I've been using WPS free office suite for years, but I started to be fed up with all the ad boxes and intrusive installation procedures, so I tried Ashampoo free office just to discover that this one is a rebranded version of 2012 Softmaker Office. When I clicked the update or upgrade button (I don't remember the exact word), ended up in a promotion Softmaker webpage where you can buy the Pro version for €17 and the regular one for €14. And that's a really odd thing, because if you open the same page without the cookie, the values are much higher (?!). Well, I paid the €17 and downloaded the installer.
My first impressions are:
- The icons are just dated (not a important thing, but being a designer it's a bit irritating)
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You can't import pdf files!! This is surprising when a lot of completely free suites offer thar capability (WPS and others).
- The three tools work great, tables and frames are correctly rendered and displayed on the right places.
- The layout is clean, functional, clean and intuitive.
- The installation is light and fast.
Conclusion: Not a bad piece of software but that pdf import issue is a bit ridiculous.
