{"slug": "microsoft-office", "name": "Microsoft Office", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "Microsoft's productivity suite including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, sold as subscription or one-time purchase.", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 20, "warners": 8, "score": -0.855, "rising": 1.02, "first": "2025-11-13", "latest": "2026-10-24", "why": "HN commenters value it as the strongest suite for work built on documents, spreadsheets and slides, and call it fairly priced and familiar enough that staff are easy to hire.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 5, "compare": 2, "warn": 8}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 2], "listed": true, "loved": ["Heavy document work", "Familiarity"], "caveat": "Lock-in", "short_quote": "there really is no better option out there than Microsoft Office.", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365", "pricing": "paid", "aliases": ["Microsoft Office"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters value it as the strongest suite for work built on documents, spreadsheets and slides,", "cites": [{"id": 803602304, "item_id": 50225144, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50225144", "by": "Grombobulous", "date": "2026-10-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there really is no better option out there than Microsoft Office.", "excerpt": "I also love the idea of ditching Microsoft and I have done so for my personal life, but if your work day lives and breathes documents, spreadsheets, and slide decks, there really is no better option out there than Microsoft Office. I\u2019d even go as far as arguing that it\u2019s priced very fairly and rather low compared to software of similar complexity. It\u2019s priced low enough that pretty much any business of any size can j", "context": "", "use_case": "documents, spreadsheets, slide decks", "switched_from": "", "story": "Danish Government silently drops plan to dump MS Office"}, {"id": 743966320, "item_id": 46497895, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46497895", "by": "barney54", "date": "2026-01-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For my needs Office on Windows is the best", "excerpt": "Wow this is dumb. The reason I\u2019m on Windows is because of Office. For my needs Office on Windows is the best\u2014otherwise I\u2019d be on a Mac or Linux. I use AI everyday and never found a use case for Copilot. So why rebrand Office, their best product after Copilot, their worst product?", "context": "Windows user", "use_case": "office work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Office renamed to \"Microsoft 365 Copilot app\""}, {"id": 803611602, "item_id": 50225725, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50225725", "by": "encom", "date": "2026-10-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I admit that their Office suite is pretty good.", "excerpt": "I work in the public sector in Denmark. Office 365 is the bane of my work day. I only have access to the web versions of the apps, but they feel like toys. It seems impossible to do anything even moderately complex with them. Especially form design. I've installed Linux+LibreOffice on a spare machine at work that I use occasionally, to keep from tearing my hair out. As much as I despise Microsoft, I admit that their ", "context": "", "use_case": "office documents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Danish Government silently drops plan to dump MS Office"}]}, {"text": " and call it fairly priced and familiar enough that staff are easy to hire.", "cites": [{"id": 803602304, "item_id": 50225144, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50225144", "by": "Grombobulous", "date": "2026-10-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there really is no better option out there than Microsoft Office.", "excerpt": "I also love the idea of ditching Microsoft and I have done so for my personal life, but if your work day lives and breathes documents, spreadsheets, and slide decks, there really is no better option out there than Microsoft Office. I\u2019d even go as far as arguing that it\u2019s priced very fairly and rather low compared to software of similar complexity. It\u2019s priced low enough that pretty much any business of any size can j", "context": "", "use_case": "documents, spreadsheets, slide decks", "switched_from": "", "story": "Danish Government silently drops plan to dump MS Office"}, {"id": 783636896, "item_id": 48977306, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48977306", "by": "daft_pink", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "I feel they are pushing their own narrative without really having any evidence. We use Microsoft at work because we would either use Microsoft or Google for email. The email service is critical to the choice. We can\u2019t run our own reliably and other vendors just don\u2019t interoperate the same way. Microsoft Office simply isn\u2019t that expensive and it\u2019s very easy to hire people who know how to use it and are comfortable wit", "context": "company decision-maker; payroll is over half of budget", "use_case": "office suite at work", "switched_from": "", "story": "How proprietary formats have become Microsoft\u2019s main tool for lock-in"}, {"id": 785621025, "item_id": 49101314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49101314", "by": "fluidcruft", "date": "2026-07-29", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Nowadays I can figure out what to do in MS Office very quickly", "excerpt": "People say that and I used to agree, but honestly I use neither MS Office nor LibreOffice heavily anymore. Nowadays I can figure out what to do in MS Office very quickly but LibreOffice's menus are a confusing maze (even when switched into the more ribbon-like mode).", "context": "", "use_case": "office suite", "switched_from": "", "story": "KOReader"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is lock-in: users say governments, universities and file formats force them onto it,", "cites": [{"id": 790104880, "item_id": 49381555, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49381555", "by": "jongjong", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Their Office suite is foisted on governments.", "excerpt": "They don't produce anything that people like. Everyone using their products is forced to use it. Their Office suite is foisted on governments. For example, several governments in the EU moved off of it starting a few years back... Many are still on it. Oracle database is essentially never used outside of government nowadays. This has been the case for decades. Government is just locked into expensive contracts with t", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Debt That Apple Owes to the CIA"}, {"id": 744848421, "item_id": 46553026, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46553026", "by": "KronisLV", "date": "2026-01-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it made me quite angry when my university mandated that I use Microsoft Office for writing my bachelor's and master's papers, when LibreOffice is mostly good enough", "excerpt": "If I was better versed in writing and happened to be someone relevant, at the very least I\u2019d support the viewpoint that open source is good for preventing takeovers and software dependencies turning hostile (e.g. Valkey and OpenSearch at least existing) and preventing being held financially hostage in times of uncertainty (e.g. many Linux server side distros are free and FOSS relational DBs won\u2019t bankrupt you). Yet p", "context": "student", "use_case": "writing theses", "switched_from": "", "story": "European Commission issues call for evidence on open source"}, {"id": 734700770, "item_id": 45918798, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45918798", "by": "dade_", "date": "2025-11-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Office with its horrific file formats keep it around.", "excerpt": "It\u2019s Vista 2! I switched to Mac in 2008, and I just did it again a few days ago. Reality is that almost everything I do is Linux, but Office with its horrific file formats keep it around. Fortunately Visio is nearly dead, 3 to go.", "context": "", "use_case": "office documents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft confirms Windows 11 is about to change"}]}, {"text": " with further gripes about the ribbon interface, no native Linux version and weak web apps.", "cites": [{"id": 800759985, "item_id": 50047499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50047499", "by": "sombragris", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "that stupid ribbon interface that forces me to use the mouse", "excerpt": "Lawyer, translator and professor here. I have an Office 365 subscription and I got native Word and other MS Office apps installed on my windows partition. But, since I use Linux on the desktop, and MS chose not to offer their office suite as Linux native apps, and they make it near impossible to use the Windows apps under Wine, I use LibreOffice. And it works really well. I can use it and exchange documents with peop", "context": "lawyer, translator and professor; Linux desktop user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open-source Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word replications"}, {"id": 803611602, "item_id": 50225725, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50225725", "by": "encom", "date": "2026-10-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I admit that their Office suite is pretty good.", "excerpt": "I work in the public sector in Denmark. Office 365 is the bane of my work day. I only have access to the web versions of the apps, but they feel like toys. It seems impossible to do anything even moderately complex with them. Especially form design. I've installed Linux+LibreOffice on a spare machine at work that I use occasionally, to keep from tearing my hair out. As much as I despise Microsoft, I admit that their ", "context": "", "use_case": "office documents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Danish Government silently drops plan to dump MS Office"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Heavy document work", "summary": "Seen as the best option for people whose work revolves around documents, spreadsheets and slide decks.", "quotes": [{"id": 803602304, "item_id": 50225144, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50225144", "by": "Grombobulous", "date": "2026-10-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there really is no better option out there than Microsoft Office.", "excerpt": "I also love the idea of ditching Microsoft and I have done so for my personal life, but if your work day lives and breathes documents, spreadsheets, and slide decks, there really is no better option out there than Microsoft Office. I\u2019d even go as far as arguing that it\u2019s priced very fairly and rather low compared to software of similar complexity. It\u2019s priced low enough that pretty much any business of any size can j", "context": "", "use_case": "documents, spreadsheets, slide decks", "switched_from": "", "story": "Danish Government silently drops plan to dump MS Office"}, {"id": 743966320, "item_id": 46497895, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46497895", "by": "barney54", "date": "2026-01-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For my needs Office on Windows is the best", "excerpt": "Wow this is dumb. The reason I\u2019m on Windows is because of Office. For my needs Office on Windows is the best\u2014otherwise I\u2019d be on a Mac or Linux. I use AI everyday and never found a use case for Copilot. So why rebrand Office, their best product after Copilot, their worst product?", "context": "Windows user", "use_case": "office work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Office renamed to \"Microsoft 365 Copilot app\""}, {"id": 803611602, "item_id": 50225725, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50225725", "by": "encom", "date": "2026-10-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I admit that their Office suite is pretty good.", "excerpt": "I work in the public sector in Denmark. Office 365 is the bane of my work day. I only have access to the web versions of the apps, but they feel like toys. It seems impossible to do anything even moderately complex with them. Especially form design. I've installed Linux+LibreOffice on a spare machine at work that I use occasionally, to keep from tearing my hair out. As much as I despise Microsoft, I admit that their ", "context": "", "use_case": "office documents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Danish Government silently drops plan to dump MS Office"}]}, {"label": "Familiarity", "summary": "Users find it quick to navigate, and many workers already know it.", "quotes": [{"id": 785621025, "item_id": 49101314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49101314", "by": "fluidcruft", "date": "2026-07-29", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Nowadays I can figure out what to do in MS Office very quickly", "excerpt": "People say that and I used to agree, but honestly I use neither MS Office nor LibreOffice heavily anymore. Nowadays I can figure out what to do in MS Office very quickly but LibreOffice's menus are a confusing maze (even when switched into the more ribbon-like mode).", "context": "", "use_case": "office suite", "switched_from": "", "story": "KOReader"}, {"id": 783636896, "item_id": 48977306, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48977306", "by": "daft_pink", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "I feel they are pushing their own narrative without really having any evidence. We use Microsoft at work because we would either use Microsoft or Google for email. The email service is critical to the choice. We can\u2019t run our own reliably and other vendors just don\u2019t interoperate the same way. Microsoft Office simply isn\u2019t that expensive and it\u2019s very easy to hire people who know how to use it and are comfortable wit", "context": "company decision-maker; payroll is over half of budget", "use_case": "office suite at work", "switched_from": "", "story": "How proprietary formats have become Microsoft\u2019s main tool for lock-in"}, {"id": 743141395, "item_id": 46446337, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46446337", "by": "pcblues", "date": "2025-12-31", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'm invested and familiar with Windows and Office.", "excerpt": "I haven't had a _terrible_ UI experience with Win 11 that Apple hasn't put me through already. But it took away my sideways toolbar. I don't click anything that loads edge, like \"Show me more from the web\" type links. So I don't see ads. I use firefox and thunderbird. The telemetry all the way through the operating system sucks ethically. But I'm invested and familiar with Windows and Office. Not being able to make C", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "2025 was a disaster for Windows 11"}]}, {"label": "Reasonable cost", "summary": "Some consider it priced fairly low for its complexity and easy for businesses to justify.", "quotes": [{"id": 803602304, "item_id": 50225144, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50225144", "by": "Grombobulous", "date": "2026-10-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there really is no better option out there than Microsoft Office.", "excerpt": "I also love the idea of ditching Microsoft and I have done so for my personal life, but if your work day lives and breathes documents, spreadsheets, and slide decks, there really is no better option out there than Microsoft Office. I\u2019d even go as far as arguing that it\u2019s priced very fairly and rather low compared to software of similar complexity. It\u2019s priced low enough that pretty much any business of any size can j", "context": "", "use_case": "documents, spreadsheets, slide decks", "switched_from": "", "story": "Danish Government silently drops plan to dump MS Office"}, {"id": 783636896, "item_id": 48977306, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48977306", "by": "daft_pink", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "I feel they are pushing their own narrative without really having any evidence. We use Microsoft at work because we would either use Microsoft or Google for email. The email service is critical to the choice. We can\u2019t run our own reliably and other vendors just don\u2019t interoperate the same way. Microsoft Office simply isn\u2019t that expensive and it\u2019s very easy to hire people who know how to use it and are comfortable wit", "context": "company decision-maker; payroll is over half of budget", "use_case": "office suite at work", "switched_from": "", "story": "How proprietary formats have become Microsoft\u2019s main tool for lock-in"}]}, {"label": "Table editing", "summary": "One user misses Word's behavior of tabbing from the last table cell into a new row.", "quotes": [{"id": 793781073, "item_id": 49611317, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49611317", "by": "Topgamer7", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Missed that from MS office.", "excerpt": "Been using libreoffice for years. Here's hoping increased usage will lead to improvements in the \"table\" functionality. Like when you can define a table, and hit tab at the last column will put you at the next row first column. Missed that from MS office.", "context": "", "use_case": "table functionality", "switched_from": "", "story": "LibreOffice breaks download records after declaring it has no AI features"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Lock-in", "summary": "Several say people use it because it is mandated or required for file compatibility, not by choice.", "quotes": [{"id": 790104880, "item_id": 49381555, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49381555", "by": "jongjong", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Their Office suite is foisted on governments.", "excerpt": "They don't produce anything that people like. Everyone using their products is forced to use it. Their Office suite is foisted on governments. For example, several governments in the EU moved off of it starting a few years back... Many are still on it. Oracle database is essentially never used outside of government nowadays. This has been the case for decades. Government is just locked into expensive contracts with t", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Debt That Apple Owes to the CIA"}, {"id": 744848421, "item_id": 46553026, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46553026", "by": "KronisLV", "date": "2026-01-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it made me quite angry when my university mandated that I use Microsoft Office for writing my bachelor's and master's papers, when LibreOffice is mostly good enough", "excerpt": "If I was better versed in writing and happened to be someone relevant, at the very least I\u2019d support the viewpoint that open source is good for preventing takeovers and software dependencies turning hostile (e.g. Valkey and OpenSearch at least existing) and preventing being held financially hostage in times of uncertainty (e.g. many Linux server side distros are free and FOSS relational DBs won\u2019t bankrupt you). Yet p", "context": "student", "use_case": "writing theses", "switched_from": "", "story": "European Commission issues call for evidence on open source"}, {"id": 734700770, "item_id": 45918798, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45918798", "by": "dade_", "date": "2025-11-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Office with its horrific file formats keep it around.", "excerpt": "It\u2019s Vista 2! I switched to Mac in 2008, and I just did it again a few days ago. Reality is that almost everything I do is Linux, but Office with its horrific file formats keep it around. Fortunately Visio is nearly dead, 3 to go.", "context": "", "use_case": "office documents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft confirms Windows 11 is about to change"}]}, {"label": "Interface quirks", "summary": "Critics dislike the mouse-heavy ribbon and Office ignoring Windows conventions such as shift+click scrolling.", "quotes": [{"id": 800759985, "item_id": 50047499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50047499", "by": "sombragris", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "that stupid ribbon interface that forces me to use the mouse", "excerpt": "Lawyer, translator and professor here. I have an Office 365 subscription and I got native Word and other MS Office apps installed on my windows partition. But, since I use Linux on the desktop, and MS chose not to offer their office suite as Linux native apps, and they make it near impossible to use the Windows apps under Wine, I use LibreOffice. And it works really well. I can use it and exchange documents with peop", "context": "lawyer, translator and professor; Linux desktop user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open-source Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word replications"}, {"id": 797177104, "item_id": 49823569, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49823569", "by": "wvbdmp", "date": "2026-09-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Infuriatingly, of all apps Microsoft Office doesn\u2019t implement this!", "excerpt": "Interesting that shift+click to \u201cscroll here\u201d only came with Windows 7. Could have sworn it had always been there, I use it all the time. Infuriatingly, of all apps Microsoft Office doesn\u2019t implement this! It would be so useful there and it\u2019s Microsoft, but nope, you can\u2019t expect Office to respect Windows conventions. Also, Excel\u2019s scrollbar is deranged in general.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A brief history of Windows scroll bar shortcuts"}]}, {"label": "No Linux support", "summary": "There are no native Linux apps, and the Windows apps are described as nearly impossible to run under Wine.", "quotes": [{"id": 800759985, "item_id": 50047499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50047499", "by": "sombragris", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "that stupid ribbon interface that forces me to use the mouse", "excerpt": "Lawyer, translator and professor here. I have an Office 365 subscription and I got native Word and other MS Office apps installed on my windows partition. But, since I use Linux on the desktop, and MS chose not to offer their office suite as Linux native apps, and they make it near impossible to use the Windows apps under Wine, I use LibreOffice. And it works really well. I can use it and exchange documents with peop", "context": "lawyer, translator and professor; Linux desktop user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open-source Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word replications"}, {"id": 763345601, "item_id": 47709100, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47709100", "by": "ray__", "date": "2026-04-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the necessary evil of MS Office/Illustrator", "excerpt": "This looks interesting and I will give it a try. I agree that the space-switching animation is painful. I don't however think that this will solve spaces on MacOS, for the simple reason that opening new instances of apps is inconsistent and often doesn't behave how you'd expect it to once one more than one space is involved (in my experience, anecdotal). I've come to peace with the fact that I will never be able to s", "context": "", "use_case": "work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Native Instant Space Switching on macOS"}]}, {"label": "Weak web apps", "summary": "One public-sector user says the Office 365 web apps feel like toys and cannot handle complex tasks.", "quotes": [{"id": 803611602, "item_id": 50225725, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50225725", "by": "encom", "date": "2026-10-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I admit that their Office suite is pretty good.", "excerpt": "I work in the public sector in Denmark. Office 365 is the bane of my work day. I only have access to the web versions of the apps, but they feel like toys. It seems impossible to do anything even moderately complex with them. Especially form design. I've installed Linux+LibreOffice on a spare machine at work that I use occasionally, to keep from tearing my hair out. As much as I despise Microsoft, I admit that their ", "context": "", "use_case": "office documents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Danish Government silently drops plan to dump MS Office"}]}, {"label": "Commodity", "summary": "Some argue it is replaceable and not particularly good at anything.", "quotes": [{"id": 750126194, "item_id": 46882887, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46882887", "by": "jillesvangurp", "date": "2026-02-04", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Most of MS Office is a commodity at this point. Not particularly good at anything it does actually.", "excerpt": "Zoom and teams are low hanging fruit in terms of replacability. I use both with various customers. Internally we use teams. Occasionally somebody insists on webex or other tools. Meets isn't actually horrible now that Google seems to have stopped the internal battles to replace it every six months. But in the end it is very replaceable as well. All of these tools cover the basics (being able to video call others, scr", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US"}, {"id": 773471761, "item_id": 48341985, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48341985", "by": "systemBuilder", "date": "2026-05-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Only morons use microsoft office products willingly.", "excerpt": "Only morons use microsoft office products willingly. Haven't bought a copy of office, ever. I used to buy corporate laptops for $200 with $250 copies of office on them. Have been 100% on google docs since 2015.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft degrades functionality of perpetually-licensed offline products"}, {"id": 773492353, "item_id": 48343272, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48343272", "by": "fithisux", "date": "2026-05-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Some times I needed to use MSOffice for a paper. It was always problematic.", "excerpt": "There are many open source alternatives/upgrades to M$$$ products. No reason to keep using them. Literally none. I have been a happy exclusive only user of OO/LibeOffice since 2004. Some times I needed to use MSOffice for a paper. It was always problematic. I haven't use VS since 2007. I migrated to gcc. Never had a problem. SQLServer? Only for demo and at work just to pull or save data. Postgres always saved the day", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft degrades functionality of perpetually-licensed offline products"}]}], "who": [{"by": "2Gkashmiri", "context": "lawyer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49451335", "date": "2026-08-26"}, {"by": "daft_pink", "context": "company decision-maker; payroll is over half of budget", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48977306", "date": "2026-07-20"}, {"by": "barney54", "context": "Windows user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46497895", "date": "2026-01-05"}], "tags": ["for document-heavy work", "for businesses", "for Windows users", "one-time purchase available"], "use_cases": ["office documents", "office suite", "documents, spreadsheets, slide decks", "table functionality", "compatibility alongside libreoffice", "office suite at work"], "compared": [{"slug": "libreoffice", "name": "LibreOffice", "co": 16, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 5}, {"slug": "onlyoffice", "name": "OnlyOffice", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "google-docs", "name": "Google Docs", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "copilot", "name": "Copilot", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "windows-11", "name": "Windows 11", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "postgresql", "name": "PostgreSQL", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "macos", "name": "macOS", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50223844", "title": "Danish Government silently drops plan to dump MS Office", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48341578", "title": "Microsoft degrades functionality of perpetually-licensed offline products", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50043110", "title": "Open-source Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word replications", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49820065", "title": "A brief history of Windows scroll bar shortcuts", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49610538", "title": "LibreOffice breaks download records after declaring it has no AI features", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49447724", "title": "LibreOffice 26.8 Released with Many Nice Improvements", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-02": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {"warn": 2}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1, "compare": 1}, "2026-08": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-10": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 803611602, "item_id": 50225725, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50225725", "by": "encom", "date": "2026-10-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I admit that their Office suite is pretty good.", "excerpt": "I work in the public sector in Denmark. Office 365 is the bane of my work day. I only have access to the web versions of the apps, but they feel like toys. It seems impossible to do anything even moderately complex with them. Especially form design. I've installed Linux+LibreOffice on a spare machine at work that I use occasionally, to keep from tearing my hair out. As much as I despise Microsoft, I admit that their ", "context": "", "use_case": "office documents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Danish Government silently drops plan to dump MS Office"}, {"id": 803602304, "item_id": 50225144, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50225144", "by": "Grombobulous", "date": "2026-10-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there really is no better option out there than Microsoft Office.", "excerpt": "I also love the idea of ditching Microsoft and I have done so for my personal life, but if your work day lives and breathes documents, spreadsheets, and slide decks, there really is no better option out there than Microsoft Office. I\u2019d even go as far as arguing that it\u2019s priced very fairly and rather low compared to software of similar complexity. It\u2019s priced low enough that pretty much any business of any size can j", "context": "", "use_case": "documents, spreadsheets, slide decks", "switched_from": "", "story": "Danish Government silently drops plan to dump MS Office"}, {"id": 800759985, "item_id": 50047499, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50047499", "by": "sombragris", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "that stupid ribbon interface that forces me to use the mouse", "excerpt": "Lawyer, translator and professor here. I have an Office 365 subscription and I got native Word and other MS Office apps installed on my windows partition. But, since I use Linux on the desktop, and MS chose not to offer their office suite as Linux native apps, and they make it near impossible to use the Windows apps under Wine, I use LibreOffice. And it works really well. I can use it and exchange documents with peop", "context": "lawyer, translator and professor; Linux desktop user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open-source Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word replications"}, {"id": 797177104, "item_id": 49823569, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49823569", "by": "wvbdmp", "date": "2026-09-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Infuriatingly, of all apps Microsoft Office doesn\u2019t implement this!", "excerpt": "Interesting that shift+click to \u201cscroll here\u201d only came with Windows 7. Could have sworn it had always been there, I use it all the time. Infuriatingly, of all apps Microsoft Office doesn\u2019t implement this! It would be so useful there and it\u2019s Microsoft, but nope, you can\u2019t expect Office to respect Windows conventions. Also, Excel\u2019s scrollbar is deranged in general.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A brief history of Windows scroll bar shortcuts"}, {"id": 793781073, "item_id": 49611317, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49611317", "by": "Topgamer7", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Missed that from MS office.", "excerpt": "Been using libreoffice for years. Here's hoping increased usage will lead to improvements in the \"table\" functionality. Like when you can define a table, and hit tab at the last column will put you at the next row first column. Missed that from MS office.", "context": "", "use_case": "table functionality", "switched_from": "", "story": "LibreOffice breaks download records after declaring it has no AI features"}, {"id": 791221361, "item_id": 49451335, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49451335", "by": "2Gkashmiri", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I have been extensively using LibreOffice alongside office 2019", "excerpt": "I have been extensively using LibreOffice alongside office 2019 (using Massgrave) And it is converging more and more. I use it as my day tool as a lawyer, I use writer and calc alongside office tools and i see formatting issues coming less and less. This is after me using it day for 3-4 years daily. Every update makes improvements. Sure its \"slow\" at features but I'm not interested in \"ai\" features so it's fine. It i", "context": "lawyer", "use_case": "compatibility alongside LibreOffice", "switched_from": "", "story": "LibreOffice 26.8 Released with Many Nice Improvements"}, {"id": 790104880, "item_id": 49381555, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49381555", "by": "jongjong", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Their Office suite is foisted on governments.", "excerpt": "They don't produce anything that people like. Everyone using their products is forced to use it. Their Office suite is foisted on governments. For example, several governments in the EU moved off of it starting a few years back... Many are still on it. Oracle database is essentially never used outside of government nowadays. This has been the case for decades. Government is just locked into expensive contracts with t", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Debt That Apple Owes to the CIA"}, {"id": 785621025, "item_id": 49101314, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49101314", "by": "fluidcruft", "date": "2026-07-29", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Nowadays I can figure out what to do in MS Office very quickly", "excerpt": "People say that and I used to agree, but honestly I use neither MS Office nor LibreOffice heavily anymore. Nowadays I can figure out what to do in MS Office very quickly but LibreOffice's menus are a confusing maze (even when switched into the more ribbon-like mode).", "context": "", "use_case": "office suite", "switched_from": "", "story": "KOReader"}, {"id": 783636896, "item_id": 48977306, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48977306", "by": "daft_pink", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "I feel they are pushing their own narrative without really having any evidence. We use Microsoft at work because we would either use Microsoft or Google for email. The email service is critical to the choice. We can\u2019t run our own reliably and other vendors just don\u2019t interoperate the same way. Microsoft Office simply isn\u2019t that expensive and it\u2019s very easy to hire people who know how to use it and are comfortable wit", "context": "company decision-maker; payroll is over half of budget", "use_case": "office suite at work", "switched_from": "", "story": "How proprietary formats have become Microsoft\u2019s main tool for lock-in"}, {"id": 778319185, "item_id": 48644949, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644949", "by": "mankhb2k", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Malwarebytes, Microsoft Office. That's the software I'll install when I buy a new device.", "excerpt": "Malwarebytes, Microsoft Office. That's the software I'll install when I buy a new device.", "context": "", "use_case": "office suite", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 773492353, "item_id": 48343272, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48343272", "by": "fithisux", "date": "2026-05-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Some times I needed to use MSOffice for a paper. It was always problematic.", "excerpt": "There are many open source alternatives/upgrades to M$$$ products. No reason to keep using them. Literally none. I have been a happy exclusive only user of OO/LibeOffice since 2004. Some times I needed to use MSOffice for a paper. It was always problematic. I haven't use VS since 2007. I migrated to gcc. Never had a problem. SQLServer? Only for demo and at work just to pull or save data. Postgres always saved the day", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft degrades functionality of perpetually-licensed offline products"}, {"id": 773471761, "item_id": 48341985, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48341985", "by": "systemBuilder", "date": "2026-05-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Only morons use microsoft office products willingly.", "excerpt": "Only morons use microsoft office products willingly. Haven't bought a copy of office, ever. I used to buy corporate laptops for $200 with $250 copies of office on them. Have been 100% on google docs since 2015.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft degrades functionality of perpetually-licensed offline products"}, {"id": 763345601, "item_id": 47709100, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47709100", "by": "ray__", "date": "2026-04-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the necessary evil of MS Office/Illustrator", "excerpt": "This looks interesting and I will give it a try. I agree that the space-switching animation is painful. I don't however think that this will solve spaces on MacOS, for the simple reason that opening new instances of apps is inconsistent and often doesn't behave how you'd expect it to once one more than one space is involved (in my experience, anecdotal). I've come to peace with the fact that I will never be able to s", "context": "", "use_case": "work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Native Instant Space Switching on macOS"}, {"id": 750541952, "item_id": 46908872, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46908872", "by": "raw_anon_1111", "date": "2026-02-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Microsoft Office has never stopped being available as a one time purchase", "excerpt": "Microsoft Office has never stopped being available as a one time purchase", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Does global decoupling from the USA signal comeback of the desktop app?"}, {"id": 750126194, "item_id": 46882887, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46882887", "by": "jillesvangurp", "date": "2026-02-04", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Most of MS Office is a commodity at this point. Not particularly good at anything it does actually.", "excerpt": "Zoom and teams are low hanging fruit in terms of replacability. I use both with various customers. Internally we use teams. Occasionally somebody insists on webex or other tools. Meets isn't actually horrible now that Google seems to have stopped the internal battles to replace it every six months. But in the end it is very replaceable as well. All of these tools cover the basics (being able to video call others, scr", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "France dumps Zoom and Teams as Europe seeks digital autonomy from the US"}, {"id": 744848421, "item_id": 46553026, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46553026", "by": "KronisLV", "date": "2026-01-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it made me quite angry when my university mandated that I use Microsoft Office for writing my bachelor's and master's papers, when LibreOffice is mostly good enough", "excerpt": "If I was better versed in writing and happened to be someone relevant, at the very least I\u2019d support the viewpoint that open source is good for preventing takeovers and software dependencies turning hostile (e.g. Valkey and OpenSearch at least existing) and preventing being held financially hostage in times of uncertainty (e.g. many Linux server side distros are free and FOSS relational DBs won\u2019t bankrupt you). Yet p", "context": "student", "use_case": "writing theses", "switched_from": "", "story": "European Commission issues call for evidence on open source"}, {"id": 743966320, "item_id": 46497895, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46497895", "by": "barney54", "date": "2026-01-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For my needs Office on Windows is the best", "excerpt": "Wow this is dumb. The reason I\u2019m on Windows is because of Office. For my needs Office on Windows is the best\u2014otherwise I\u2019d be on a Mac or Linux. I use AI everyday and never found a use case for Copilot. So why rebrand Office, their best product after Copilot, their worst product?", "context": "Windows user", "use_case": "office work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Office renamed to \"Microsoft 365 Copilot app\""}, {"id": 743141395, "item_id": 46446337, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46446337", "by": "pcblues", "date": "2025-12-31", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'm invested and familiar with Windows and Office.", "excerpt": "I haven't had a _terrible_ UI experience with Win 11 that Apple hasn't put me through already. But it took away my sideways toolbar. I don't click anything that loads edge, like \"Show me more from the web\" type links. So I don't see ads. I use firefox and thunderbird. The telemetry all the way through the operating system sucks ethically. But I'm invested and familiar with Windows and Office. Not being able to make C", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "2025 was a disaster for Windows 11"}, {"id": 735980066, "item_id": 45998754, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45998754", "by": "linguae", "date": "2025-11-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I need some proprietary software packages such as Microsoft Office.", "excerpt": "I'm not affiliated with ravynOS, but I've been periodically following the project for a few years. The main page (https://ravynos.com/) expresses the philosophy of ravynOS: \"We love macOS, but we\u2019re not a fan of the ever-closing hardware and ecosystem. So, we are creating ravynOS \u2014 an OS aimed to provide the finesse of macOS with the freedom of FreeBSD.\" rayvnOS seems to be designed for people who love macOS, particu", "context": "", "use_case": "required proprietary software", "switched_from": "", "story": "New OS aims to provide (some) compatibility with macOS"}, {"id": 734700770, "item_id": 45918798, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45918798", "by": "dade_", "date": "2025-11-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Office with its horrific file formats keep it around.", "excerpt": "It\u2019s Vista 2! I switched to Mac in 2008, and I just did it again a few days ago. Reality is that almost everything I do is Linux, but Office with its horrific file formats keep it around. Fortunately Visio is nearly dead, 3 to go.", "context": "", "use_case": "office documents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft confirms Windows 11 is about to change"}]}