I’ve tried, God knows how I’ve tried. But enough is finally enough. I’ve been using LibreOffice for a couple of years now and I’m afraid it really is time for a parting of the ways. And don’t think for one moment that it’s a decision I’ve rushed into. No, it is one fraught with reluctance.

You see, I like the whole ethos of LibreOffice. I like the idea of sticking it to the man and all that. And, like everyone who uses it, I appreciate a word processing software that doesn’t cost me a bean to use. Yeah, we all like that part, don’t we?

The problem I have with is… well… not to put too fine a point on it…

It’s shite compared to MS Word.

And being a writer by trade I just can’t do with inferior software to keep doing what I’m doing. And yes, I know all about how evil Microsoft are and how they make the world a terrible place and Bill Gates is the baddest man on the planet yadda-yadda-yadda but at the end of the day I can’t keep trying to produce content on software that is slow, clunky, keeps “not responding” and oft times won’t even open.

I’ve produced about over 150 documents on LibreOffice, podcast scripts and blog posts mainly, and I even wrote my entire second novel, The Ghost of Lenton Wattingham, on it. And I did it for all the “right on” reasons that everyone else uses it for. But damn it, my writing deserves the best and the best ain’t LibreOffice.

Oh, you might say, but what do you expect when it’s free? You can’t have everything you know. There has to be a bit of give and take somewhere. And I agree, absolutely, and I’ve taken just about all I can.

You wouldn’t expect Joe Bonamassa to record his next album on an inferior guitar that someone gave him for free online would you? Maybe you would, but I wouldn’t. You want him to use a Gibson Les Paul or a Fender. So why should writers and other creatives use software that isn’t up to the job?

I need to write in what precious time I can between bouts of fibromyalgia flare ups, vertigo and pummelling headaches. Actually write. I don’t need to be sat staring at my screen with my teeth gritted so tightly they may shatter under the pressure at any moment whilst LibreOffice opens its bleary eyes, yawns, scratches it’s hairy arse and takes an eon to wake up. I don’t need to get halfway through a paragraph and then have to wait twenty minutes for it to unfreeze before I can continue. And I don’t need to constantly keep clicking on the desktop icon like a deranged anti-aircraft gunner as it refuses time and time again to even open.

Oooh, it’s so frustrating.

And, I don’t have any of those issues when I use Word. None of them. It works perfectly every time.

So, yeah, it’s all over between me and LibreOffice. I mean, I don’t want to diss it entirely, especially if finances are an issue and you need word processing software. It’s fairly adequate at what it does if you can get over all the other little foibles and problems. But, right now, I’m at a stage in my writing career where I need a bit more than adequate.

Do other self-employed people use inferior equipment in their work? No, they use the best they can.

So in the words of Lord Sugar; LibreOffice, with regret, you’re fired!

(This blog post was created in Microsoft Word)