Comment by worksonmine

Have you tried replacing Microsoft Office with Libreoffice? It's been perfectly usable for years and I'm even comfortable sending anyone .odt files. I haven't got a single question or comment about it. You may not be able to but in that case just use the .docx extension, install whatever fonts your colleagues expect and continue exactly as you were.

I can't take these kinds of arguments seriously because I regularly read, edit and create documents and spreadsheets and never felt the need to use Word or Excel. It seems most people I've met who claim they can't use Linux because they need X, Y or Z never really tried when I ask. It's just an assumption and they deal with Microsoft based on it.

It's a shame, we could have a world without data-mining and vendor lock-ins if we were principled and didn't always choose the easy path.