While text documents make up the largest volume, excel is arguably the most vital to an "Exam Preparation Center". They're not going to take the time to rewrite everything, I'm sure, not until they're forced to.
I and two of the other technophiles will probably take Zab;s route of running a VM, or Box, inside Linux. Time will tell what the others decide to do. I'll keep playing around but I guess this thread is done.
Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and input.
I think an easy and fast Way to test it would be to take an Exel File (or a couple) and open it in LibreOffice, Softwaker Office and OnlyOffice and look how it works.
Their website makes a big deal about being GDPR-compliant but the text supplied with that heading has no relevance to GDPR at all. It's just SEO garbage and trying to manipulate less-knowledgeable users with buzzwords.
More recently, they're making a big deal about having ChatGPT integrated into their software which I abso-feckin-lutely do not want in any form. They do not talk about how that can be disabled or if it's possible to install the software without any "AI" features to begin with. I don't want that garbage on my computer at all, please and thank you. Someone asked about disabling it in their forums last year and the response from an official SoftMaker staff was very dismissive and, quite frankly, rude: "It is just an icon on the ribbon that you could click or not click." That is literally not what the person was asking; it heavily implies that the ChatGPT integration is forced on users and cannot be avoided or disabled, but why won't they make this clear for people who don't want to start converting their linux distribution back into Windows 11?
Not to mention, SoftMaker are making a huge push towards subscription-only products and clearly don't want to let me own the things I pay for or the software on my computer. Disgusting.
The way their website is put together and their handling of certain matters just gives me the same level of ick as Microsoft or Google. I guess, to some degree, they are intentionally trying to emulate those companies to attract customers, but he who fights with monsters and so on.
Yes they tried to get me to move to NX but Icm not interested in monthly subscriptions.
As for GDPR:
and on that same SoftMaker thread about turning ChatGPT off:
"All communication between TextMaker and ChatGPT runs solely through our server, and we definitely know what we send them. There is no way ChatGPT can siphon off any extra data."
On the GDPR thing, they haven't given enough information to judge whether SoftMaker products do or do not "allow my organisation to fulfil the regulatory requirements of EU or UK GDPR", but I was more pointing out the fact that they have added a specific segment on several pages of their website to shout about GDPR compliance that don't actually say anything about GDPR compliance and instead talk about totally separate features of the software. It's dumb and makes them look bad, and it genuinely concerns me about what else this company is posturing and lying about.
I did see this, but it's still a meaningless non-answer. It doesn't say anything about what data is sent to ChatGPT, just that SoftMaker see all of said data first before passing it over. It doesn't say how you can ensure nothing is sent to chatjippity, or to SoftMaker, for that matter. It doesn't explain anything about how this fake AI* is integrated into the software, or how to actually disable or avoid it as the OP requested.
* I honestly believe all use of the term "AI" in reference to our current LLM / NLP / ML / etc. technologies is criminal-level false advertising and a flat-out lie, intentionally propagated to leverage subconscious biases of AI as portrayed in fiction, where the tech is akin to near-human intelligence (+/- malice), and I immediately distrust any company that doesn't make a clear distinction as to what their "AI" tool actually is.
@swarfendor437 , the main issue is that I'm not the one who does this stuff, it's an admin task. They send us the spreadsheets and we just copy and paste in the class list for each group and enter their test or exam scores, and then return the results.
I was hoping that Zorin would be the answer to us all being forced into using Windows 11 next year but unfortunately, there is that bug-bear: we need those spreadsheets. Also, at least three staff are not remotely computer literate. Zorin would have made the transition easier.
@Ultrabenosaurus , thank you for pointing your observations out here. I also choose not to use AI and don't want it forced on me either. I read a lot about the development of various different AIs in Nature briefing, so I know that they can't use AI to train AI; it's output becomes garbled rubbish after a few cycles. it NEEDS human input for training and improvement, which means some people will go to any lengths to con others into using it willingly, or because they just don't know about it. Some people just don't care. I do, so thank you.
@Storm , yes text documents don't seem to have such compatibility issues, it's the spreadsheets that are the problem.
I don't use ChatGPT at all and think it is a waste of space to be honest. However in terms of appearing as it should in MS Office apps was the main goal of me purchasing it back in 2019. I saved me having to use Office365 which is what work was using. It has the most dire interface period.
Thank you for your input @14nd but I don't trust MS at all, and I do literally everything I can do to avoid going online with them / signing in. They've stated a goal to have EVERYBODY signed up to Office 365. Shudder!
However, I have seen where someone created an alternative ID and used that successfully with a MS account... if push comes to shove next year, it may be worth considering.
A coder friend of mine has proposed the name "plagarism engine" for current LLM technology. After the numerous examples found of Google's spitting out garbage yanked directly from Reddit, I don't feel it's unfair.
Many years ago my boss wanted me to sort out an Eeepc netbook that was no longer useable. Why? WindowsXP Home/netbook edition had locked up the SSD with updates.
Now this netbook had an unusual SSD. It was 10 Gb in total with a forced split of 4 Gb for the OS, and 6 Gb for Data. The hardware precluded you from installing Windows on the bigger partition. I installed Zorin Core on it. (Think it was Zorin 6.) This was the first time I had used /boot of 512 Mb. I put '/' on the bigger partition, with /home on the smaller first partition. I installed WINE. I installed MSOffice Student 2007 with no issues. To round it off I naughtily installed Win 2-7. This is a theme that included a plymouth theme using Windows 7 boot splash and also installed all the correct Office Icons in the menu ... and the boss never even used it! Aaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhh!!!
Just had a look at my training PowerPoint I produced in PowerPoint 2016 for the rest of the Service on how to apply Styles to save time in creating modified documents for low-vision users and Only Office like LibreOffice glitches. It only ever showed up correctly in PowerPoint 2016.
