problems with vmware: which virtual machine is best?

[kdemeoz]

The easiest "idiot prof" way to install Office 2010 would be by using playonlinux:
https://www.playonlinux.com/en/

Thanks AJ. In 2015 when i was still a Windows user beginning to educate myself about Linux, i was dual-booting Win7 & Mint 17.x KDE4. I extensively tested PoL for MS Office 2010, primarily for Outlook, but also for Word & Excel. All 3 pgms would run, BUT with huge qualifiers attached. 

Whilst i was able to get Outlook running [sp1 only; sp2 would never work in PoL], it was hideously unreliable -- it was very common that each morning when i wanted to launch Outlook from within PoL, i had to retry it half a dozen times before it would actually fully launch rather than crash during the launch phase. Even after Outlook was running, it was also common that it would randomly crash during ordinary use, often causing me to lose data i'd not yet saved. Ultimately i abandoned PoL when it culminated in a fatal crash that corrupted my actual Outlook PST file... i lost important data & was very upset. 

My experience of Word & Excel 2010 in PoL was slightly less bad, but similar misbehaviour still occurred for these, ie, multiple launch attempts needed, random crashes [with consequent data loss], & also several functions would not work. Furthermore when i tried contacting the PoL Dev i was met with outright hostility & insult. I don't now feel any strong desire to give PoL another chance...

There is also the commercial CrossOver for Linux:
https://www.codeweavers.com/products/crossover-linux

In 2016 i seriously considered trying CO, but wary of my poor PoL experiences, i first contacted CO, with this reply:

From: Andrew Balfour [mailto:linux-support@crossover.codeweavers.com]

Sent: Tuesday, 16 February 2016 06:46
To: kdemeoz
Subject: Re: Is it possible for Outlook to receive MS security patches when installed in Linux

Hello,

On 2016-02-12 at 20:04, kdemeoz wrote:
> So, with that as background, here's my questions:
> 1. Would you assert that CrossOver should provide significantly more 
> reliability than PoL for running Outlook 2010?

Crossover and PoL are both based on the open-source Wine project, and all have the same capabilities and limitations. 

> 2. Will CrossOver really allow me to install sp2, not only sp1 like 
> PoL?

No, Outlook SP2 doesn't currently install in Crossover or Wine either.

The security updates typically apply to the Windows OS, and so they can't apply in Crossover as there's no Windows OS. On the other hand, because there's no Windows OS there's no need for the security patches.

While Outlook will install and run in Crossover/PoL/Wine as you've seen from PoL it's not as feature-rich or reliable as running it in a VM under the native Windows OS. If you're unhappy with the performance of Outlook in PoL I would recommend skipping Crossover & Wine and continuing to use your VM instead.

Thanks,
Andrew