Free MS Office Clone WPS / KINGSOFT OFFICE

[jimbo45]

Hi there
If you are looking for a good alternative to MS office I suggest you try KINGSOFT (or WPS now) Office -- even the EXCEL seems to be reasonably compatible with Ms OFFICE. I haven't tried comparison with EXCEL 2013 but it doesn't have problems with some of my quite complex OFFICE 2007 spreadsheets and the OFFICE 2010 stuff I've tested works fine too.

http://www.ksosoft.com/product/office-free.html

There's even Linux versions (.deb, .rpm, .tgz) so you can install using the package manager of your choice. It's in ALPHA on Linux but for ALPHA software it seems pretty good.

Screenshot of a complex spreadsheet created with EXCEL but running in WPS office on an OPENSUSE 13.1 Linux system.

IMO A lot more compatible than LIBREOFFICE

Cheers
jimbo

 

[z3r010]

That actually looks very nice.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

Thanks - I like messing around with Stocks etc.

NOTE : The Linux version(yet) doesn't support VBS but the Windows versions seems to run VB macros (or at least some simple ones - haven't tested it exhaustively though).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I'm keeping an eye on it for now. I'm happy with M$ Office 2010 which is good until around October of 2020 but if M$ continues with the trend it started with Office 2013 and Office 365, I won't be continuing with M$ Office products come 2020. Word Perfect is another one I'm watching (that one isn't a freebie).

 

[Phill3990]

Hey,

I am always on the lookout for free word processors, excel etc. I give them to fellow students who are not lucky enough to have spare cash to pay for office. I myself upgraded to Office 2013 because I got money off due to being a student. It works fine for what I need (when it isn't erroring on startup because of a plugin) but many people at university have asked me about free bundles (like office). In the past I have forwarded them to https://www.openoffice.org/ as it has been of use to me in the past.

I will definitely recommend this to anyone who asks me in the future.

Thanks for sharing

Phill3990

 

[Yard Dog]

I use OpenOffice and Libre myself.. both free .. and does what I need them to do .

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I use OpenOffice and Libre myself.. both free .. and does what I need them to do .

Both of them have had their ups and downs and both depend on Java for some of their functions; there is no way I will allow Java on any of my computers.

 

[Yard Dog]

Well, I don't use Java to use them.. so I am fine.. I just use the writer part of it .. for documents .

 

[strollin]

I've been using Kingsoft office on my Android tablet (Nexus 7) for a couple of years now and found it to be fairly decent. I recently got a Surface Pro 3 tablet and have MS Office 2013 on it. Since I got the SP3, I rarely use the Nexus 7, it's mostly collecting dust.

I recommend Kingsoft to friends that are looking for inexpensive/free alternatives to MS Office.

 

[DavidE]

I installed the WPS 2014 BETA on a test Win 8.1 VM.
It fixes a bug in the Spreadsheet scrollbar that I've seen with large spreadsheets.

Anyone interested in testing the BETA, or seeing the advertised changes:
WPS Office 2014 for Windows (BETA)

 

[bawldiggle]

Glad you started this thread Jimbo ...

I have installed free Gnumeric (Spreadsheet app) ... just playing with it so far to work it out.
- UI data opens OK in Excel 2010, including cell comments.
- uses Python to enhance versatility ... but at my age I have lost interest in learning another language.
But I do miss VBA in Excel 2003 for custom cell functions

Would like to find a non-ribbon Word alternative.

 

[bawldiggle]

VBA in WPS-Office

@ DavidW7ncus

I have been writing MS-Excel VBA addins, creating Excel templates with VBA userforms etc and xls files with userforms and custom cell functions, before 2003 ( I date back to Word basic etc, I think I started around '95/'98)

Libre Office has left me cold ... from Libre forum there are a lot of bugs in Libre Office ... and it appears a user who wants to create custom macros has to use 4 different languages. ??
And I have never been able to find a list of objects, methods, functions, enums etc, (if they exist)
The Excel-2003 (and Word-2003) VBEditor works extremely well.
(Granted any Excel file with VBA is prone to significant bloat ... I have written an XLA file to rebuild (not copy) bloated files.
I appreciate that MS-Excel >2003 version assembles xlsm, xlam, xltm file as a sort-of zipped file containing UI data + any code ... a lot more stable and file sizes are apparently smaller)
VBA is serving me well as I am on the home stretch of my working life, so learning new language/s is too daunting ... I think !?! ​

How does WPS spreadsheet VBA measure up to the versatility and accessibility of MS Excel VBA.
The ribbons in MS Office have created a headache for me as all my addins create a menu-bar sub-menu at run time.
One of my addins (menu) has 68 controls, which is more tidy/compact than icons on a ribbon (across the entire width of a screen).
Using a menu has also made it easier to assign hot keys to control-captions.

The idea of MS cloud based office is just a no-go for me. A lot of my work is highly confidential.
- so my secured PCs are not internet connected.

I hope my query makes sense

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Have a look at my ist post in this thread a complex spreadsheet so you can do a lot without VBA macros -- I think though the latest versions have VBA macros in them - I have yet to test the compatibility as I try and use a lot of the in built functions -- it makes for less hassle if a new version of Office comes out etc.

As for the ribbon - you can minimize it quite easily so that shouldn't be a bother. Works in Full screen mode if you like too !!

I'll try and test some VBA macros when I've got time though. What you *might* lose are any 3rd party addins - but I already stopped using those when I switched from 32 bit to 64 bit version of Ms Office 2010 as they didn't work and I could re-write the spreadsheets myself easily.

Screenshot - writer in full screen mode and in windowed mode - you can see the menu won't be a problem for anybody used to Ms Word.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Sammy Rosebery]

Absolutely it is very nice

 

[djMot]

WPS Office 2014 is now out of beta and is sold on an annual subscription model - $3/mo or $30/yr (business edition $5/mo or $50/yr.) I paid a one-off fee for a "Lifetime" license to their earlier "Kingsoft Office" product, and although WPS Office 2014 is just a re-branding of Kingsoft Office 2013, it has become clear through my communications with them that they do not intend to honor the lifetime license they sold to me, and probably many others. Their position seems to be that I can use the 2013 version for a "lifetime," but that's it. As such, it's really just a misrepresented "Version License."

I purchased the Lifetime License mainly to reward them for creating such a fine product, and to a lesser degree, so that I would have access to everything the software has to offer if I ever needed it. As I recall, about the only thing really missing from the "Free" version was VBA macros, which I haven't really needed. But if they're going to sell a "Lifetime" license, I think they should honor it, especially as a thank you to the early adopters who helped pave the way for their current success.

The new WPS Office 2014 also has a free version, but installs as a 30-day trial of the fully-featured subscription model product. Reports I've read elsewhere (my copy is still within the 30 days, so this is hearsay from me at this point) is that, when it reverts to the "Free" version after 30 days, a lot of functionality goes missing and there are continual nags to upgrade to the paid subscription. Too bad.

I'll likely head back to LibreOffice, or there is a new one I just heard of today called SoftMaker Office. I don't know anything about it beyond a few screenshots I've seen on their website which show the interface to be sans-ribbon style. Also, to be quite honest, Google Docs looks better and better all the time...

 

[FerchogtX]

I use it on my smartphone, VERY handy , and free. I just hope they fixed issues when you edit in different zoom modes and printer goes crazy with giant prints LOL...