[Ipg-smz] What happens when Linux keeps getting better and better?

[Stephen Satchell]

On 12/20/18 8:04 PM, Bruce Byfield wrote:
> On Thu, 20 Dec 2018 17:33:06 -0500
> Jack Wallen <jlwallen at monkeypantz.net> wrote:
> 
>> When LibreOffice gets a 60,000+ word manuscript
>> with hundreds of comments, it CHOKES. 
> 
> My experience differs. I've done a 528 page (90k+ words) page book in
> LibreOffice that's crammed with tables and graphics without any major
> problems. Perhaps hardware -- especially RAM -- accounts for the
> difference?

Agreed.  When I was stuck doing a bunch of technical HOWTO manuals for
$DAYJOB, I used LibreOffice.  We are talking quite a few manuals of
about 200 pages each, with lots and lots of screen shots and network
diagrams as PNG graphics.  Now, that work was done with a Linux box with
8 GB RAM and 1 TB disk.  The slowest part was when I exported the
completed manuals in PDF.

One of my collaborators for a manual was a Windows junkie.  He insisted
on Microsoft Office documents, and not exports from LibreOffice either
-- nasty things happend with pagination and graphic placement.  So I
created a Windows 7 VM with Office ($DAYJOB had an enterprise license)
and it was is miserable experience, particularly when the stupid thing
would freeze up and require a VM restart.  It go so bad that I convinced
my collaborator to download LibreOffice for Windows and work with my
documents in that.  After a short learning curve, the guy had no
problems and the project went MUCH smoother.  He didn't quit Word, but
when we had to revise that one manual he was perfectly at home with
LibreOffice.