FreeOffice (Softmaker)

[marcusquinn]

Not self-hosted - although maybe they'd consider that path with more encouragement.

LibreOffice & OnlyOffice are OK - but...

LibreOffice on Mac doesn't have a dark mode and is slow in a lot of ways that annoys me.

OnlyOffice I prefer to Collabra with Nextcloud but there's little UX conventions missing from GSuite & MS Office that I don't understand why they don't follow. Select all cells and double-click the dividers to resize is the most common one.

So, I spend my Easter Sunday evening revisiting some alternatives, and was pleased enough with FreeOffice I thought it worth a mention and suggestion as a worth try for other like-minds here:

• https://www.freeoffice.com
• https://alternativeto.net/software/softmaker-office/about/

Fast, very fast
Dark Mode
Ribbon or non-Ribbon UI (I prefer the latter)
Separate Dock icons
Commonly used advanced features are more obvious
English UK, or as we know it; English
Freeze-frames actually work as expected
Mac, Windoze, Linux
Tweakable
Lots of fonts, also fast
Open Source
Open Document Formats (that I can see)

It's also an intro to their (understandable for a sustainable business model) more feature-full version:

• https://www.softmaker.com/en/softmaker-office
• https://www.softmaker.com/en/comparison-freeoffice-softmaker-office

So far, I've not needed to go pro - but if it becomes my daily driver I certainly will to support good quality software!

Good software, good business model, good ethics it seems.

I thought an Easter Egg worth a mentioning. IMHO it wouldn't be a waste of anyone's time to give it a spin.

Merry Easter everyone

[marcusquinn]

And just got a link to this promo page on opening an app a second time: https://www.softmaker.com/en/freeoffice-to-office-promotion

[murgero]

@marcusquinn I want to get behind this so bad but they aren't open source in the slightest... That said, I believe you can theme openoffice (both in nextcloud and desktop ui) to look more like MSOffice, but also LibreOffice just on it's own looks pretty decent all things considered.

This FreeOffice may be worth a conversation if they consider either going open source, or if they allow us to view the source with restricted licensing.

[robi]

As I appreciate the dark mode very much, I can share that the bright versions can be darkened by setting a background page color to a shade of gray, which allows the black text to remain visible.

This hack works in OO.o and to my surprise in Word 2010. Feel free to test and report with others.

[marcusquinn]

@murgero Certainly, and I had ignored it before exactly because it's not open-source.

I've not had MS Office installed for almost a decade now, using LibreOffice, and recently OpenOffice too - but they do have productivity costs to me compared to the times I had to work with GSuite, which is the best of the bunch other than zero trust in Google's conflicted business model.

Given the office-suite area hasn't had the same progress I'd hoped for as other open-source, my next-best alternative is judging something on it's functionality and summary view of the developers and custodians competent and insightful enough to create such a product.

Their motives appear clear to me, remuneration for a quality product that works offline. I guess there's some potential value in office suite backdoors I suppose but I can't see any reason why this one might.

Speed is very important to me, as all mere mortals I'm sure, and this is without a doubt the fastest I've tried, including faster than MS Office and GSuite.

For text, I work with Markdown where possible, and despite trying almost every app for that, I settled on the closed-source https://ulysses.app for both speed of interface and multi-device sync in productivity speed.

For web-apps I agree, closed-source is a complete no-no for me. For local apps, I think it's reasonable to compromise but instead look at the privacy controls and accountability.

I also included here because I think this community has a growing esteem and qualified influence, in that many more expert reviews may then lead to communications with this developer and perhaps persuasion that they could go open-source sustainably.

• https://forum.softmaker.com/

I don't know that they could do a web version as it appears to be C & C++: https://www.softmaker.com/en/jobs - but given Nextcloud has a local file-sync app, and Syncthing is another option. It might be that this particular area of complex app it's good to consider non-webapps too, if only as one of a number options.

[marcusquinn]

@robi Yeah, tried all the LibreOffice sort-of mode settings, the experience on Mac & Windows is not as good as Linux, and I don't need to run a Linux desktop just for Docs, Sheets & Slides.

If LibreOffice & Softmaker collaborated, that would be amazing. In the meantime, I need speed and productivity, and this I feel is a notable option, albeit perhaps for growing influence in campaigning for better FOSS in this area by example and qualified feedback.