My friend works for a company which requires her to use Microsoft specific application, she didn’t really want to switch to Win 11 and choose to just use Wine Linux package and install a 2016 version of MS office on her Linux laptop. That’s all well and good, but this company she is working for servers other clients at pretty high up places and she is terrified that she using the pirated version of MS would create a liability for her company as if Microsoft wants to target pirated software, they hunt for organisations rather than individuals.

So, what should she do? Is there a way you can hide the fact that the excel sheet was created on pirated software, is it even possible to tell excel sheets apart which are using pirated software?

PS: If there is a way to destroy all metadata related to the excel sheets, it would be very helpful.

edit: Thanks to everyone who chipped in for an answer, gonna suggest her to either ask her employer to give her the necessary software + hardware and if denied quit. I now realize this is not the norm in any company but hers. Anyways, thanks everyone.

  • Kawawete@reddeet.com
    0·
    8 months ago

    To answer your first question : no, there’s absolutely no wat to determine if a version of Office is cracked or not by looking at the files made with said version. Tho Microsoft can see if a cracked version sends telemetry but they don’t care about it. You can use it freely. And honestly, LibreOffice is 1 to 1 compatible, you just have to install Microsoft’s proprietary fonts.

    • Anonymous_TorPerson@lemmy.mlOP
      0·
      8 months ago

      I love FOSS but LibreCalc sucks! Word is good, I did a project with it, I am pretty sure you can get the hang of it. Not sure about anything else tho

      • morras@jlai.lu
        0·
        8 months ago

        It’s rather the other way around, Word is not 1 to 1 compatible with LibreOffice Writer when it comes to document editing. Writer is far better on that aspect.