One of the best Linux videos of the month

[MurphCID]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecMKIHAVwKA He hits it out of the park, he says what I have been saying for years. Old software is unacceptable for Office suites. Discuss.

[Iceberg]

What about OnlyOffice desktop editors, good as LibreOffice or better? OnlyOffice is included in our LM software manager.

[cliffcoggin]

Old software is unacceptable for Office suites. Discuss.

I disagree. As long as the tools do the job they are intended for and don't expose me to new risks I don't care if they were written by Methuselah. In fact old versions are preferable as they do not require to learn me to learn new techniques.

I do of course accept that some folk have different requirements in terms of compatibility with other versions or even other office systems, so I am not suggesting development should not occur, only that I personally have no need of it.

[Dan-cer]

I'm a little puzzled. One of the best Linux videos of the month? A lot of repetition, only after more than 5 min does he gradually get to the topic, and in terms of content I didn't really find anything outstandingly interesting. Really not a channel I would subscribe to.

[MurphCID]

Old software is unacceptable for Office suites. Discuss.

I disagree. As long as the tools do the job they are intended for and don't expose me to new risks I don't care if they were written by Methuselah. In fact old versions are preferable as they do not require to learn me to learn new techniques.

I do of course accept that some folk have different requirements in terms of compatibility with other versions or even other office systems, so I am not suggesting development should not occur, only that I personally have no need of it.

Cliff I understand but in this one particular instance, I think I will agree to disagree with you. I agree with Jay on this one, each version of LibreOffice was and improvement over the previous version in compatibility and user ease. 98% of the software that comes with Mint, I never go look for a "newer" version. Email, and Office suites, I only use the flatpak versions of those.

Open Office was not addressed since he was being very specific about complaints lodged against LibreOffice. Open Office might be great and all, but I do not use it, I use LibreOffice, like I suspect, a large number of Linux users. So his video was specifically LibreOffice focused to address complaints he has heard about LibreOffice.

[MurphCID]

I'm a little puzzled. One of the best Linux videos of the month? A lot of repetition, only after more than 5 min does he gradually get to the topic, and in terms of content I didn't really find anything outstandingly interesting. Really not a channel I would subscribe to.

Jay is dry, and not the most exciting person on YouTube. But both his Linux videos, and his hardware reviews were instrumental in my hardware choices. His Linux Mint 21 review is also very good.

[BenTrabetere]

I agree with pretty much everything in this video, and for the longest time I used the LibreOffice AppImage to have the current version because it allowed me to avoid adding a PPA or using the flatpak. Sadly, the AppImage has not been updated since v7.3.1, and so I added the PPA.

I disagree with the "Some people just hate change" notion, and use that as an excuse to disparage LibreOffice, GIMP, darktable, Scribus, etc. I agree that people do not like change, but I doubt many people switched from MS Office or Photoshop each time those interfaces changed. When I had to endure the PageMaker -> InDesign transition, I griped about the changes and then learned the new interface. Rinse/Repeat when I briefly switched to QuarkXPress ... and then back to InDesign.

For the record, I do not think Scribus is as good as InDesign or QuarkXPress. BUT, it is a nice product and fits nicely in my list of Good Enough software.

[grndplane]

I'm a little puzzled. One of the best Linux videos of the month? A lot of repetition, only after more than 5 min does he gradually get to the topic, and in terms of content I didn't really find anything outstandingly interesting. Really not a channel I would subscribe to.

What he said.

[Portreve]

Portreve's Brain Droppings:

Jay LaCroix may be a good book writer (I don't know since I've never read anything by him) but I have to agree with other comments up-thread: he sucks at presenting. Also, "I wrote a book using LibreOffice, therefore all arguments that Libre Office isn't as good as MS Office are invalid" is not just pretty darned egotistical, it's also a logical fallacy.

I use LibreOffice pretty much exclusively. I used it for six years to traffic in spreadsheets with my previous employer as well as to build all manner of tools which then interacted with spreadsheet forms generated by my employer. I never had a single problem with it. I had problems only when I was trying to use MS Excel. To be honest, I lost total respect for Microsoft Office (started gradually a while ago when they did their "2007 interface" revamp) but I mean it's gotten a lot worse since. Nowadays, I use LO because I feel it's actually superior to MS Office in a number of ways.

[MurphCID]

Portreve's Brain Droppings:

Jay LaCroix may be a good book writer (I don't know since I've never read anything by him) but I have to agree with other comments up-thread: he sucks at presenting. Also, "I wrote a book using LibreOffice, therefore all arguments that Libre Office isn't as good as MS Office are invalid" is not just pretty darned egotistical, it's also a logical fallacy.

I use LibreOffice pretty much exclusively. I used it for six years to traffic in spreadsheets with my previous employer as well as to build all manner of tools which then interacted with spreadsheet forms generated by my employer. I never had a single problem with it. I had problems only when I was trying to use MS Excel. To be honest, I lost total respect for Microsoft Office (started gradually a while ago when they did their "2007 interface" revamp) but I mean it's gotten a lot worse since. Nowadays, I use LO because I feel it's actually superior to MS Office in a number of ways.

I will both agree and disagree with some of your points. Jay was being specific about the complaints on Libreoffice. He has the charisma of a turnip sad to say. What I took from his video was people were telling him he could not write a book with anything other than Microsoft Office. Now I use LibreOffice pretty much exclusively as well. I think what made me take a second look at it for Windows was when the school had one teacher that was insisting that the kids use Microsoft Publisher on assignments, and posted all of her assignments using Publisher. I found that LibreOffice can open and write to .pub files because I was NOT going to shell out $99 per copy of Publisher (I would need three copies, one for each daughter, and one for my computer). LibreOffice solved the problem. I pretty much do all my work in LibreOffice these days instead of Microsoft Office.

But his basic point is still, at least to me, very valid, that Office Suites must be kept up to date in this day and age. Which for me at least required Flatpak versions since the repo versions are old.

[Dan-cer]

But his basic point is still, at least to me, very valid, that Office Suites must be kept up to date in this day and age. Which for me at least required Flatpak versions since the repo versions are old.

Not only Flatpak, but also PPA is possible. I prefer PPA.

But honestly, who can rightly say that you necessarily need 7.4 instead of 6.4? Most of the new features improve areas that normal users don't even begin to see.
Every time I read through the release notes for the latest version, I notice this. Basically, it was always unnecessary for me to update LibreOffice, as the compatibility with MS Word etc. has been solved for a long time. From there nothing speaks for me against the fact that in LM 20.3 a 6.x version of LO is offered.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

My only beef with Jay is he is too hung up on using the CLI when GUI apps will work just as well.

[MurphCID]

My only beef with Jay is he is too hung up on using the CLI when GUI apps will work just as well.

Completely agree but it is a common failing of all too many Linux YouTubers.

[Portreve]

Incidentally, Jay did another video, featuring Linux Mint, and I think it's an all around good video.

[thursty]

I won't dispute the criticisms folks have stated above. Jay has always seemed "different".

This morning I watched this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcrDGxuIehc

...and he is actually quite inspiring, IMO.

[MurphCID]

I won't dispute the criticisms folks have stated above. Jay has always seemed "different".

This morning I watched this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcrDGxuIehc

...and he is actually quite inspiring, IMO.

I have him bookmarked, and like his stuff.

[MurphCID]

Incidentally, Jay did another video, featuring Linux Mint, and I think it's an all around good video.

It was not a rah rah, but it was positive, and he pointed out a couple of issues. Chris Titus says the same thing on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT0m9DM8moc He states he hates most Linux distros, and he has good things about Mint.

[Portreve]

Even though it's not about Linux, I've found an excellent YouTube channel about hardware:

JayzTwoCents

[MurphCID]

Even though it's not about Linux, I've found an excellent YouTube channel about hardware:

JayzTwoCents

Jayz is a MUST watch for anyone building computers or interested in tech. He has been bookmarked for years.