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Microsoft Office in Linux?

Yes, you can run MS Office in WINE or even better in Vbox but what about software than can handle Word, Excel and Powerpoint files in Linux? They will suggest LibreOffice, a breakaway from OpenOffice or even OpenOffice.

My experience with LibreOffice is not positive. Try opening a 100page+ document with a lot of tables, graphics, numbered paragraphs, references and so on and LibreOffice stammers badly then chokes.

But since I fled from Windows for a good reason and returning sheepishly to that fold is not an option, I had to find an alternative. The promising alternative is WPS Office Suite for Linux.  It's Chinese but if you run a Debian dialect like I do (Mint Linux) then your search is over. There is a .deb file available. Simple download and double-click to launch the installer.

When you run it the first time it shows the sign-in screen blow in Chinese. The information requested is (i) You name to be used as author name in documents you create, (ii) your initials, (iii) your affiliation (organization). If you type in  nonsense, the documents you create will have this nonsense as the embedded author name...

One problem with WPS: It is in Chinese. But don't panic yet. There is a way out. Go to Sayanvala's page for a simple solution which says: launch your Linux terminal and  execute the following two commands:

cd /opt/kingsoft/wps-office/office6/2052                   
                                                           
sudo rm qt.qm wps.qm wpp.qm et.qm                          
                                                           
These commands will apparently convince WPS to revert to the English language.


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