As of now, he has the desktop app installing and signing in.

Mirko Brombin, the creator of Bottles, has got Microsoft 365 running on Linux. His posts on X showcase an installation that completes on a Windows 10 or 11 Wine prefix, signs in with his existing license, and launches at least one editor.

He achieved this using two things, an unreleased version of Soda and Bottles 67.4. If you remember, Soda is a Wine-based runner that facilitates easy running of Windows games and applications.

On first glance, what he posted might look like a developer-focused log, but these changes are the foundation of what full Microsoft 365 support via Bottles will one day hopefully look like.

The results of his work

Mirko was able to login into the MS 365 app using his credentials and was able to launch MS Word and use it. Of course that’s not the only thing he got working; since two-factor authentication passed, the suite detected his license, and OneDrive integration was functional.

The memory footprint of the office suite was less than 500MB, so this should be light on your Linux system.

The build he is currently testing is 2608 (20326.20144), which he says is the last build the installer will offer for Windows 10 and 11. And before you get all hyped up, wanting to try this out on your computer, know that you will have to wait.

Soda 11.0-11 (error 404 for now) has no release yet, and the component catalog that ships with Bottles 67.4 stops at Soda 11.0-10. Even the long-standing community request for a Microsoft Office installer in Bottles is still open.

Do we need Microsoft 365 on Linux?

Till date, there’s not been an official Linux desktop build of Microsoft 365, and seeing how Microsoft currently operates, I don’t expect one to appear anytime soon.

What’s been achieved here is remarkable. Once fully implemented, this will help draw in people into Linux, as many shudder at the thought of switching to the platform because their preferred office suite doesn’t work here.

For context, CodeWeavers sells a paid Wine product, CrossOver, and its database still lists Microsoft Office 365 on Linux as “Installs, Will Not Run,” last tested against CrossOver 26.3.0.

Which is why I hope the fix travels further than Bottles. Wine sits beneath every one of these projects, including Soda. So a patch that lands upstream reaches all of them at once, and you would not need a particular runner to get Office working.

  • StarkZarn@infosec.pubEnglish
    12·
    5 hours ago

    I don’t agree with the notion, but I do agree with the effort because this will 100% help with Linux adoption for some of those on the fence. That is a good thing.

  • taiyang@lemmy.world
    7·
    7 hours ago

    Tbh, it would help to have workplaces like mine that required MS formats, although budget cuts in education actually cut the offline MS365 subscriptions. We’re now encouraged to use the browser version and that works in Linux (although at this point I’ve decided to let compatibility be damned cause that shit sucks so goddamn hard).

  • MagicShel@lemmy.zipEnglish
    133·
    9 hours ago

    I think if your objective is to use a Linux client with a Microsoft back end, you’ve lost the thread. This is neat in a technical sense, but this is fixing the wrong “problems.”

    • nfh@lemmy.world
      7·
      5 hours ago

      Some MS office products are wedged deeply into companies’ workflow, and that software lock-in supports Windows software lock-in. Maybe it doesn’t fix the deeper problem, but a compatibility tool developer won’t fix that anyway. That comes from people updating business processes per company.

      If it helps more people get off of Windows, it goes about as far as a global patch can to help solve part of the problem.

    • plateee@piefed.socialEnglish
      13·
      7 hours ago

      So I’m the unicorn for this. My work is a M365 shop, but I’m running Ubuntu for… reasons.

      My only option for teams/word/visio is either using the shittacular web version (chrome only - ff is too flaky with Microsoft’s shit) or hopping on Citrix to a windows 11 box.

      If this works, I could finally ditch chrome and have a full in featured office suite for when I have to work with non-linux coworkers.

      Edit: OneDrive can still go fuck itself.

    • The_v@lemmy.world
      5·
      6 hours ago

      Many places where I have worked have old Access databases running critical business activities or even worse a monster of an excel spreadsheet. The there is ERP integrations and reporting that links into excel etc. The list goes on for just how integrated MS office has become over the past 25 years.

      Business have adopted macOS quite extensively today because MS office is supported. Adding in native support in Linux would allow for a more gradual tradition.