Add Kingsoft Office to Linux Mint repositories

[Brahim Salem]

1- What is Kingsoft Office:

Kingsoft Office, (KSO or KSOffice), or in China WPS Office is an office suite for Microsoft Windows, Linux, iOS and Android OS. developed by now Zhuhai based Chinese software developer Kingsoft. Components include: Kingsoft Writer, Kingsoft Presentation and Kingsoft Spreadsheet. The basic version is free to use, but a fully featured Pro version is also available. The current version is KSOffice 2013. The product has had a long history of development and success in China under the name "WPS" and "WPS Office", and under the "KSOffice" brand is attempting to spread into international markets. Since WPS Office 2005, the user interface is similar to that of the Microsoft Office products, and supports its documents besides its native format.

Kingsoft Office is a simple, powerful office suite developed by Zhuhai based Chinese software developer Kingsoft. Components include: Kingsoft Writer, Kingsoft Presentation and Kingsoft Spreadsheet. Kingsoft Office personal version is completely free. With the Kingsoft Office suite, you can view, edit, and send Microsoft Office documents, spreadsheets, and other data on Linux. This offers most of the features and functionality like Microsoft Office.

The Kingsoft Office main interface includes a row of icons similar to what you'd find in your basic word processor or spreadsheet editor. It handles all the latest Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint file formats as well as text and PDF files. You can create files as well, it could get a bit tedious trying to produce anything too long or complicated. Kingsoft Office works best for making a few changes to an existing file. In our tests, we encountered no problems working with the files we threw its way, and it was a simple process to add or edit text or make other modifications.

[xenopeek]

While Linux Mint has a pragmatic stance about freedom respecting software when there are no good alternatives available for some task, in this case there are many good alternatives available that do respect your freedoms. Libre Office, Calligra Office, and Gnome Office to name but a few available in the repositories. Linux Mint strongly prefers freedom respecting software. I don't see any reason for including this proprietary office suite, especially as it doesn't support open standards (odf) and is localized for not even a handful of languages. Apart from the media blurb above, what makes this a contender that a majority of Linux Mint users would want to use? I don't see it.

[tdockery97]

Apart from the media blurb above, what makes this a contender that a majority of Linux Mint users would want to use? I don't see it.

+1

[Brahim Salem]

While Linux Mint has a pragmatic stance about freedom respecting software when there are no good alternatives available for some task, in this case there are many good alternatives available that do respect your freedoms. Libre Office, Calligra Office, and Gnome Office to name but a few available in the repositories. Linux Mint strongly prefers freedom respecting software. I don't see any reason for including this proprietary office suite, especially as it doesn't support open standards (odf) and is localized for not even a handful of languages. Apart from the media blurb above, what makes this a contender that a majority of Linux Mint users would want to use? I don't see it.

I recommend you try it to judge it! It is very useful and has plenty of feature that are not in any other contender including Microsoft Office itself

[xenopeek]

I have no reason to; it's not localized for my native language, it doesn't support open standards, and it doesn't respect my freedoms.

Can you name some of those "plenty of feature that are not in any other contender", else you make it sound like you're not using it yourself...

[passerby]

Also keep in mind that Kingsoft Office is still in the Alpha stage on Linux.
I haven't had any major issues, but it's far from being enterprise-worthy.
And with some simple features still missing, like double clicking inside a spreadsheet cell to highlight its contents, it's certainly not at the point where I'd switch from LO.

[Pierre]

one of the biggest concerns, expressed by those who's PC that have it installed on, - is that it is too US English centered.

apart from that, it is available in both a DEB & EXE formats.
but since it is still an Alpha, - it is often not seen as ready for prime_time.

it has been said, that if one is going to "buy" an M$ Office suite, then look at this one 1st.
- especially at it's price. ..

[Monsta]

I don't see any reason for including this proprietary office suite, especially as it doesn't support open standards (odf)

If it's true, then I don't understand what this thread is doing here.

[xenopeek]

From the FAQ for the Linux version: http://wps-community.org/faq.html

Q: Does Kingsoft office plan to support odf?
A: We're sorry, but we just don't have the team to support odf. This post has more information on that.

[samriggs]

Nothing great about this software, LO actually offers more.
Not every new software is better, this really isn't so great especially not offer odf makes it a definate no in my books.
Way to new, not proven at all, no odf, doesn't have the staff to support it speaks volumes.
Just another attempt of shoving another office suite out there among the many that already are out there but have been proven and have a lot more to offer and have the staff or community to support it.
I'll pass and stick with good ole OL.

[kneekoo]

I really like what the Kingsoft Office developers did so far in WPS Office. It's a very interesting office suite for people accustomed to Microsoft Office, but it still needs a lot of development to become a strong contender in its battlefield. I had to explain the developers why allowing comma and period for both decimal places and thousand separators is a must (1.000,5 and 1,000.5) and this is enough to say how much ground still needs to be covered for proper international support/compatibility.

WPS Office is a great office suite to play with when you have the time, but for serious productivity and documents you must rely on, you need something like LibreOffice. With this said, I will keep watching their project as close as possible, because they are quite active, enthusiastic and open to feedback. Although they don't have ODF support right now, they didn't reject the idea of creating an crowd-funding campaign for those willing to help on this effort. The looks are very important for some people, so until LibreOffice and the other bunch get a visual upgrade this project will still draw attention from Microsoft Office fans. We also have to keep in mind that most people actually use the most basic features in office suites, so WPS Office is still a usable suite for some people even today.

I don't see a good reason to include this alpha-stage project in the Mint repositories right now, but who knows where they will be in one year or two? It wouldn't be the first closed-source free software available in a distro's repository so I wish them good luck.

@Brahim: By the way, there is no separate WPS Office document format and a Microsoft Office document format. Save a file as a Microsoft Office document and then as a WPS Office document. They will have the same size, up to the last byte. Not binary identical, but the file size can't be a coincidence.

[linuxviolin]

I know Kingsoft Office as I used it on my old Android phones (old because now I am with Windows Phone 8 for one year now) and I can say it is one of the best, if not the best, office suite on Android for Microsoft Office format documents.

OK, it's true you have just the Microsoft formats but for someone who uses these only, for different reasons, it is a quite good solution.