DeepSeek integration

[Michael Uplawski]

I just hope that SoftMaker stays SoftMaker.

[Woody44]

I agree.

[Woody44]

But recently, Microsoft started to give Ad version of Word Excel PowerPoint with simple Copilot features for free. They now make money out of Ads inside Word Excel PowerPoint.

Nice try, but hardly a good comparison.

https://www.pcguide.com/news/you-can-no ... -some-ads/

There are a few caveats with this free version

While getting access to Microsoft’s Office package without having to pay for a subscription does seem great, there are a few “downsides” of this free Microsoft Office. For starters, as said before, the version is ad-supported, meaning you will get both banner ads and video ads popping up when you are in the zone. You can also only save files to OneDrive (up to 5GB) as no other Cloud services will work.

On top of that, there are watered-down versions of each tool, meaning you'll be missing out on a lot of features. For instance, free Microsoft Word doesn't have line spacing, WordArt, all of the design and drawing tools, and many formatting options, including headers, footers, columns, line numbers, text wrapping, shading, and borders. There are also no options for adding references or mailing documents.

Excel is also missing a lot, including the Analyze Data feature, recommended charts, and most aesthetic options like Themes, Colors, Fonts, and Effects. PowerPoint has been reduced to the basics, with many formatting options removed, along with Dictate, Add-ins, Designer, and SmartArt.

A word processor that doesn't let you control line spacing, headers and footers, or columns is worthless. You're better off using WordPad. This "free" version of Microsoft Office is even more brain-dead than the on-line versions of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.

In my opinion, FreeOffice strikes a very good balance between supported features and features available only in the paid versions. There is no need to make a significant change to that balance by adding an AI resource of questionable utility and questionable security.