OO not enough if you have customers (Score 2, Insightful)

The fly in the ointment: Docs from uncontrolled sources.

Customers, for example.

OO can't read all MS docs; therefore OO can not completely eliminate MS software unless you only get docs from other OO users, an impossible restriction in most jobs.

For example, I often get MS docs from customers and management, and sometimes they use features OO does not understand [certain kinds of inserts become invisible, for example].

"Tell them to not do that" is an unacceptable response. I have to deal with it.

So, even though I my main computer runs Linux, I ALSO keep a Windows box with Outlook and Office XP 2003, just to read the occasional MS doc which OO doesn't like. To be truthful, I also need Outlook to deal with our corporate Exchange server [I do use Evolution+Connector but it is too unreliable to depend on exclusively]. I put up with this mess so I can use Linux; but it would be crazy to expect non-hackers to get work done this way.

It's also expensive, but what't the alternative?