Libre Office. Just stop using Microsoft and use Libre Office.
Oh, Libre Office is missing a feature you're expecting? Throw the team a donation (which is still probably cheaper than an Office 360 subscription) and make a request.
this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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solution: linux, libreoffice
Idealized solution
Libreoffice isnt all that
it's not perfect, but a lot better than bigtech spyware
My favorite part of this is how hidden it all is. If you look at the page showing MS365 plans, "Classic" is nowhere to be found, except to purchase Office 2024. If you search "MS 365 Classic", it takes you here, which says the only way to "downgrade" is to cancel your existing subscription. Like it's a for-real plan they offer that they really don't want people using.
Coke should sue Microsoft.
Thanks for this! Just switched.
Bog standard customer retention I see telecom do this all the time. Gross.
You can get 100% off, everyone. All you have to do is cancel.
Adobe is doing it too. they are forcing all current licensing to be upgraded (at a charge) and releasing the legacy licensing under a new name. you must actively downgrade.
it's more collusion from big companies seeing as they are all rolling this same immoral tactic out to steal money essentially.
Same with Google Workspace. Just got an email last month saying prices are increasing to reflect "new AI features," all of which I have disabled because (A) I don't use them, and (B) they're another privacy nightmare.
At this point we're all just subsidizing the shareholders. The vast majority of generative AI being tacked on to subscriptions is useless, it's just corporations jumping on the hype train to boost their stock price.
only subsidized if you don't cancel and resub without it or go opensource
Holy shit I want this!
"buy at $8/month" is a contradiction in itself. you are not buying anything, you are renting it.
Why do people use 365? Libreoffice has been decent for years now.
For casual users, sure. For professional users the answer isn't as cut and dried, especially when it comes to Excel users. For one, the last time I checked Libre's Calc version of solver was nowhere near as useful as the version of Solver that plugs into Excel. It also bogs down under more intense spreadsheets. You also can run into some weird formatting issues trying to go between the two, and when you have people with low intelligence or low patience involved, that alone can be a deal breaker.
Albeit It's been awhile since I've used Libreoffice, so I mean they might have solved some of this stuff by now. But that's mainly the reason for my usage of Office. Ain't saying I love office either, it's FULL of bugs that are more historical than Benjamin Franklin, yet they refuse to ever address them or add any real actual innovation to newer products. But like it or hate it, it's long been established as an office staple and we have to live with it.
I've mentioned it in another thread about this, bug in case you really want to understand: people sign up for much more than the desktop office applications. It's a full on groupware package that comes with 1TB of cloud storage. Which automatically gives you access to your documents on any machine you use. If you get a new windows device you basically don't need to put in any effort into setting things up because it's already there. And for 80 euros you can do this for five people.
So in short: convenience for a reasonable price. To the point where it's hard to justify running it yourself. Especially because your family will start to ask you how they can get MS office again.
Office alternatives have long existed and have been good enough for a long time. I remember writing my evening class project reports in them 20 ish years ago. Funnily enough on how to integrate Linux servers into a Windows domain and authenticating with domain users on that machine. But if you want to compare M365 to something, compare it to NextCloud.
I get more crashes than I’d like in the Word program (whatever it’s called) so I wish it would stabilize there. But with frequent saving and auto recovery I don’t usually lose anything. Just a nuisance I’ve adapted to in the spirit of open source.
I’ve never had a crash, personally. Are you on Linux?
Win11. If my games (looking at you Destiny 2) would support anti cheat on Linux I’d be gone.
Don't take this the wrong way but there are exactly zero games which are worth your valuable time but do not run on Linux.
Destiny is not good for your brain lol.
Totally shocking that LibreOffice would crash and be janky on Win 11, but works like a dream on OS X and Linux.
Hmm...why could that be...hmmm...
I’m on win10 for related reasons, no judgement
Writer.
Familiarity, brand recognition, work place uses it, comes with cloud storage.
Isn't this literally illegal?
I know the rules are dead and nothing matters anymore, but I thought "prices clearly posted and customers charged the posted price" was one of those bedrock FTC things that even someone like Microsoft would get in trouble for flagrantly ignoring.