Very nice office suite to play with

Pet3M0ss

Downloaded a beta release for Softmaker Office 2024 that installed pretty smoothly on this Slackware machine.

The version is free until April 30 with deb and rpm versions as well as tgz.

While I wonder why people bother with such projects when so many free things exist, it encourages me to see developers not giving up on Linux.

The apps really are well-polished though I do not know enough about how interoperable they are with Windows.

You might want to take them for a test drive. At least see if your package manager can load them easily.

edit: forgot the website-- http://www.softmaker.com/english/

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Germ · Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2024 10:49 am Post subject:

Thanks. I think I'll try it.

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melloe · Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2024 3:58 pm Post subject:

Sounds interesting

Thanks

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masinick

In this day and age, using an office suite that has a format that is compatible with Microsoft Office is a virtual must, though sometimes it is fine that the compatibility level is with somewhat older versions of Office, and nearly every office suite I've seen can manage that.

Given that OpenOffice is 100% free and that it runs on both Windows and Linux (and I believe a derivative is on OS X as well, but I have no experience with that), and the fact that KDE has KOffice, also with an ability to read MS Office documents, GNOME has GNOME office, plus stand alone tools, such as Abiword and a similarly designed spreadsheet, then to top it off, Google Documents give you at least basic capabilities that are available virtually anywhere there is a network, the one thing that would make this suite compelling would be a combination of high performance (fast start up, high quality interchange) coupled with a reasonably low price (not more than 1/4 to 1/3 the price of office, maybe with some limited functionality always free). Otherwise, though it is nice to see competition, for me personally, I'd have limited use for it unless it could beat what I already use.

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Brian Masinick
Distros: SimplyMEPIS
sidux - no CAPS!, antiX, Debian

Pet3M0ss · Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2024 9:01 pm Post subject:

It appears the company is going head to head for a piece of the MS Office market as well as competing with various freebies. I just do not push my KOffice with MS documents, so have no clue if Softmaker can deliver the interoperability.

For me, the suite loaded nicely (first package I've used in Slackware that was not a SlackBuild), and clicks very cleanly.

If I am to interpret the website, there seems to be room to negotiate with OEMs and developers to keep the price reasonable. Should the company get the right breaks, we may see more of it in the future.

Have to give them credit for wading into the rough water!!

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Slackware 12.2
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JP · Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2024 1:29 am Post subject:

With so many free office suites available, I wonder why they are starting up one that costs Question

One has to wonder ......

masinick · Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2024 1:37 am Post subject:

I'm grabbing a copy and putting it on Kubuntu 10.04 Beta - Kubuntu will run out of Beta just as this test version runs out of test time. The price does seem to have a sweet spot, provided this thing is as fast and good as it claims. Positive signs: it claims to read and handle the newest Microsoft Office formats, and it claims to be blazingly fast. IF these things are true, while I still would not see spending for it personally, I could definitely see a small business going for it; the price is pretty reasonable.

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Brian Masinick
Distros: SimplyMEPIS
sidux - no CAPS!, antiX, Debian

masinick · Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2024 2:30 am Post subject:

I did indeed test the .deb (Debian) version of the beta release for Softmaker Office 2024. Indeed it seems to be everything that it claims to be:

1. A bit faster than Open Office (faster than Version 3.2, which is quite a bit better than "old" versions from years ago).
2. Very good at handling formats. It can handle Microsoft Word formats in Word 95, Word 97/2000 (all .doc format), then it can handle the newer .docx format, plus it can handle Open Document Format (.odt) and like OpenOffice it can create .pdf output too.

It is fast, seems to work well, is commercial, and appears to have a lot of support for a lot of document types, yet it seems to be fast and nimble. For someone able to pay money for a product, it sure is a lot cheaper than Microsoft Office, yet appears to be just as feature rich, seems to be faster, and it is definitely more nimble than Open Office, yet does all of the same things.

For those who can afford a $60-70 product, this seems to be worth it. I'd look into it either as a small business owner or as someone who can afford to buy commercial software on open systems. Whether it is worth it for any of us remains to be seen. If I had disposable income, I'd consider it, but I'd buy another external USB or SSD drive before I'd get this.

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Brian Masinick
Distros: SimplyMEPIS
sidux - no CAPS!, antiX, Debian

mmmna · . . . . Joined: 21 Apr 2024 Posts: 7224

masinick · Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2024 3:05 am Post subject:

All formats that I tried worked perfectly, including new formats and it is also definitely faster than OpenOffice, so it has some value, though, as I mentioned, I cannot see purchasing it for individual use unless you have the money and the need. If, however, you would be inclined to get Microsoft Office and pay for it, this software is FAR less expensive, and it appears to be every bit as functional, supporting at least a decade of formats - RTF, Word 95, 97, 2024, 2024 and even the newer formats - if I am not mistaken, right up to the most recent versions that use Microsoft's altered implementation of Word with XML format. Spreadsheet and presentation formats also seem to be right up to date, so you are getting something for the money, for those who have a need to have speed and compatibility.

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Brian Masinick
Distros: SimplyMEPIS
sidux - no CAPS!, antiX, Debian

Pet3M0ss · Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2024 2:39 pm Post subject:

from a marketing standpoint, I think "textmaker" and "planmaker" are poor choices. If you are going to compete with the big office suites, wouldn't it help to give them a more catchy name?? Maybe something like "HardWord" and "BeanCount" Laughing

Appreciate your comments, masinick. Great to have some experienced investigators to test such things. While probably not enough "carrot" to entice Linux users, this could be a sound alternative for people who are suspicious of putting Open Office on a Windows machine.

Again, nice of Softmaker to be showing Linux some respect.

Hmmmmm.... maybe by being so bold as to put a price on their product, Linux users (like me) are suckered in to looking very closely Very Happy

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masinick

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