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<meta name="description" content="Short, enthusiastic review of the native integration of Microsoft Office Online in Manjaro 17.1.6 Hakoila using the JAK app framework, covering login, basic usage of Word, Powerpoint, OneNote, Skype, and other components of the office suite, customization, suggestions for future work and development, and more" />
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<title>Manjaro + Microsoft Office Online - Yup, come over</title>
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<div class="titlebar">Manjaro + Microsoft Office Online - Yup, come over</div>
<p>
<span class="bold_text">Updated:</span> April 13, 2018</p>
<div class="divider_sec"></div>
<p>The Linux desktop has never made it big. Canonical tried with Ubuntu, they made a big ripple, but
the effort fell short of a revolution, in part because of the necessary monetary resources required, in
part because of missed timing, and also because of some rather stiff rand unneeded resistance from the
community. A paradox. Linux folks want to displace Windows, but when one tries, they are scorned for
selling out.</p>
<p>There isn't a single formula for success - but the one component that cannot be removed, whatever
the equation might be: applications. Without offering the needed functionality to Windows converts,
they have no use for an empty shell called the operating system. Proof, Windows, the most successful
desktop system, did not succeed in the mobile world, because it did not have any applications. Same
way, Linux on the desktop stands no chance without the everyday software that Windows folks need. The
most prominent among them: games and Microsoft Office. We have Valve Steam to thank for the former, and
now, Manjaro for the latter?</p>
<p>
<img style="width: 800px; height: 500px;" alt="Teaser"
src="../images/computers-years/2018-1/manjaro-17-1-ms-office-teaser.jpg" />
</p>
<h2>What are you on about, Dedo?</h2>
<p>I've been merrily testing
<a href="manjaro-17-1-6-hakoila-plasma.html">Manjaro 17.1.6 Hakoila</a> when I came across an
interesting little entry in the system menu. Under Office, there was the usual suspect, right,
LibreOffice, which is a fine beast, but then I also saw Microsoft Office. Whaat.</p>
<p>
<img style="width: 661px; height: 800px;" alt="Menu, Office entry"
src="../images/computers-years/2018-1/manjaro-17-1-ms-office-menu.jpg" />
</p>
<p>As it turns out, the Manjaro team has decided to cobble together a native wrapper for Microsoft's
free online suite, which is already
<a href="office-online-linux-better.html">available and accessible</a> through any modern browser. The
concept here is that you need not power your default Internet portal, you just launch the wrapper
applications and use them as any other program. The wrapper happens to be single-page browser windows,
based on WebKit, and the whole thing runs using something called
<a href="https://github.com/codesardine/Jade-Application-Kit">JAK</a>. Looks like a very interesting
bucket of technology, but more importantly, it gives Linux users access to the possibly most critical
part of the Windows-Linux software transition.</p>
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<h2>Does it work?</h2>
<p>Well, it does, it does, for sure, for sure, ten four, we've got ourselves a ... convoy! Anyway, I
decided to launch the Office applications and see what gives. You get the login page, and you need to
authenticate. Once this step is done, you can use Office Online, just as I've shown you in my reviews
on this subjects, including OneDrive and Skype.</p>
<p>
<img style="width: 800px; height: 500px;" alt="Login page"
src="../images/computers-years/2018-1/manjaro-17-1-ms-office-login.jpg" />
</p>
<p>
<img style="width: 800px; height: 401px;" alt="Main page"
src="../images/computers-years/2018-1/manjaro-17-1-ms-office-main.jpg" />
</p>
<p>Manjaro also offers separate launchers for different components in the office suite - saves you
extra clicks opening them through the main page of your online account, and also allows you to have
multiple windows open in parallel, much like you'd expect from a Windows copy of Microsoft Office.
Since these applications are natively packaged for Manjaro,
<a href="plasma-task-manager-icons-multiple-versions.html">you can pin them</a> to the task manager, or
add them as shortcuts to the desktop, anything you like.</p>
<p>
<img style="width: 326px; height: 88px;" alt="App pinned to task manager"
src="../images/computers-years/2018-1/manjaro-17-1-ms-office-app-pinned.jpg" />
</p>
<p>I spent a while playing with Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, and even used Skype - it all works
seamlessly. Fast, elegant, you have your online storage, you can save files offline if you need to, and
Office Online can also open ODF documents. And with the improved support for Microsoft formats in
<a href="libreoffice-6-review.html">LibreOffice</a>, you're in for a treat.</p>
<p>
<img style="width: 800px; height: 500px;" alt="Create document"
src="../images/computers-years/2018-1/manjaro-17-1-ms-office-create-doc.jpg" />
</p>
<p>
<img style="width: 800px; height: 500px;" alt="Powerpoint"
src="../images/computers-years/2018-1/manjaro-17-1-ms-office-powerpoint.jpg" />
</p>
<p>
<img style="width: 800px; height: 513px;" alt="OneNote"
src="../images/computers-years/2018-1/manjaro-17-1-ms-office-onenote.png" />
</p>
<p>Furthermore, the Manjaro team has also invested energy in ever so slightly customizing the
presentation layer. Normally, the background color of Word pages is gray, which can be a little
difficult on the eyes - there's no option to customize this online to resemble the offline installation
of the Office.</p>
<p>The JAK-wrapped version comes with the white background, which makes much more sense for long
writing sessions. I showed you how
<a href="office-online-background-color.html">this can be done</a> manually using CSS tricks, but you
get this here, out of the box.</p>
<p>
<img style="width: 800px; height: 500px;" alt="Word"
src="../images/computers-years/2018-1/manjaro-17-1-ms-office-word.jpg" />
</p>
<p>The next step would be to use some sort of online account integration functionality - whatever the
desktop environment is, Gnome, Plasma, you name it - and allow OneDrive usage from within the desktop.
We did talk about
<a href="odrive-cloud-sync.html">multi-cloud clients</a>, but this would be taking it to the next
level, and really allow full, seamless use with the Microsoft Office Online. And this is a great thing
indeed.</p>
<h2>More from the Manjaro team ...</h2>
<p>I also emailed the Manjaro folks to ask about their endeavor, as I was rather intrigued. Philip
Muller, the project leader, replied with some rather interesting tidbits on their implementation of
Microsoft Office Online:</p>
<p class="intro2">The framework was created based on our new desktop environment
<a href="https://forum.manjaro.org/t/new-desktop-jade-in-the-works/17228">JaDE</a> by Vitor Lopes. We
simply thought having web-technology used for a desktop environment would be nice to have. Therefore
you might switch to your homepages you would focus on directly from our DE. To showcase this new DE we
released Manjaro
<a href="https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-webdad-community-edition/34571">WebDAD</a>
edition for artists and web-designers.
<br />
<br />Since we had achieved both goals, and
<a href="https://github.com/codesardine/Jade-Application-Kit">JAK</a> was used to create parts of
the DE and our Web-Apps, we used this framework and designed a
<a href="https://github.com/manjaro/packages-community/tree/master/ms-office-online">launcher</a> for
<a href="https://forum.manjaro.org/t/getting-ms-office-online-to-work/32995">Microsoft Office
Online</a> as partly our customer Station-X was also happy to ship Office on our joined-venture
product: the
<a href="https://manjaro.org/hardware/">Spitfire</a>. Since it was already part of Manjaro, our core
team decided to include it by default in our regular releases.</p>
<p>Furthermore, you know what this means - lots of cool and interesting ideas and concepts to test and
explore, including the mentioned hardware. But that's a topic for another time.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>I can hear the trumpets of cynicism already blaring loudly. But to deny the reality is to deprive
oneself of actual value and advantages that modern technologies can offer. There's no place for
ideology in that space, I'm afraid. Ideologies are reserved to true believers and the truly rich, and
most people aren't in either group. Microsoft Office makes perfect sense, and having access to this
software on Linux is a very good thing. The native integration places Manjaro in a league of its
own.</p>
<p>Of course, I would love to see this project grow and propagate and become "the thing" across all
distributions, rather than a point of contention, rivalry and ego-forking for a dozen similar projects.
Then, because I always think strategically, long term and end to end, I want to see the integration
taken to the pro level. Cloud storage, account sync and backup, and more. Well, this is superb, I like
it, I see the potential, and hopefully, the community will embrace the project. It is upon efforts like
this that the distinction between obscurity and greatness lies. In the land of Mordor, where the geeks
code. Take care.</p>
<p>Cheers.</p>
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