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Is Microsoft Office really so much better than Google Docs in terms of privacy? Or is mostly just the "I hate Google, others are probably better" idea?

by XCSme 6y ago

submeta 6y ago
I received many documents in that format in the past. Actually that isn’t the case anymore. I just have thousands of legacy documents in doc/x and xlsx format on my computer. Other than that I don‘t use MS Word to create documents anymore. I prefer Emacs/Org + pandoc.
mlthoughts2018 6y ago
The mere fact that Microsoft actually has real customer support and implements features alone makes it better. I was trying to rotate non-image / non-word-art text in a Google Docs table cell the other day and it’s literally impossible. I ended up having to create it as word art and position it as an image so it appears to be in the table but actually is on top of it When I searched for Google support threads on how to rotate text in Docs, I only found forum posts by Google support agents stating that you can’t do it, which read to me approximately as “fuck you go away.”
woofie11 6y ago
Yes. Microsoft Office is dramatically better than Google Docs in terms of privacy. I hate using Office 365 with a passion. The usability is horrible. Google Docs is much more pleasant. But in any environment where privacy or security matters, I'd pick it over Google Docs in a heartbeat. In my day job, I work with data with compliance issues. We use Microsoft technologies and zero Google. As obnoxious as Office 365 is, that's the right choice.
- LegitShady 6y ago
  What's so usable about Google docs? I mainly use Excel and the Google docs version is unbearable in terms of ui speed and more limited in functions.
  - woofie11 6y ago
    Office has more functionality, without a doubt. File compatibility, privacy/compliance/security, and functionality are key reasons to use it. Google Docs, on the other hand, the things it does, it does well: 1) Works reliably and without bugs. Last Word document I worked with began crashing Word at some point. 2) Works collaboratively. Google Docs keeps docs in sync in realtime. Office 365 has enough lag to suck at collaboration. 3) Keeps better versioning and version history. Word has a half-dozen different ways to do this, none of which are as good. Again, this is important for collaboration 4) Works better with people outside your organization. The things it doesn't do, well.... it doesn't. I've never had issue with Google Docs around UI speed. I have with Word. I think part of the reason is the simpler document structure and format. In addition, Google Docs has working search tools (so you can find documents), albeit not great organization tools. For most of my work, I'm not doing fancy formatting or other crap. I'm writing plain text, often on a team. For that, Google Docs would kick Microsoft's butt, if I trusted Google to allow me to comply with legal requirements (Google makes clear I shouldn't), and if I trusted Google not to disconnect my account tomorrow, based on some ML algorithm which decides I look like a scammer, or randomly discontinue something I'm using mid-document.
    - LegitShady 6y ago
      Excel is not word, but ok. If you need to edit plain text, sure. That's not a particularly interesting use case. I don't collaboratively edit documents with people - I'd rather send them a version, take comments/revision, go through the comments and decide, instead of having them change the document text without my knowledge. As for my use case I use spreadsheets. I make spreadsheets that query databases and perform analyses and then spit out reports. Anyone with excel, db permissions, and the right db connector can use them. Google's version doesn't even have half the features I'd need to get it to work when I checked a little earlier this year. The UI on google sheets is brutally slow and painful to use compared to something running not in the browser. Maybe I'm an odd case because most of my files have tens or hundreds of thousands of rows. also, on point 4, I think this is some kind of computer tech bubble. once you go away from computer tech, google sheets is not great with people outside my organization because they're all expecting excel.

Is Microsoft Office really so much better than Google Docs in terms of privacy? Or is mostly just the "I hate Google, others are probably better" idea?

by XCSme 6y ago

Is Microsoft Office really so much better than Google Docs in terms of privacy? Or is mostly just the "I hate Google, others are probably better" idea?

submeta 6y ago

I received many documents in that format in the past. Actually that isn’t the case anymore. I just have thousands of legacy documents in doc/x and xlsx format on my computer. Other than that I don‘t use MS Word to create documents anymore. I prefer Emacs/Org + pandoc.

mlthoughts2018 6y ago

The mere fact that Microsoft actually has real customer support and implements features alone makes it better. I was trying to rotate non-image / non-word-art text in a Google Docs table cell the other day and it’s literally impossible. I ended up having to create it as word art and position it as an image so it appears to be in the table but actually is on top of it When I searched for Google support threads on how to rotate text in Docs, I only found forum posts by Google support agents stating that you can’t do it, which read to me approximately as “fuck you go away.”

woofie11 6y ago

Yes. Microsoft Office is dramatically better than Google Docs in terms of privacy. I hate using Office 365 with a passion. The usability is horrible. Google Docs is much more pleasant. But in any environment where privacy or security matters, I'd pick it over Google Docs in a heartbeat. In my day job, I work with data with compliance issues. We use Microsoft technologies and zero Google. As obnoxious as Office 365 is, that's the right choice.

LegitShady 6y ago
What's so usable about Google docs? I mainly use Excel and the Google docs version is unbearable in terms of ui speed and more limited in functions.
- woofie11 6y ago
  Office has more functionality, without a doubt. File compatibility, privacy/compliance/security, and functionality are key reasons to use it. Google Docs, on the other hand, the things it does, it does well: 1) Works reliably and without bugs. Last Word document I worked with began crashing Word at some point. 2) Works collaboratively. Google Docs keeps docs in sync in realtime. Office 365 has enough lag to suck at collaboration. 3) Keeps better versioning and version history. Word has a half-dozen different ways to do this, none of which are as good. Again, this is important for collaboration 4) Works better with people outside your organization. The things it doesn't do, well.... it doesn't. I've never had issue with Google Docs around UI speed. I have with Word. I think part of the reason is the simpler document structure and format. In addition, Google Docs has working search tools (so you can find documents), albeit not great organization tools. For most of my work, I'm not doing fancy formatting or other crap. I'm writing plain text, often on a team. For that, Google Docs would kick Microsoft's butt, if I trusted Google to allow me to comply with legal requirements (Google makes clear I shouldn't), and if I trusted Google not to disconnect my account tomorrow, based on some ML algorithm which decides I look like a scammer, or randomly discontinue something I'm using mid-document.
  - LegitShady 6y ago
    Excel is not word, but ok. If you need to edit plain text, sure. That's not a particularly interesting use case. I don't collaboratively edit documents with people - I'd rather send them a version, take comments/revision, go through the comments and decide, instead of having them change the document text without my knowledge. As for my use case I use spreadsheets. I make spreadsheets that query databases and perform analyses and then spit out reports. Anyone with excel, db permissions, and the right db connector can use them. Google's version doesn't even have half the features I'd need to get it to work when I checked a little earlier this year. The UI on google sheets is brutally slow and painful to use compared to something running not in the browser. Maybe I'm an odd case because most of my files have tens or hundreds of thousands of rows. also, on point 4, I think this is some kind of computer tech bubble. once you go away from computer tech, google sheets is not great with people outside my organization because they're all expecting excel.