I don't think there is or ever was a version of MS Office for linux.
There is running Office over "Wine" or other Windows emulation system (Codeweavers is a commercial product for this purpose), but M$ itself has never actually ported ANYTHING to Linux, not even the Windows Media Player they promised about 6 years ago that now tops my list of vaporware.
The thing about emulators? Wine either works or it doesn't and good luck to you, or Codeweavers (built on Wine) costs almost as much as a Windows license, and in either case you still (technically) have to pay for the MS Office license, so as they saying goes, why bother?
Is the point of this saving money on Windows by moving to Linux, or is the point simple data transfer from the geek or two that is using Linux? If the latter, the geeks are the exception and they become responsible for it (and as you say, the geeks in charge of the geeks aren't too fond of this).
Moving to Linux + emulators doesn't save money in the long run. Either you pay for a Linux expert and pay for license and support of the emulator, or you pay for Linux support from a vendor like Red Hat Enterprise as well, and you're still paying almost as much per seat as you were on Windows and now have forced your users through a *partial* learning curve where half the stuff they know, half they've never seen before, and none of it transparent.
Windows emulators are best for the two or three geeks who need them, not something to build a business on.
Is there really Office related material coming from the Linux box, or just images and text. If just images and text, then someone has to stick them into the Office docs, so you might as well, just transfer the files to stick in there and keep MS Office in charge of all else.
With Linux disconnected from the 'net, you also lose the ability to do file synchronization protections through tools like visual source safe.
no subject
There is running Office over "Wine" or other Windows emulation system (Codeweavers is a commercial product for this purpose), but M$ itself has never actually ported ANYTHING to Linux, not even the Windows Media Player they promised about 6 years ago that now tops my list of vaporware.
The thing about emulators? Wine either works or it doesn't and good luck to you, or Codeweavers (built on Wine) costs almost as much as a Windows license, and in either case you still (technically) have to pay for the MS Office license, so as they saying goes, why bother?
Is the point of this saving money on Windows by moving to Linux, or is the point simple data transfer from the geek or two that is using Linux? If the latter, the geeks are the exception and they become responsible for it (and as you say, the geeks in charge of the geeks aren't too fond of this).
Moving to Linux + emulators doesn't save money in the long run. Either you pay for a Linux expert and pay for license and support of the emulator, or you pay for Linux support from a vendor like Red Hat Enterprise as well, and you're still paying almost as much per seat as you were on Windows and now have forced your users through a *partial* learning curve where half the stuff they know, half they've never seen before, and none of it transparent.
Windows emulators are best for the two or three geeks who need them, not something to build a business on.
Is there really Office related material coming from the Linux box, or just images and text. If just images and text, then someone has to stick them into the Office docs, so you might as well, just transfer the files to stick in there and keep MS Office in charge of all else.
With Linux disconnected from the 'net, you also lose the ability to do file synchronization protections through tools like visual source safe.
Really, I'm failing to see the point here...