New Ubuntu user question - microsoft office 2007

[Luf]

Hey guys,

I am brandnew to linux but been wanting to try it out for years and so finally downloaded Ubuntu 9.10 about 5 days ago (Love it, cant believe how awsome it is)

Anyways, I would like to install microsoft office 2007 (i have the CD) on it despite it coming with open office (just something i would like on to also ease in Linux to my girlfriend). Is this possible? I have googled it and thousands of articles show how to do it etc. but with sometimes conflicting points.

Does anyone know a "walk through" that can be trusted and is sure to work (I am still getting my head around the whole coding thing).

Thank you very much in advance, cant believe it took me so long to get Ubuntu and already looking forward to the new release!

 

[Rinkhals]

Hi Luf,

Welcome to Ubuntu.

Mark Shuttleworth has produced a fantastic product that can make all South Africans justifiably proud.

Office will apparently run on Linux, but only with a commercial product called "Crossover Office", which is by the same people that have produced Wine.

http://www.codeweavers.com/

I believe that the cost of the license is between $40 and $70.

I think there is a trial version as well.

 

[w1z4rd]

This should get your office working: http://www.wine-reviews.net/wine-reviews/microsoft/office-2007-in-ubuntu-910-with-wine-1132.html

or perhaps try:

http://samanathon.com/how-to-install-microsoft-office-2007-in-ubuntu-9-04/

 

[The_Unbeliever]

why would anybody try to get a bloated office running on linux?

 

[Luf]

Thanks very much guys, Ill give it a shot tonight and will report back.

@The_Librarian, I know mate sorry... my GF really needs office (mainly powerpoint) and is not keen on open office at the moment (I am going to convert her slowly but surely)

Thanks again, please let me know if you guys think of anything else.

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Don't worry about using Crossover, you can come right with PlayOnLinux - which is free to download and use as you like. You won't be able to use Access however, but I don't think you can with Crossover either. The only part of the Office suite that has any benefit over Open Office is Excel in my opinion. I have problems using certain worksheets in OpenOffice (with macros mainly) and for that I use Excel. The rest of the OpenOffice suite is quite capable.

You can download PlayOnLinux at http://www.playonlinux.com

 

[w1z4rd]

Don't worry about using Crossover, you can come right with PlayOnLinux - which is free to download and use as you like. You won't be able to use Access however, but I don't think you can with Crossover either. The only part of the Office suite that has any benefit over Open Office is Excel in my opinion. I have problems using certain worksheets in OpenOffice (with macros mainly) and for that I use Excel. The rest of the OpenOffice suite is quite capable.

You can download PlayOnLinux at http://www.playonlinux.com

Oooh, I wonder if thats worth the install... looks interesting.

http://www.unixmen.com/linux-tutorials/421-install-ms-office2007-on-ubuntu-using-playonlinux Is a guide on how to use it to install Office 2007. I have to admit, this looks like a real interesting product. Im going to give it a try.

 

[Rinkhals]

why would anybody try to get a bloated office running on linux?

I often have a need to edit Word and Excel documents prepared by others and currently have Vista on my laptop running dual boot so that I can do so in Office. The variation in the documents saved and opened in MS Office and OO make this impractical, professionally.

I was always under the impression that installing MS Office under Wine was problematic (and, indeed, a glance at the comments on both of those links supplied by W1z shows this to be the case).

However, I am currently using the step-through in W1z' first link - holy moly! the installation of the first component (dotnet11) meant the downloading of a few hundred Meg! I hope the other components are rather less bloated!

 

[Catal]

I use VirtualBox-OSE with a Windows XP guest on my Kubuntu Lucid host, since the linux alternative to the MSOffice integrated MathType doesn't want to work with my Open Office. I need MathType since it is the easiest way for me to convert LaTEX scripts to Word versions with high accuracy; this I have to do sometimes to accommodate local conferences' requirements. I also prefer MS Visio for my vector graphic creation needs.

On my i7-860 (2 Virtual CPU's and 1GB for XP guest), 8GB RAM box with a 8GB virtual disk size on a 30GB linux partition (X25-M 80GB) the VirtualBox runs as smooth as ever and on a T260 I can have MS Word and a LaTEX document next to each other for easy editing. With VB you can easily resize the guest OS window to any resolution and move the mouse between the guest and host easily after installing the guest additions.

Personally I have experienced a lot of errors with trying to run MSOffice with Wine, but if you have WinXP and a capable pc I would gladly recommend VirtualBox.

 

[Smiley_lauf]

I have been here before--tried WINE and PlayonLinux, I even tried Cross-over office, I must admit that if you want to use MS products use it on a Windows; you will have the best experience and also least frustrating. MS Office is one thing I can highly recommend-and 2007 makes working on office documents a pleasure. So short answer--do a dual boot for Office related matters--otherwise, just open documents in Google Docs; or even Windows Live Office (I think MS blocks non-windows OS from using the site).