![Two-frame cartoon. Frame 1: Bespectacled editor sits with curly-haired editor at a table in a café. She says, "It can be so frustrating to work with [industry-standard software] sometimes!" A man in glasses sips coffee at the next table. Frame 2: The man turns around and says, "I couldn’t help overhearing. Why don’t you just use [open-source alternative that lacks the functionality you need for your work, offers no support, and is fundamentally incompatible with your clients’ workflow]? I switched five years ago and haven’t looked back."](https://i0.wp.com/ivacheung.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025-08-Open_source.png?ssl=1 "\"Libre\" means free, as in free mattress!")
I despise Microsoft and Adobe as much as the next person, but the next time a non-editor tells me to switch to LibreOffice, I’m sending them to this feature comparison and asking them to search for “track changes.”
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Editor- Indexer
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Yes, this! I’m exhausted from having to try to explain how Track Changes works, why it is central to my work as an editor, and why I will not work with Google Docs (like, never). Some authors get it; many others do not. I no longer work with the latter. Just last month, after completing an initial editing sample for a new author/client, I walked away from the “opportunity” to edit their book because the author refused to understand why we couldn’t both work on the book at the same time using their oh-so-handy Google Doc. Nightmare.
Then you might also enjoy this: https://ivacheung.com/2024/04/anonymous-armadillo/