LibreOffice in the corporate sector - ready to start
In this article, we will consider the possibility of reducing the cost of office software by replacing the standard for many Russian organizations office suite Microsoft Office 2003/2007/2010 with LibreOffice 3.6.1, we describe the problems we have and how to solve them.
The cost of maintaining and developing the IT infrastructure is a significant share of the cost of software, which in turn is made up of software costs of the “for all” category and specialized software needed only by a number of employees. In turn, the typical set of the category “for all” consists of:
In different organizations, the set can be supplemented, for example, with a Skype application or corporate messenger (LiveMeeting, ICQ, etc.).
In this article, we will not delve into a comparison of these packages, especially since good comparisons can be read here and here , but they relate mostly to the usability of these packages. Our task is to show the use of LIbreOffice from the point of view of corporate implementation.
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So, the conditions of implementation - a network of enterprises for 50 jobs, will deploy an Active Directory domain based on MS Windows 2008 R2. Operating systems jobs - Windows XP / Vista Professional / 7 Professional.
The deployment of LibreOffice began with the creation of the appropriate group policy for installing the official MSI package (http://www.libreoffice.org/download/). After a successful deployment on the test OU (Organization Unit), the following problems emerged:
To change the original MSI package, two ways were tried:
By default, the LibreOffice settings file is located in the% USERPROFILE% \ AppData \ Roaming \ LibreOffice \ 3 \ user \ registrymodifications.xcu folder (for Windows Vista / 7)), and the easiest way is to distribute this file to all machines in the domain Default User directory. However, what to do with existing users, because the contents of the Default User folder are copied to the profile only when the user first logs in? The solution is simple - create a simple logon script and apply it with group policy when a user logs on to the system. At the same time, by the way, a single configuration of LibreOffice in the organization will be maintained.
In general, this bug is described in the corresponding tracker - bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=52078 . However, at the time of the deployment of LibreOffice 3.6.1, it was never fixed. The solution to this problem (disabling the Windows Explorer Extension) was implemented immediately when we dealt with ORCA with reference to LibreOffice.
Here, unfortunately, only “manual” labor is applicable. For example, about an hour was spent on the formation of new collection patterns for the bank, the open MS Excel file looked awful - the “moving out” marking lines, fonts, and so on. It helped to save this file in the ODT format, opening it and bringing it into the correct form. On the other hand, fears that there will be problems with downloading data from 1C were not completely justified.
Following the results of the implementation (which lasted a total of about 2 months), it can be stated with confidence that the LibreOffice 3.6.1 package is not inferior in terms of the functionality of MS Office 2003 in preparing and working with documents. However, the weak point of the package is the mediocre support of documents with macros and complex internal calculations. However, if this functionality is not used in an organization, or is used on a limited number of workplaces, then the use of the LibreOffice package in an organization can significantly save on the purchase of an office package. The price of MS Office 2010 for Home and Office Use at the time of this writing was about 6600-8000 rubles per workplace.
Laid out the ready-made MSI_packages:
The next version of the assembly is being prepared for release (for the latest version of LO).
The cost of maintaining and developing the IT infrastructure is a significant share of the cost of software, which in turn is made up of software costs of the “for all” category and specialized software needed only by a number of employees. In turn, the typical set of the category “for all” consists of:
- operating system;
- office suite;
- necessary service applications (archiver, multimedia codec suite, PDF viewer).
In different organizations, the set can be supplemented, for example, with a Skype application or corporate messenger (LiveMeeting, ICQ, etc.).
In this article, we will not delve into a comparison of these packages, especially since good comparisons can be read here and here , but they relate mostly to the usability of these packages. Our task is to show the use of LIbreOffice from the point of view of corporate implementation.
')
So, the conditions of implementation - a network of enterprises for 50 jobs, will deploy an Active Directory domain based on MS Windows 2008 R2. Operating systems jobs - Windows XP / Vista Professional / 7 Professional.
The deployment of LibreOffice began with the creation of the appropriate group policy for installing the official MSI package (http://www.libreoffice.org/download/). After a successful deployment on the test OU (Organization Unit), the following problems emerged:
- “By default” the entire software suite in the package is installed (including a set of dictionaries for all languages ​​of the world) - the installation takes a long time, and a bunch of unnecessary programs for work appear on the client machine - Base, Python, PDF-Import, etc .;
- “Default” format for saving ODF files — the organization has developed DOC and XLS data storage formats for years;
- after installation, the formation of file thumbnails in Explorer stops working. Explorer freezes;
- small “inconsistencies” of formats - somewhere the lines are slightly thicker than in MS Excel, somewhere the function is not placed on the panel, etc.
The solution to the problem number 1. Redundancy package.
To change the original MSI package, two ways were tried:
- use MSI package command line arguments to eliminate unnecessary components. As a result, the resulting batch file can not be executed, because the length of the command line exceeds the permissible limits in Windows;
- modification of the existing MSI package with the ORCA tool. The received MSI package is deprived of dictionaries, a number of unnecessary software, and incidentally solved problem 3 (about it later). The main problem is the lack of documentation, in fact it was necessary to analyze the MSI-package provided by the LibreOffice developers using the “scientific at random” method. As a result, this method led to success.
Solution of the problem â„–2. Change the default format.
By default, the LibreOffice settings file is located in the% USERPROFILE% \ AppData \ Roaming \ LibreOffice \ 3 \ user \ registrymodifications.xcu folder (for Windows Vista / 7)), and the easiest way is to distribute this file to all machines in the domain Default User directory. However, what to do with existing users, because the contents of the Default User folder are copied to the profile only when the user first logs in? The solution is simple - create a simple logon script and apply it with group policy when a user logs on to the system. At the same time, by the way, a single configuration of LibreOffice in the organization will be maintained.
Solution of the problem â„–3. Explorer freezes when entering documents folder.
In general, this bug is described in the corresponding tracker - bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=52078 . However, at the time of the deployment of LibreOffice 3.6.1, it was never fixed. The solution to this problem (disabling the Windows Explorer Extension) was implemented immediately when we dealt with ORCA with reference to LibreOffice.
Solution of the problem â„–4. Formatting inconsistencies
Here, unfortunately, only “manual” labor is applicable. For example, about an hour was spent on the formation of new collection patterns for the bank, the open MS Excel file looked awful - the “moving out” marking lines, fonts, and so on. It helped to save this file in the ODT format, opening it and bringing it into the correct form. On the other hand, fears that there will be problems with downloading data from 1C were not completely justified.
Conclusion
Following the results of the implementation (which lasted a total of about 2 months), it can be stated with confidence that the LibreOffice 3.6.1 package is not inferior in terms of the functionality of MS Office 2003 in preparing and working with documents. However, the weak point of the package is the mediocre support of documents with macros and complex internal calculations. However, if this functionality is not used in an organization, or is used on a limited number of workplaces, then the use of the LibreOffice package in an organization can significantly save on the purchase of an office package. The price of MS Office 2010 for Home and Office Use at the time of this writing was about 6600-8000 rubles per workplace.
UPD
Laid out the ready-made MSI_packages:
- data-solutions.ru/dnld/LibO_3.6.1_Win_x86_helppack_ru.msi
- data-solutions.ru/dnld/LibO_3.6.1_Win_x86_install_multi.msi
The next version of the assembly is being prepared for release (for the latest version of LO).
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/154053/
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