Edge (and Office) native in Linux

Here’s another tidbit from that video I linked to earlier:
Official Microsoft developers have confirmed (with video) that Office is coming to Linux (probably not for free, but having it running natively will mean a lot to a LOT of people now hesitant to try Linux).

Also, the new version of Edge is coming to Linux very soon. Personally I am tempted to ditch Chrome (in Windows) and Chromium) in Linux for Edge “2.0” as my secondary browser after Firefox.

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MS-Office native under Linux sounds good and bad in the same way, as it is a must need for a lot users, it will bring alternative office providers in trouble…

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Well, it is another step in their Extend, Embrace, Extinguish strategy. Not really astonishing for me.

I’ll stay with LibreOffice as I don’t stand MS-Office at least since their 2007 version and ribbon interface landing.

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365 is really good. I use Libre Office at home, but there is no comparison; Office 365 is better at everything. Period.

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ms-office improves a lot over the last years, i do never used it before i was forced to do ECDL-office courses… after this learning to work with latest ms-office i see a completed frameworks where you can do everything in different ways to fit your personal skills and workflow.
WPS office is kinda copy of this but still not the same…

Ms make office to linux availble to keep te standard. Ms future would be more subscribtion and online. There. Is always such reason they do it. I dont need office daily, when i write a job letter i do it in libre znd export to pdf is the best way… :rofl:

writing a simple letter you could do with Mousepad :wink:
But business tasks like spreadsheets, bills, form letters, presentations, statistics … the more complex this goes the more it is helpfull to have tools to simplify your work at hands.

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Truth is whenever I need precision work with documents from collaborators I fire up the Win VM. No office suite I know is 100% compatible with MS Office. Not saying MS stuff is better, just damn closed standard and therefore barely compatible.
WPS seemed to me even less compatible than Libreoffice.

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That is absolutely true, MS Office is the standard out there in the real world, whether we like it or not. LibreOffice comes really close but I think when Office and Outlook will be available for Linux, the transition to from Windows to Linux will be a whole lot smaller for new users.

Since there is 365 , Might we happy to have this ? Stil like ODT, every write can take the source, but docx other suites have to work there way. personal as a end user im more a focus to which format we must use. Docx is in some wat stil horrable in libre. But at the end is always users choice thats ok if people use Ms office offcourse… but Microsoft has always a shallow strategy at the end.

I was thinking of the same yesterday but then I realised that would taint Linux. That would be the beginning of mass close-sourced apps on Linux for the masses. Again embrace, extend extinguish. I mostly use Libre Office and it does well what it’s supposed to do. Only when I need compatibility I use MS stuff, but not happily.

I think Outlook is the best mail tool out there (I don’t have any signifficant experience with mac, maybe they also have some great mail client), but would I trust a MS closed source app with my private emails? Definitely not.

For me personally, I don’t like those MS apps, but the average user who is used to Office and Outlook, don’t want to learn a new app that needs a little modification to make it compatible.

For instance, my sister and brother-in-law, recently transitioned to Linux Mint succesfully, since they have a low-end laptop that showed its age very fast. They are impressed and contempt with Linux, the only thing they still use are the online MS Office and Outlook tools. For those users it is a great solution.

I know, you’re right, and it won’t be stopped anyway. If MS has a will they have the means to pull it through. It just makes me sad that good open source tools get the backseat :slight_smile:

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I agree, but my experience with other users is that they will look for the Open-source solutions once their license is going to expire and they are more comfortable in the Linux eco-system.

I personally don’t worry about closed source coming to linux.

I prefer foss, both on Windows as well as Linux, but it’s a reality that some foss tools just don’t do what you need them to. I’ve got Zoom, teams and spotify on my machine because they’re either necessary for my work or they’re the best fit for my needs.

I’m happy that because of this I can use linux for working from home.

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What puzzles me though is why MS would help people migrate to Linux.

That is a question I also ask myself, since the percentage of Linux-users is very small in the complete market share.

open or closed source software does not mather at a point in my believe. you can be full open but then you get also restricted and have to accept :slight_smile: office might be closed, but i like more the open file formats at the end users can choose. there is always a reason behind but open formats is always good. software i dont care if its closed or open… personal people must be open to choose which it takes.

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Because Windows is less and less the product they make money off of.
They are primarily a cloud storage company now. That’s where they get the bulk of their money. Software-wise Office by far outweights Windows from an income perspective. Remember you have to subscribe to that, while W10 will just be upgraded for free after purchased once (and not even separately, but coming with the computer).

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As others already mentioned, Windows is no more a money maker for MS. The trend has been that the operating system costs nothing or nearly nothing. So no real money is available from that.

So now MS is counting on the cloud, and apps on various other platforms (question: what else could they do?). The money is available there.
MS has tried to expand to hardware too, but so far with only mild success (compared to their resources).

Competition for MS is simply much harder now than before.

Other platforms, the cloud, and especially mobile devices have made the situation much harder for MS. The sad truth for MS is that it wasn’t prepared for the breakthrough of the mobile devices a couple of decades ago. Also, the cloud stuff was hard for MS in the beginning, but now they are “reasonably” strong there (they could have been stronger had they anticipated cloud stuff earlier…).

I guess when Bill G. left MS, the next leader didn’t understand where the digital world was going. Many of the mistakes that MS made then have much to do with where MS is now (compared where it could have been under an informed leader).

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