integration is actually a must unfortunately).

For a small shop you can do as follows:

Server side: Postfix + Dovecot + Radicale (Provides email + calendar +contacts)

Client side: Thunderbird with CardBook addon.

Mobile client side: Davx5 for calendars, tasks and addressbooks, any email client you fancy (Fair Email works very well but it is power-user oriented)

That way you get email + (optionally) shared adressbooks and calendars and tasklists. Radicale is not the best option for granular privilege control for shared resources, though. It is more of a thing you use when privileges are horizontal.

At one point we had a roundcube instance with calddav and carddav support tackled on and it worked fine, but since it uses unofficial experimental components it was a bit of a headache to administrate, and people used Thunderbird with th addon anyway.
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Yes i am also using Softmaker office on my linux client woudl be great if softmaker would also port the pdf tools also to linux and mac.

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FOSS or not.. is there anything
like Outlook that could be used as
Outlook alternative for multiple

Surprisingly, nobody has mentioned Evolution, I don't think. That's what I used to use when I need to connect to Exchange servers from Linux. There was the occasional bug, but it worked well and was aesthetically pleasing.



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