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You're clearly doing something wrong if you're running a VM of Windows just to create simple documents. It really sounds like you need to take inventory of how

You're clearly doing something wrong if you're running a VM of Windows just to create simple documents. It really sounds like you need to take inventory of how you're doing things. Since we're talking anecdote, I have never had a problem editing Dropbox-saved documents in QuickOffice, or having them magically messed up when I email them. I went to a couple of different schools that allowed students to submit documents in formats supported by open source formats. You're right that in the first half of the 2000s using proprietary pay software formats was a requirement, but in the last ten years schools and instructors have started accepting others, and the last couple of years I went to school I didn't submit any document in a proprietary format. The fact is that Microsoft Office is an enormous cost to consider versus something like the equally powerful and less obtuse LibreOffice. Also, your "Microsoft Office is the solution" makes you sound like a shill, seriously.

spinchange 12y ago
His example was creating a document in OpenOffice, editing it later in QuickOffice, and then having the recipient open in it Microsoft Word. He is absolutely correct that what the recipient opens in Word will have formatting discrepancies and not look like what he thinks he submitted. It might not even be the fault of QuickOffice, it's more of an issue that it wasn't created and edited in the target/destination environment (Word). This isn't even a new or unforeseen issue for people who work with a lot of office documents. More broadly, in the business world, Microsoft Office is still very dominant. If your clients & business partners collaborate with Word documents, or Excel workbooks, or PowerPoint presentations, or whatever the case...running a VM so you can run MS Office and collaborate with them isn't "wrong" or something the parent needs to reevaluate- It's a business requirement and to ensure professionalism! It isn't nearly as uncommon of a use case as you think. I don't think he's shilling, he's being a realist given his needs.
freehunter 12y ago
If you think I'm doing it wrong at work, you should talk to my boss. I'm sure you can either convince him that Office (including Project and Visio) runs just fine on RHEL or that all the security consultants should be using Windows. He's gonna feel silly when he finds out he's been buying Windows and Office licenses for nothing. But there's one thing he does know: sending an OpenOffice document to a client that is going to open it in Word is the fastest way to lose that client's business.

spinchange 12y ago

His example was creating a document in OpenOffice, editing it later in QuickOffice, and then having the recipient open in it Microsoft Word. He is absolutely correct that what the recipient opens in Word will have formatting discrepancies and not look like what he thinks he submitted. It might not even be the fault of QuickOffice, it's more of an issue that it wasn't created and edited in the target/destination environment (Word). This isn't even a new or unforeseen issue for people who work with a lot of office documents. More broadly, in the business world, Microsoft Office is still very dominant. If your clients & business partners collaborate with Word documents, or Excel workbooks, or PowerPoint presentations, or whatever the case...running a VM so you can run MS Office and collaborate with them isn't "wrong" or something the parent needs to reevaluate- It's a business requirement and to ensure professionalism! It isn't nearly as uncommon of a use case as you think. I don't think he's shilling, he's being a realist given his needs.

freehunter 12y ago

If you think I'm doing it wrong at work, you should talk to my boss. I'm sure you can either convince him that Office (including Project and Visio) runs just fine on RHEL or that all the security consultants should be using Windows. He's gonna feel silly when he finds out he's been buying Windows and Office licenses for nothing. But there's one thing he does know: sending an OpenOffice document to a client that is going to open it in Word is the fastest way to lose that client's business.