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I consider neither Zoho nor Google Docs to be vendor lock-in since you can always download the documents as docx and continue working on them locally. I'm gonn

by heipei 5y ago

I consider neither Zoho nor Google Docs to be vendor lock-in since you can always download the documents as docx and continue working on them locally. I'm gonna give Zoho Writer a spin since Google Docs is missing some vital features for me, most notably the option to have custom page designs (font/colors/footers) that you can centrally update and apply to a bunch of documents. If anyone has another Google Docs alternative, I'm all ears.

Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
Vendor lock-in is an inability to use another vendor without substantial switching costs. [1] Changing Google Docs for .docx has significant costs, because their compatibility with MS Office is far from ideal. That said, using .docx is yet another vendor lock-in. As you might know, OOXML is not a true open standard: it was recognized as such by ISO only due to Microsoft's shenanigans. That's why it is not fully supported by any other software and trying to use alternative applications results in numerous compatibility issues. So your best option is to use LibreOffice, because it is libre software, capable, available from several vendors, and is based on true open standard, OpenDocument. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in