Alternative to OpenOffice Writer on Ubuntu Hardy Heron
I am a big fan of the Ubuntu operating system but there are a ton of usability issues with OpenOffice and specifically for people who are used to Microsoft Office the OpenOffice Writer application requires a different approach. It isn’t as easy to use, things aren’t laid out, and it has some customizability but the average Windows person who converts to Ubuntu would spend too much time trying to figure these out.
I have found Abiword is a very good crossover, while it isn’t quite as powerful as Microsoft Office (and they say it isn’t as good as Writer, but I can’t find anything wrong with it) Abiword has a friendlier interface and actually bridges the gap between MS Office and Ubuntu much better than Writer in my opinion. The buttons are easier to discern, the placement is better by default and it has a closer feel to Word 2003 than OpenOffice Writer.
All I had to do to download Abiword was:
sudo apt-get install abiword
and the abiword processor installs and is available from your applications menu.
Here is a screenshot of Writer (click to enlarge)

Here is a screenshot of Abiword (click to enlarge)

Specifically I tried all of the “View” options in Writer and none of them gave me that Word feel when scrolling around a page like the default view in Abiword. That is the beauty of Linux however, there is alternatives to virtually every piece of software and most of it is open source and free to try. Now, unfortunately I have very complicated Excel Spreadsheets with vlookup tables and other formula which don’t work on the OpenOffice Excel equivalent spreadsheet. So I need to find an alternative that can translate my formula, if I can find one I will be reporting on that next.
I encourage you to give Abiword a try, if you don’t really like Writer, or you are looking for something a little simpler and with a more friendly interface. As mentioned if there are features that Writer can do that Abiword can’t, I haven’t been able to find them.
-Dragon Blogger
No related posts.
















Save in RichTextFormat for cross over to M.Word etc.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Like