Install MS office2007 on ubuntu using PlayOnLinux

Why bother - If you want MS Office use Windows. I personally prefer OpenOffice, which I use on Linux and Windows systems - not because it's free but because I prefer it (I also have an MSDN developer license - so money isn't an issue either).

Why Bother? Well my school requires it? I prefer Open Office too and use it all the time. I do not want to have to spend the money on Microsoft Office. I cannot force the school to switch to Open Office. I cannot force the school to not send me DOCX files. Do you know of a way to force the school to switch to Open Office? Do you know a way to force the School to stop sending me DOCX files? If so please explain.

Last time I checked, open office CAN open docx files. And you can save to them as well. The only place you have to use MSO is when you're at the school.

I feel it is totally unacceptable for your school to require you to use MS Office 2007. You perhaps cannot FORCE your school to use OpenOffice, but you should at least try to talk some sense into whatever IT department they have, and talk to them about OpenOffice.

That being said, I work for a school myself as the IT manager and we're in the process of migrating completely to OpenOffice. It makes no sense whatsoever to force parents to purchase an expensive MS license or force them into piracy when OpenOffice does the job perfectly well for our needs.

Yea I have koffice installed right now, and although it and openoffice can save to .doc format I don't always trust that the formatting will be perfect. Unfortunately whenever I hand in assignments electronically at school they usually require .doc format. Even certain parts of the schools website use MHT, so I needed to get an addon for firefox otherwise i'd have to use Internet Explorer. I wish schools could move to opensource.

Hi thank you for your comments
Many schools actually are moving to opensource, we saw months ago the decision of the spanish government, austria gov, ... with projects for schools to move to opensource.
For school if they are using MSoffice 2007 just you need to install an plugin for msoffice 2007 to have support for .ODT files. See this article

Hi. I can understand using MS office if you really have to at work. And I understand that sometimes complex documents created in OpenOffice will not look the same when opened in ms office, and vice versa. ms is to blame for the problem, they want it to be that way.

You should speak to the school's administrators and IT people about switching to OpenOffice, and other free software. Even if they continue to use Windows, they can save a ton of $$$ and still do what they need to do.

Openoffice is coming to schools and everyday we hear about new schools around the world moving to Opensource, read the latest news of schools moving to openoffice

I have to admit that on one level I would love to see schools switch to open office, but on another, I have to admit I'm glad that mine has not. OO is not accessible with a Windows Screen reader for blind users. and being a blind user, I am sort of fond of being able to edit my documents independently. So until the OO folks and the screen reader folks start talking seriously, sadly schools have a very good reason for not switching over wholesale. They get government money, which in the US means they can and likely would be sued for using an inaccessible office suite.

Oh, and speaking of accessibility.. those blasted "anti-spam codes" aren't so cool either, as I can't read it in the message... but am definitely not spam. *grin*

(P.S. I know there is a software that circumvents them.. I'm using it now, so I don't know that they can be that effective either.)

Schools, that have not done so already, should consider moving to something like Google Apps. Some of the key features, I see, with Google Apps are:

1. document collaboration.
2. document translation.
3. document version control.
4. document backup.
5. document accessibility:
- from any computer (library, lab, friends, family, etc.).
- from any device (smartphone, netbook, notebook, eReader, tablet, etc.).
- from any OS (Windows, OS X, Ubuntu, etc.).
6. offline editing (via HTML5/Gears).
7. open standards based.
8. no data lock-in (see the "Data Liberation Front" (http://www.dataliberation.org/)).
9. no desktop software installation, maintenance & upgrades.

Except for a small percentage of "power" users, there are very few reasons, to continue to use a desktop office suite.

Nice article. Altough I prefer Crossover, I'll surely look at this piece of software to. I see you using the dutch version of 2007, i'm dutch to

Hi Relst. wij Zijn in Nederland .
wij zijn 2 vrienden die zijn gewoon gek op opensource.

Dat is wel grappig, ik heet Elst als achternaam Maar, goede site, ik lees vaak via lxer.com jullie artikelen.

I try it and fail on ubuntu 9.04 x64
i reach to this step
2- Click Next
then the next window never come and Playonlinux is freeze
i used terminal
sudo playonlinux
to see the problem
this is the result
PlayOnLinux v3.7

Checking python : [ Ok ]
^C
mhmd@mhmd-laptop:~$ sudo playonlinux
PlayOnLinux v3.7

Checking python : [ Ok ]
Running install menu
Exception in thread Thread-1 (most likely raised during interpreter shutdown):
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.6/threading.py", line 525, in __bootstrap_inner
File "/usr/share/playonlinux/python/install.py" , line 74, in run
: 'NoneType' object is not callable
Unhandled exception in thread started by
Error in sys.excepthook:
TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not callable

Original exception was:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.6/threading.py", line 497, in __bootstrap
self.__bootstrap_inner()
File "/usr/lib/python2.6/threading.py", line 572, in __bootstrap_inner
with _active_limbo_lock:
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute '__exit__'
wine: /home/mhmd/.wine is not owned by you
/home/mhmd/.PlayOnLinux/install: line 74: APPNAME[8]d=Groove: command not found
--2009-10-06 04:11:31-- http://mulx.playonlinux.com/wine/linux-i386/LIST Resolving mulx.playonlinux.com... 91.121.54.147
Connecting to mulx.playonlinux.com|91.121.54.147|:80... ^C