cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30792652

Support for Windows 10 ends on October 14, 2025. Microsoft wants you to buy a new computer. But what if you could make your current one fast and secure again?

If you bought your computer after 2010, there’s most likely no reason to throw it out. By just installing an up-to-date Linux operating system you can keep using it for years to come.

Installing an operating system may sound difficult, but you don’t have to do it alone. With any luck, there are people in your area ready to help!

5 Reasons to upgrade your old computer to Linux:

  1. No New Hardware, No Licensing Costs
  2. Enhanced Privacy
  3. Good For The Planet
  4. Community & Professional Support
  5. Better User Control
      • youmaynotknow
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        349 days ago

        There is web support, but it lacks most actually useful functions. Libreoffice is great, but is not 1:1 compatible with excel. Then there’s Onlyoffice, which is very compatible, but also lacks many functions.

        Bottom line is, if you’re an excel power user, you’ll need to learn Libreoffice Calc, or you’re out of luck. If not, Onlyoffice should suffice.

        • Zagorath
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          299 days ago

          if you’re an excel power user, you’ll need to learn Libreoffice Calc

          Let’s be honest…most people who are Excel power users probably need to interact with other users. Sending and receiving documents and templates, etc. Simply learning Calc yourself isn’t going to suffice, you’d have to convince your entire business to switch.

          • youmaynotknow
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            79 days ago

            Your logic is spot on, and it does apply to most power users, but not to all.

            Everyone has a different use case and experience, I think we speak based on our own experiences.

        • Hemingways_Shotgun
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          69 days ago

          I believe OnlyOffice may be problematic from an ethical perspective if I remember correctly because of Russia or something. But it’s FOSS, has a linux desktop version, and its compatibility with Excel has been absolutely rock solid for me.

            • @Rose@lemmy.zip
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              9 days ago

              I don’t know much about OpenOffice, but virtually all open source apps are developed by specific individuals who ask for donations or get paid for enterprise use. If you just download and use the app quietly, there’s probably no problem, however, if you talk about it to anyone, you’re promoting it and that may lead to others donating, generating more visibility, leading to more contracts, and so on.

      • Pudutr0ñ
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        89 days ago

        Yes, but it’s considerably slower and extremely frustrating to use for a power user.

        • @Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net
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          38 days ago

          Definitely another option.

          It’ll probably work for a good decade or two before it goes out of date. They still need to support the enterprise LTS version, which I think includes excel.

      • @Phen@lemmy.eco.br
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        29 days ago

        It’s pretty bad at anything with large amounts of both data and formulas.

        As an example, if you try to make a spreadsheet for managing resources of any basic Colony Sim game (something with a list of items and recipes to turn them into other items and keep track of quantities), then you’re already beyond the computing capacity of the browser based excel.

        • @Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net
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          9 days ago

          To be fair, if you’re using large amounts of data and formulas as a power user, you should probably be instead writing some python or something to handle CSVs.

          As for your particular example, LibreCalc would work just fine.

      • krolden
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        19 days ago

        Yeah but it sucks and has nowhere near the same level of festurs

      • Pudutr0ñ
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        49 days ago

        Librecalc isn’t that great and has some compatibility issues. Excel is the industry standard.

            • मुक्त
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              29 days ago

              Both softwares have graphs. You’ll need to be more specific than that, to help us understand.

              • Pudutr0ñ
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                19 days ago

                Yes, the graphs I make are extremely specific and their look and feel is very relevant. The possibilities for graph customization on both google sheets and libreoffice are both more limited.

        • @porcupine@lemmygrad.ml
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          39 days ago

          Excel is proprietary software made by a company that achieved monopoly status by intentionally designing “compatibility issues” into its products. If you’re telling me you have a business need to use the Microsoft Windows desktop version of Excel specifically and nothing else will do, then throw your PC in the garbage and pay whatever tithe Microsoft tells you to pay. Or more specifically, have your employer do that if it’s their decision anyway.

      • youmaynotknow
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        39 days ago

        I’m so used to libreoffice that I don’t understand excel that well anymore. But there was a pretty steep learning curve to get there, months.

        • @Rose@lemmy.zip
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          29 days ago

          I use it too and it’s fully sufficient for my amateur tasks (functions to calculate things, conditional highlighting, etc), but the people who say there may be compatibility issues have a point. I remember files saved in the MS apps or vice versa not having the same like breaks, margins, or whatever it was that caused some content to not be on the same page as on the origin system.

          • youmaynotknow
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            18 days ago

            Yeah, for MSO compatibility, OnlyOffice is a much better option, with some caveats.

      • @nasi_goreng@lemmy.zip
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        8 days ago

        LibreOffice is good as a standalone software, if you’re not looking for MS Office compability. I use LibreOffice, and my sister suddenly ask me to help edit their MS Office document. It was nightmare. There are a lot of hidden gotchas that rarely reported. It’s absolutely not recommended to constantly changing software if you’re editing your document.

        Also, at the moment, Excel has more advance feature than LibreOffice Calc.

      • Pudutr0ñ
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        29 days ago

        I have not and I’ve heard it works, but it seems to defeat the purpose of switching. :(

        • merde alors
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          149 days ago

          it doesn’t.

          you’re free from Windows and you can still use Excel which is necessary for your work.

        • @NotProLemmy@lemmy.ml
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          49 days ago

          Look, what everyone is saying here, including me, are suggestions. Feel free to listen to some people and not some people.

    • NutWrench
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      28 days ago

      LibreOffice has LibreCalc. It’s free and there’s a Windows version you can try.