Can Microsoft Office 365 or a similar web app be used from Ubuntu?

Question

I need to generate Word documents (both .doc and .docx), which will work on a typical Windows or Mac setup with any common version of Microsoft Word to the degree possible. LibreOffice sometimes doesn't do the job, the layout comes out different.)

This thread explains how to verify a document for Word compatibility using SkyDrive. Is there a solution that allows editing? Would Office 365 (paid subscription) work in Firefox/Chrome(ium)/?? on Ubuntu?

Solution 1

I got this working on Ubunut using this user agent spoofer extension, http://spoofer-extension.appspot.com/.

It doesn't work on the built in Windows Chrome 13 user agent, but if you use this user agent , taken from this site, Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.2; WOW64) AppleWebKit/535.7 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/16.0.912.63 Safari/535.7 It should work.

Note that you may have to logout and log back in for the user agent to be properly reread.

Solution 2

While not a web-app, I am successfully running Office 2010 using PlayOnLinux (http://www.playonlinux.com/en/supported_apps-3-0.html) on 13.04. I use it daily and find that this is the best solution for the compatibility you are looking for. I've used CrossOver (http://www.codeweavers.com/) previously, but I find PoL works well and there's no cost.

Comments

[Glutanimate]

I think this is a valid question and it most certainly doesn't warrant downvotes. While you are most certainly not obliged to do so it's still good practice to provide a reason for downvoting. That way the OP can edit their question if necessary.

[Tom]

That's good to know. However, it requires a regular Office 2010 license (and install media). With the direction Microsoft is going, WebApps could become the only viable option for home users. In the corporate domain, if have Office, you probably also have (virtualized or remote) Windows as well.

[Kendor]

One can easily purchase an OEM version of Office 2007 or 2010 on ebay, or purchase Office Home relatively inexpensively (e.g. ebay.com/itm/…). This is for the key and you can download the installer. It's not like it will have a short shelf life. Just my two cents that this will be the most practical means of creating 100% compatible MS Office files in Ubuntu.