Kingsoft Office FTW!

Some things are just so mind-blowingly awesome that you have to blog about them after along period of hiatus. So, the story begins when I upgraded my home laptop with an SSD and changed from a 32 to 64 bit Windows 7 (without reactivating online by using Advanced Tokens Manager). A lot of software had to be reinstalled. I decided to install the latest MS Office (2010) available from my workplace, but it is now using a network based activation (or atleast I have to install it while on the network? haven't tried yet). I manage a bit using Abiword for word processing, but it is far from MS Word. When I had to open Excel files, Gnumeric came to mind, but I also didn't quite like it as far as I remember. So I looked up at Wikipedia for free spreadsheeet alternatives, and that's when I found out about Kingsoft Office.

Why Kingsoft Office is different?

Kingsoft office stands out because it tries its best to not be different ... from MS Office. Anyone familiar with recent MS Office products would easily find their way through Kingsoft Office. This is unlike Openoffice (and all it's other forks, e.g. Libre) or Softmaker Freeoffice, Abiword or Gnumeric that are excellent software in their own respect, but disregard the fact that everyone else uses MS Office.

Kingsoft Writer showing a formatted document from some sciency journal. Things render pretty well. Notice the familiar interface. This is one of those cases when being a "ripoff" is actually a good thing.

Furthermore. if you're not familiar with all the ribbon interface of MS Office 2007, a "classic" GUI (i.e. MS Office 2003 or earlier) is also an option!

File compatibility

Between Softmaker and Kingsoft Office, Kingsoft handles MS Office files better. I had opened a 16MB thesis that made Softmaker crash. Tracked changes and vector graphics are also screwed up Softamker.
I haven't tried with Openoffice yet as I don't want to install it on my fresh new OS. It also seems I have to uninstall Softmaker in the end, as it doesn't provide a convincing advantage over Kingsoft.

Why Kingsoft Office is not the same?

Having explored the GUI similarity and document compatibility, Kingsoft Office is not totally the same either since they try to improve whereever possible, like the "tabbed browsing" interface for multiple documents. It also has free Android and iOS apps. I'm pretty sure I have heard about Kingsoft Office for tablets long way back, but I ignored it since there are a lot of tablet office suites that gets you can't decide (in the words of good old Alvin Toffler, "overchoice").

What is still lacking, needs fixes or is unknown to me?

• A MAC/OSX version. It is weird that they have Linux and iOS but no OSX, also since their website shows a Macbook Pro running KSO (the "everything looks cool with Apple" effect). It is on the plans, nonetheless.
• An equation editor similar to that of MS Office 2007 and above. The current equation editor is (very) similar to Equation Editor/Mathtype.
• Minor things I noticed (not exhaustive):
• The  English dictionary seems to miss a lot of words.
• View new window opens another instance of another document in another tab.
• Compatibility with MS Office's 3D/rotation effects  for shapes/drawings
• I haven't explored yet
• Integration with third party software, e.g. Mathtype equation editor or Mendeley reference manager.
• If I wish to support or get the 60usd pro version, is whether purchasing a pro version has to be done each time a new version is released or whether it is a one time payment for all versions to come.

Conclusion

Kingsoft Office would probably now be my de facto recommendation for a free alternative MS Office. It simply stands out due to its GUI familiarity and MSO file compatibility.