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Why would they bother? It would cost MSFT millions to do so, and Linux users wouldn't bother to use it. I seem to remember about 30 years back MSFT produced so

Why would they bother? It would cost MSFT millions to do so, and Linux users wouldn't bother to use it. I seem to remember about 30 years back MSFT produced something (Word? Excel? IE?) for Linux (or UNIX?). It died within six months or so.

ksherlock 5y ago
Internet Explorer was briefly available for Solaris and HPUX. Word 3 was available for Xenix (text-based) and Word 5 was available for Xenix/SCO Unix (GUI).
- simonblack 5y ago
  Internet Explorer was briefly available for Solaris Yep, that's probably it. I was using Solaris round about that time.
shirro 5y ago
I would buy a well ported full version (not an electron wrapped web version). Microsoft do have software available for Linux including their Edge browser. We used their Linux native MS Teams during lockdown which worked but sadly is electron based however it is the first modern official MS Office app for Linux. I don't use office suites but my kids use our linux computers for school work and they often bring home Microsoft Office files to work on at home. It would be worth paying just to have a seamless experience for them. I have a licenced version of Windows and Office in a virtual machine so I have already bought Windows AND Office for Linux in a way since I never intend to use them standalone. If Office worked perfectly under wine/proton it would be awesome. It has been close at times with different versions. Unfortunately nobody here much likes the vm experience as I don't have a second video card for accelerated video and it isn't seamless so they generally use online Office that lacks features or struggle with LibreOffice which has a lot of bug and differences. The idea that all linux users will not pay for software is wrong however it is a very small market as can be seen from the Steam hardware survey. Most Linux users would prefer their data in open formats but since I don't personally use office suites and my kids home work is ephemeral I simply don't care. I am happy to spend money on Steam where I own Microsoft produced games that are played exclusively on Linux.
- tomrod 5y ago
  A steam-based Office distribution would be really cool.

ksherlock 5y ago

Internet Explorer was briefly available for Solaris and HPUX. Word 3 was available for Xenix (text-based) and Word 5 was available for Xenix/SCO Unix (GUI).

simonblack 5y ago
Internet Explorer was briefly available for Solaris Yep, that's probably it. I was using Solaris round about that time.

shirro 5y ago

I would buy a well ported full version (not an electron wrapped web version). Microsoft do have software available for Linux including their Edge browser. We used their Linux native MS Teams during lockdown which worked but sadly is electron based however it is the first modern official MS Office app for Linux. I don't use office suites but my kids use our linux computers for school work and they often bring home Microsoft Office files to work on at home. It would be worth paying just to have a seamless experience for them. I have a licenced version of Windows and Office in a virtual machine so I have already bought Windows AND Office for Linux in a way since I never intend to use them standalone. If Office worked perfectly under wine/proton it would be awesome. It has been close at times with different versions. Unfortunately nobody here much likes the vm experience as I don't have a second video card for accelerated video and it isn't seamless so they generally use online Office that lacks features or struggle with LibreOffice which has a lot of bug and differences. The idea that all linux users will not pay for software is wrong however it is a very small market as can be seen from the Steam hardware survey. Most Linux users would prefer their data in open formats but since I don't personally use office suites and my kids home work is ephemeral I simply don't care. I am happy to spend money on Steam where I own Microsoft produced games that are played exclusively on Linux.

tomrod 5y ago
A steam-based Office distribution would be really cool.