[Hidden-tech] Google Suite vs Office 365 opinions sought

Thu Sep 12 15:50:23 UTC 2019

We moved to Office 365. Microsoft's login procedure is a pain, esp. if you have a private 365 account. Once we had that squared away, it was nice to work with Word and Excel and not need remote login. Office 365 administration is harder and requires someone with a better grasp of the MS world.

As a heavy user of Office, esp. Word and Excel, I really do not like the Google versions. That said, I am a heavy user and make a lot of use of Excel functions and VBA and of Word's styles, etc. Google Docs are severely underpowered in this regard, tho Sheets has some nice functions that I'd like to see in Excel.

BUT,  and a large one too, most users will not need extensive formatting and formulas. In that case, Google is sufficient and much easier to access. MS has on-line group editing, but like much of MS's usability features, it is much harder to use than Google. On-line editing of Google docs is nice, esp. if you are using a tablet. 

One downside of Google is that changes are saved automatically so if you screw something up, it is harder to simply abandon the file and start again. There is always Undo, however, but it is hard if others are in the file at the same time. It's also harder to make a copy of a file with links to other files since the links need to be recreated in the new file.

The products are not easily cross compatible--you can save Google as Office, but you create a separate file and the original hangs around. Do not think of cross-platform compatibility except at the end of the process when you need to Save As Word to send out a document.

So, if your users need power, nothing beats MS Office. Add to it some Excel functions and Word features only available in the on-line version, and if you need them, go Office 365.

If your users need basic word processing and basic spreadsheets, Google is the way to go. Tho heavy Word and Excel users will want, and need, the Office products.

As they say, Your Mileage May Vary.

PS I worked with someone who used LibreOffice about 10 years ago. Given the “near compatibility” with Word, and after hours of reformatting, I swore off Libre Office forever.  Again, if you need full Office compatibility, you need MS Office. 

Don Lesser

139B Damon Road

Northampton, MA 01060

 <mailto:dlesser at ptraining.com> dlesser at ptraining.com

413 387-1040

From: Hidden-discuss <hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net> On Behalf Of Aaron E-J via Hidden-discuss
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2019 7:38 PM
To: hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] Google Suite vs Office 365 opinions sought

There is also Collabrora which is basically LibreOffice in the browser.  Best of all, it is free and open source (although to use it for free you need to set it up your self, there is also the option to use their server in which case it is $18 a year per user, still cheaper than google suite)
 <https://www.collaboraoffice.com/> https://www.collaboraoffice.com/

Aaron E-J
The Other Realm LLC
http://otherrealm.org
http://theotherrealm.org (Blog)

On 2019-09-10 9:47 AM, Sara MacKay via Hidden-discuss wrote:

Hi Folks 

I need to switch our non-profit to either Google for non- profits or Office 365. Both provide the functions we need. Google suite has the advantage that 1/2 the staff have gmail and are familiar w the platform. Also google forms are really helpful for our 2 program coordinators. Office 365 has the office Suite of programs that we have always used and Word & Excel seem more robust and easier to do mail merges & formatting. 
 So I have 3 questions that I'm looking for opinions on from anyone who has switched people over to one format or the other. 
1. Has digital transfer of accounts to either been especially hard or especially easy? 

2. Was using google drive or 1 drive difficult or confusing for low tech-savvy users?  We have 22 staff. Maybe 5 are very comfortable with tech. 

3. Any thoughts on the administration of either? 

Only 5 staff reported a preference. 2 for Office 365, 2 for Google, & one who says either except sharing a google doc is cumbersome if the receiver doesn't have gmail. 

Looking mostly for red flags or praise to help w the final choice. 

Any input appreciated, thanks. 
Sara 

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