Thanks to the behaviour of the American Government the past year, it has become really easy. Everybody suddenly understand and respect the argument of boycotting american products and software.

I don’t.

Sadly I can’t. The only approved software I can use is Office on Windows.

I only use LibreOffice and don’t tell anyone. It has only been a problem once when a client wanted me to use Word so she could keep track of changes. As a freelancer I wasn’t about to go and use Word for one client. I just submitted the work as a PDF and they never brought it up again.

I don’t. I just export to PDF if I need them to see formatting the same.

The better question asked is:

How do they explain to you that they don’t?

I practically never need to. I’ll find a way to make things work one way or another.

I will use whatever they will provide me. If i am to use Microsoft products, so be it. Not only that, but I don’t give a flying fuck for the company’s data i work for. They asked for it 🙃

Depends on how long you’ve been working. After some amount of time like a year or two you can drop it into a conversation when helping a person “oh, I actually use libre office so I’m not sure where MS put that, let me check” and if they want more info they’ll ask. Sometimes they might be surprised that you can actually do this stuff on Linux.

It is the superior choice, doesn’t have ads, doesn’t try to sell you shit, it never updates without your permission, it doesn’t spy on you, it doesn’t sell your data, it is the superior choice, and penguins be cute.

You don’t. Enjoy better, faster and more effective software and laugh when their shot breaks.

I would never tell them how I do stuff unprompted. If they ask I’ll vaguely tell them because I suck at lying but no specifics.

Does this actually cause compatibility issues? If not, no need to explain

“I use LibreOffice Writer and other Linux apps”. There, simple as that.

If they ask why and show a more actual concerned interest, I usually mention Microslop history of privacy invasions and history of deliberate incompatibilities in Office, and recommend a few links documenting that stuff as well as some legal hot waters Microslop has gotten into.

“Hey, I never liked Office 365, Microsoft as a company and all the Cloud shenanigans… And have you noticed how their products all become shittier and more invasive by the day? All while they increase subscription price each year now to finance all the AI stuff I rarely use? I’m a long-term fan of this other product, called XYZ which is just better in every aspect. No offense. If you want me to send you a link…”

(Edit: It’ll become easier after a while. At some point they all know you’re a Linux nerd and disassembled your wifi router at home, dishwasher… To get rid of proprietary spy components. And people will deliberately decide to listen to your opinion and lengthy rant, or make an effort to not bring up the topic 😆 At that point, you’re relatively free to speak your mind… Just read the room a bit. The goal isn’t to annoy people.)