Office 365 Available for Testing on Linux via Bottles
Linux users can now test the official Office 365, thanks to Mirko Brombin's work on Bottles.
In a tweet on X (formerly Twitter), Bottles founder Mirko Brombin announced that Office 365 is ready for testing on Linux. In the post, Brombin mentioned that the testing release should be available within another day and explained he was putting the last bits together so the installation on Bottles would be simple. Brombin also shared screenshots of the setup process that runs inside a specialized runner and the Microsoft 365 Apps Installer. He also made mention that users could switch between light and dark mode.
It should come as no surprise that the responses to Brombin's tweet have been quite enthusiastic, even questioning if "activation will be available for those using a certain MAS tool from GitHub." These was, of course, no reply to that particular tweet.
In his post, Brombin also mentioned that early components were visible, though not ready to use, and that a "proper guide" would be ready, once the suite of tools was polished.
To run Office 365, users have to install an updated or experimental version of the Soda compatibility layer (version 11.0-17 or newer), which is available through Bottles.
For me, the big question is how will a working Office 365 affect the current crop of open source office suites, such as LibreOffice? As well, will the ability to run Office 365 natively lead to a rise in Linux adoption?
