Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

WPS has better .docx and .xlsx compatibility than AOO or LO, but it doesn't have good ODT (open document format) compatibility. You want to use ODF file formats for consistency across computers and organizations. That being said, WPS is easier for interacting with other companies using Microsoft Office.

WPS is not free though, they have a free version, but once you want to do more advanced things that advanced business will want to use, it costs money. Libreoffice is open source, and while there are companies like Collabora that provide enterprise paid support, you can deploy Libreoffice with no licensing fees. With WPS you couldn't do a mass installation across, 50, 100, or 1,000 computers. Libreoffice also has more functionality than WPS, though some of this functionality is relatively obscure for most users.

There's nothing wrong with using WPS per se; just that it isn't open source software and doesn't fit the ethos that governments should be following of Public Money, Public Code. The argument for governments to use FOSS software is that the public are paying taxes for the software to be acquired, arguably that software should benefit everyone, not just rich people that hold the majority of proprietary company shares.

I would encourage you to tell your colleagues that are using AOO to switch to LO immediately. 1) if they have problems with AOO they might be looking at WPS or Microsoft because they think open source software sucks, which would be a shame because they weren't aware of a better and functioning open source project. and 2) Because the LO project is 3-5 years ahead of AOO in code development, it will probably solve a lot of problems they are currently experiencing with AOO, and it will allow for efficient allocation of resources to improving LO and benefiting the FOSS community as a whole.

There is also another actively developed free office suite called OnlyOffice. You should check that out as it is very advanced in it's online collaboration options, and again, is free and open source. It doesn't have as much advanced functionality as LO, but it's good enough for most people, and way better than AOO. Which I can't stress enough is a dead project. "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills" - Mugatu

AOOisdead wrote:WPS has better .docx and .xlsx compatibility than AOO or LO, but it doesn't have good ODT (open document format) compatibility.

See the tutorial about file differences.

amsharma wrote:...
I discovered another Office Suite which has a free version and its compact https://www.wps.com. Interesting and neat. I tried it. Seems to be good. Has any of you tried it.

Tried it. Decent feature set. Excellent if you need to collaborate with MS Word users (haven't tested support for MS password protection, but other users have told me that it works). Good apps for tablets.
Downsides: limited support for ODF. Not open source. No version for MacOS.

Some people will also frown at the fact that WPS is a subsidiary of a Chinese enterprise, "Kingsoft".

I discovered another Office Suite which has a free version and its compact https://www.wps.com. Interesting and neat. I tried it. Seems to be good. Has any of you tried it.

That is not a fork or successor neither of the
- StarOffice
- nor OpenOffice.org
- nor Sun OpenOffice
- nor Oracle OpenOffice
- nor Go-OO
- nor IBM Simphony
- nor Apache OpenOffice
- nor LibreOffice
- nor NeoOffice.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... es.svg.png

I suppose it will be compatibility problem with your existing document files when you will use the WPS.

Lupp wrote: However, LibO for a long time now offers the feature >Tools>Options>LibreOffice>Advanced>Open Expert Configuration, there a Search line where you may enter "lock", and ways to edit any of the properties you find. Among these is the one Villeroy already mentioned, and if you change it, the changes will persist closing down and reopening LibO.

I have moved to LibreOffice from OO. I was able to use the above option via menu to disable locking (and without the need to edit the xml file). I edited the option as mentioned by @Villeroy, viz. Am posting just to confirm that it works in case it helps somebody. Thanks.

I have moved to LibreOffice from OO.
OpenOffice 4.1.3 on Windows 10 (64bit)

Then please update your signature on the User Control Panel of this forum.

It is absolutely absurd that a user cannot turn off locking files. It is worth reading this thread to realize that openoffice is a dead fish. I'm moving to libreoffice.

(Four and a half years after the previous "last post" to this thread there comes another one. Strange. BTW: There is no OO.o/AOO 4.10)

LibreOffice has the "Advanced" option settings, and there the tool "Expert Configuration" for a long time now, and there you can list (e.g.) all the nodes containing "lock" in a string. You then will find a group "org.openoffice.Office.Common" containing the "UseLocking" property.
If you hoover over it you get the hint "Use this setting only for debugging purpose". The deafult is true, and I suppose the warning to mean "Disable only...". (Bad wording?)

I still can't see a good reason to disable the property.