14 DAY TRIAL // While LibreOffice is one of the best alternatives to Microsoft Office, and it also comes with full Linux support, a Linux version of Microsoft’s productivity suite is what’s holding so many people back from moving off Windows.
And while it’s possible to get Office up and running on Linux (with some performance hiccups, of course), someone says they found a way to make the whole thing happen on Ubuntu 20.4 without WINE, cloud, or GNOME on WSL.
Demo videos that were posted on Twitter show both Word and Excel running on Ubuntu 20.04, and Hayden Barnes, who created the whole project, says both applications are “very usable.”
“Word on Ubuntu 20.04. Very usable on an i5-6300U with just integrated graphics. It is not WINE, remote/cloud, or GNOME on WSL. It is something else I put together. Next, I plan to add working file associations,” he says in a tweet showing Microsoft Word on Linux.
Seamless Mode in VirtualBox maybe?
While Barnes says he can’t share all details right now, he does confirm that Microsoft Office runs in a container on Linux, and it’s a full application running locally without any webapp or cloud power.
As to why he won’t provide the full information on how it made it happen, Barnes says it’s still working on refining the full experience for the time being.
At first glance, this could very well be Seamless Mode in VirtualBox, but regardless what method is being used, Microsoft Office on Linux is definitely good news.
In fact, the lack of the Office suite on Linux is one of the reasons so many people can’t make the switch to this operating system, as working with Microsoft Office documents is still difficult on other platforms despite compatibility improvements in alternatives like LibreOffice.
Word on Ubuntu 20.04. Very usable on an i5-6300U with just integrated graphics. It is not WINE, remote/cloud, or GNOME on WSL. It is something else I put together. Next, I plan to add working file associations. pic.twitter.com/nGQ8USeR0m — Hayden Barnes (@unixterminal) April 30, 2020