Free Office Software and MS Office

IanMcRV

A lot of them want the CV in .doc or .docx format because they have a system tool that reads it and shoves it in their database to then be searchable.

Some have a tool that can do that with .pdf's too.

Oh yeah and when you see something like 'I have an urgent need for 4 x C# programmers....' that's because the 'agent' has an urgent need to fill the spots before someone else fills them, not because the client does

johnmc

Mondez wrote:

I have never been asked to provide an alternate format

You have been very lucky.

Currently between jobs I have submitted "a few" recently and online applications specify Word and email specify Word or RTF.

OK, for a simple document I could easily replicate using a free suite.

I work in Excel, using some quite complex VBA, and also in Access.

I have no alternative but to cough up for MS.

Mondez

Must be a fairly recent thing then, its been a few years since I moved jobs. I still wouldn't fork out for MS Office though, I'd just export from LibreOffice and send docx and pdf together saying I can't guarentee that their version of office will render it correctly and that they should use pdf for viewing or printing.

For anything needing VBA you have to have MS Office on windows, I don't believe you can used VBA in the Mac version either, so no way around the MS tax then I'm afraid

bod1467

Mondez wrote: »

I'd just export from LibreOffice and send docx and pdf together saying I can't guarentee that their version of office will render it correctly and that they should use pdf for viewing or printing.

You'd also likely receive a "thanks but no thanks" response (if you got any response at all).

Mondez

As always your mileage may vary, but as I say my experience previously has not required .doc or .docx files that render perfectly on the prospective employers end. I also doubt that helpfully providing an alternative format if they have problems reading the .doc version would garner a negative response. Where I am employed, the HR department will contact IT for help opening random .doc files recieved as part of an application if there are problems with opening or viewing them (often from older versions of MS Office itself) rather than reject out of hand someone who made a genuine effort to provide the requested information and was interested in the post.

bod1467

My reply was more to do with the bolded text I quoted.

manrow

Some reports on the internet that downloading libre is not straight-forward.
Any comments from users on here?

cookie365

You go to the LibreOffice website, click the big Download Now! button. If you just want the bog standard windows installer, click the huge Main Installer button.

If you want a different version, click the version you want.

It downloads.

You double click the downloaded installer to install it.

What's not straightforward about that?

manrow

from PC Advisor magazine:-

LibreOffice 3.5: Installation is free, but not easy

LibreOffice is available for Windows 2000 and later, Mac OS X 10.4 and later (Intel and PowerPC), Linux, and Linux x64. I installed the Windows version, which comes in two parts: one installer for the applications and another for the online help (available in 107 languages). Version 3.5's new installers are MSI packages, sure to please sys admins.
Installation took longer than it should, mainly because of LibreOffice's reliance on Java. You can use most of the suite's features without Java installed, but it's required for a few functions and Base won't work without it.
Unfortunately, LibreOffice doesn't come bundled with a Java Runtime Environment (JRE), so you have to download and install one yourself. Keeping current with Java updates and security patches is also your responsibility, which could be a deal breaker for organizations with strict IT policies.
Worse, LibreOffice's Java interface is finicky. I tried installing the latest Java 7, but LibreOffice said my JRE was "defective." When I tried again with Java 6, the same applications crashed without explanation. I eventually got it working, but installing and reinstalling the various components wasted a lot of time, which doesn't bode well for unattended installations.

andydiysaver

cookie365 wrote: »

VBA doesn't work on LibreOffice or OpenOffice, so no macros, none of the addons work.

LibreOffice is great if you want a table of data that you can sort and produce charts from, and don't mind it looking 15 years out of date

But if you need any kind of complexity, go for Excel.

excel and VBA are beautiful things, I just wish the 64 bit version was more with it and developed because it has such huge potential but is such an unfinished mish mash .....