What's new compared to 2016?

[EFats]

Other than the ribbon and the default file format....

I was trying the beta, it seems very similar except that it takes up more than 2x the disk space.
I'm looking for compelling reasons to upgrade. Is there a list somewhere with change history or comparison?

[martin-k]

There is a lot more than just ribbons... We are preparing more detailed material, but here is a start:

viewtopic.php?f=279&t=16911

[martin-k]

Some more material:

http://www.softmaker.com/en/blog
http://www.softmaker.com/en/softmaker-o ... s-features

[Patrick]

If you are concerned about the size of the program you can always create a portable version of the suite with the portable creator utility (included) and save it to a folder on your HDD/SSD or else USB stick and take out the files you don't need. For example, I removed all language files except the ones I use, remove templates I don't need, etc.

The .msi installer for SMO 2018 is 400+mb but my actual (installed) program folder size is only 130mb -- only 50mb when packed with 7-Zip! -- so there is a lot of stuff in the original installer and its resulting installs that is not required for most users. It is better to try this in a portable version so that you don't botch your actual SMO 2018 install (in case you remove the wrong stuff and the program won't uninstall, etc.).

I understand SoftMaker's approach to not have the installer give a lot of customization options (as in, install certain elements or not) because it complicates things and hard disk space is not really that big of an issue anymore -- especially when compared to MS Office. But it is possible to shrink the suite's size if needed.