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Vim VS LibreOffice - Writer

Compare Vim VS LibreOffice - Writer and see what are their differences

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Vim logo Vim

Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing

LibreOffice - Writer logo LibreOffice - Writer

Open-source cross-platform word processor.
  • Vim Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-23
  • LibreOffice - Writer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-16

Vim features and specs

  • Efficiency
    Once learned, Vim can significantly speed up text editing with its modal editing, keyboard shortcuts, and commands that allow for quick navigation and manipulation of text.
  • Lightweight
    Vim is a very lightweight editor, consuming minimal system resources, making it highly performant even on systems with lower specifications.
  • Customizability
    Vim is highly configurable and extensible through plugins and user-defined settings, allowing users to tailor the editor to their specific needs.
  • Ubiquity
    Vim is available on almost every Unix-like system and even on Windows, making it a ubiquitous tool that you can rely on being available in most environments.
  • Support for Multiple Programming Languages
    Vim supports a wide range of programming languages out of the box and offers syntax highlighting, which can be enhanced through plugins.
  • Powerful Search and Replace
    Vim offers robust searching and replacing functionalities, including support for regular expressions, which can be a powerful tool for developers.

Possible disadvantages of Vim

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Vim's modal editing and extensive set of commands can be daunting for new users, requiring significant time and effort to master.
  • Minimal Default Config
    The default configuration of Vim is quite minimalistic, which may necessitate additional setup and customization to meet modern development needs.
  • Limited GUI
    Vim primarily operates in a terminal, and while there are graphical variants like GVim, they are not as feature-rich or user-friendly as modern GUI editors.
  • Plugin Management
    While Vim is highly extensible, managing and configuring plugins can be cumbersome compared to more modern editors that offer integrated plugin management.
  • Inconsistent Behavior Across Platforms
    There may be inconsistencies in behavior or available features of Vim across different operating systems, which can complicate its use in certain environments.
  • Lack of Integrated Modern Features
    Vim lacks some modern IDE features like integrated debugging, advanced code introspection, and refined autocompletion, which often require third-party plugins to achieve.

LibreOffice - Writer features and specs

  • Cost
    LibreOffice Writer is completely free and open-source, allowing users to save on the cost of purchasing a commercial word processor.
  • Compatibility
    It supports a wide range of file formats, including Microsoft Word documents (DOC, DOCX), making it easy to collaborate with users of different office suites.
  • Customizability
    The software is highly customizable with numerous extensions and templates available, allowing users to tailor it to their specific needs.
  • Cross-Platform
    LibreOffice Writer is available on multiple operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing flexibility and accessibility for users.
  • Community Support
    As an open-source project, it has a strong user community and extensive online resources for troubleshooting and learning new features.

Possible disadvantages of LibreOffice - Writer

  • User Interface
    The user interface may feel less modern or polished compared to commercial alternatives like Microsoft Word, potentially making it less intuitive for new users.
  • Performance
    LibreOffice Writer can be slower to start and may experience lag when handling very large documents compared to some proprietary software.
  • Advanced Features
    While it offers a wide array of basic and intermediate features, some advanced functionalities found in Microsoft Word are either limited or absent.
  • Compatibility Issues
    Although it supports many file formats, occasional formatting issues can occur when importing or exporting documents to and from Microsoft Word.
  • Enterprise Support
    It lacks the centralized, dedicated customer support that some businesses might require, relying instead on community and volunteer-based support.

Analysis of Vim

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Vim is a good text editor, especially for users who invest the time to learn its powerful commands and features. Its steep learning curve may be challenging initially, but once mastered, it significantly enhances productivity.

Why this product is good

  • Vim is considered a powerful text editor because of its efficiency and versatility. It offers extensive features, such as syntax highlighting, a robust plugin system, and support for numerous programming languages. Vim is highly configurable, enabling users to customize its environment to fit their needs. It is particularly appreciated for its speed and the ability to perform complex text manipulations using simple commands.

Recommended for

    Vim is recommended for programmers, developers, and system administrators who require a highly efficient and customizable text editing experience. It is especially useful for those who work extensively in terminal environments or need a quick, resource-light text editor for remote systems.

Analysis of LibreOffice - Writer

Overall verdict

  • LibreOffice Writer is a highly capable word processor suitable for both personal and professional use. It is an excellent choice for those seeking a robust alternative to costly software options, especially with its active community and steady stream of updates. While it may not have every cutting-edge feature found in some commercial applications, it covers all the essentials and more for most users' needs.

Why this product is good

  • LibreOffice Writer is a well-regarded word processing program, particularly valued for being free and open-source. It offers a comprehensive suite of features that rivals many paid software packages, including Microsoft Word. Users appreciate its compatibility with various document formats, including Microsoft Word's DOC and DOCX formats, allowing seamless collaboration with others who use different software. The interface is somewhat reminiscent of older versions of Microsoft Word, which many users find comforting and straightforward. Additionally, the strong support from the open-source community contributes to its continuous improvement and stability.

Recommended for

  • Individuals seeking a cost-effective word processing solution
  • Open-source enthusiasts who prefer community-driven software
  • Users who need strong support for multiple document formats
  • Anyone looking for a program with an interface similar to older Microsoft Word versions
  • People who require a reliable word processor for standard document creation and editing tasks

Vim videos

What Vim Is and Why You Should Learn It

More videos:

  • Review - JAC Vapour VIM Review - JAC does a side by side mod...
  • Review - Jac Vapour VIM - Quick Look

LibreOffice - Writer videos

No LibreOffice - Writer videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Vim and LibreOffice - Writer)
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Office Suites
0 0%
100% 100
IDE
100 100%
0% 0
Project Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Vim and LibreOffice - Writer

Vim Reviews

Boost Your Productivity with These Top Text Editors and IDEs
Vim offers a variety of features like split windows, macros, and extensive customization options. It has a steep learning curve, but once you master it, you’ll be amazed at the speed and productivity it brings to your coding workflow. Vim is a favorite among experienced developers who value speed and efficiency above all else.
Source: convesio.com
13 Best Text Editors to Speed up Your Workflow
It’s tough to say which developers would enjoy Vim as a text editor. It’s an old system with an outdated interface. Yet, it still has the charm and powerful feature-set that the average developer needs. I would recommend it to more advanced developers who enjoy using open source software and being a part of a community–like the one you can find behind Vim.
Source: kinsta.com
12 Best LaTeX Editors You Should Use
The entire installation process is perfectly documented on their Sourceforge page, which you must definitely pay a visit. There is another standalone Vim software, known as the gVim that brings a GUI-based interface to the Vim document editor. Vim-LaTeX has been developed specifically for the programmers and it is so highly configurable that it can function anyway, ranging...
Source: beebom.com
The Top 7 Notepad++ Alternatives for You
Vim is a totally free Notepad++ alternative. It is available to use on Windows, Mac and Linux computers and it is very powerful. I was able to customize Vim to get it to look and function just how I want it. There is really good help support with Vim so if you are new to programming it will get you through most issues.
10 Best Notepad++ Alternatives in 2020
Vim is an advanced text editor open source tool which is also considered to be an IDE in its way. This tool allows managing your text editing activities with vim editors and UNIX System which can be used on-premise or online.
Source: www.guru99.com

LibreOffice - Writer Reviews

We have no reviews of LibreOffice - Writer yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Vim seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 10 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Vim mentions (10)

  • regular Vim has lua?!
    Lua is quite small, encouraging distros to include it. The ubuntu gvim has, and the gvim AppImage linked from vim.org does. The default Makefile from github is set up to not include it, but you can uncomment one line there to get it. Source: over 2 years ago
  • is there a way to make highlighted text persistent after quit when using something like [match Search /\%'.line('.').'l/] ?
    I've not used vimwiki locally (tho I'm old enough to remember the Vim wiki on vim.org :), but I think what you are wanting to do is extend vimwiki's syntax file. I presume it installs one at $VIMRUNTIM/syntax or or ~/.vim/syntax. If this sounds right, then create a ~/.vim/after/syntax/vimwiki.vim file and place your match command in there. Then everytime you open a vimwiki file it should apply your... Source: over 2 years ago
  • vim.org - Is there a reason for this 1800s-esque design?
    Vim.org has 242k total visitors, tailwindcss.com has 4.4m, planetscale.com has 412k, jpl.nasa.gov has 2.6m, all built with Tailwind, all several years younger than Vim's website. Unnecessary comparison, unnecessary defence. It's a valuable tool, fine, but a complete disregard for anyone who doesn't love a crappy website and would like to navigate a website like a normal human is not something to be defended. Maybe... Source: over 2 years ago
  • What is YOUR process of writing ?
    I write in Vim with some customizations in my vimrc to gear it more towards prose writing than code editing. It's not pretty, but Normal Mode and Ex commands are the most powerful text editing tools out there, so that means I spend less time on making corrections and other edits. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Why developers need to know about Vim
    If you are open minded and would like to try it out, click me for more information! Cheers. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
View more

LibreOffice - Writer mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of LibreOffice - Writer yet. Tracking of LibreOffice - Writer recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Vim and LibreOffice - Writer, you can also consider the following products

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

Google Docs - Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

Sublime Text - Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, html and prose - any kind of text file. You'll love the slick user interface and extraordinary features. Fully customizable with macros, and syntax highlighting for most major languages.

Microsoft Word - Microsoft Word is a commercial word document processor for Windows.

Notepad++ - A free source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment.

Apache OpenOffice Writer - Open-source word processor of the Apache OpenOffice suite.