New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
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New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I purchased a new 3in1 Dell PC this past weekend. It has Windows 8 (ouch!), a very nice 23 inch HD monitor and other features. I have used MS Office for 20+ years and it is on my laptop PC. I was offered 2 options for Office: $6.99 per month for Office 365 (in essence rent it forever) or buy permanent license for $219 (price includes Outlook). I did not buy then but need to decide whether or not to buy Office or go with another Office like product that has compatible file sharing.
I am one of those users who typically uses 10 to 20% of feature/function of Office apps. I regularly use Word and Excel and Outlook is my primary email system. However, I have Google Apps and have dabbled with that. I do use Gmail some and my email flows into Outlook from my Time Warner account which also has my primary inbound email. I do share files with others but I am retired, so no longer do this on a volume basis. Also, I still use IE browser but use Chrome most often.
My question is what have others done in this situation? I do not mind spending the extra $219 but am thinking this might be a good time to be weaned off of Office. The best alternatives seem to be Google Apps (they already know too much about me) or Libreoffice. What are your thoughts about alternatives to Office and the difficulty in switching? My major consideration is the ability to share files. Thanks for your feedback.
Editorial Note: I was amazed at the lack of documentation for an entirely new OS - Windows 8. There is limited documentation on Microsoft site. Dell has a PC User manual that is a pdf download for their PC but I could not get that to download. I did buy Best Buy's GeekSquad 24x7 support for one year at cost of $99 (includes 1 year of security software). I had a question about my setup, called Best Buy and was put in chat queue for a tier 3 expert yesterday. He put me on hold and never came back to me. I terminated chat after 4.5 hours. In meantime I called Dell and got my problem solved. I finally went to Barnes and Noble and bought Windows 8.1 for Dummies. I am fairly technically proficient but need a little documentation with an entirely new OS and new PC. Maybe this is why people pay double the price for Apple products - they are easy to use, they work and you get much better support.
I am one of those users who typically uses 10 to 20% of feature/function of Office apps. I regularly use Word and Excel and Outlook is my primary email system. However, I have Google Apps and have dabbled with that. I do use Gmail some and my email flows into Outlook from my Time Warner account which also has my primary inbound email. I do share files with others but I am retired, so no longer do this on a volume basis. Also, I still use IE browser but use Chrome most often.
My question is what have others done in this situation? I do not mind spending the extra $219 but am thinking this might be a good time to be weaned off of Office. The best alternatives seem to be Google Apps (they already know too much about me) or Libreoffice. What are your thoughts about alternatives to Office and the difficulty in switching? My major consideration is the ability to share files. Thanks for your feedback.
Editorial Note: I was amazed at the lack of documentation for an entirely new OS - Windows 8. There is limited documentation on Microsoft site. Dell has a PC User manual that is a pdf download for their PC but I could not get that to download. I did buy Best Buy's GeekSquad 24x7 support for one year at cost of $99 (includes 1 year of security software). I had a question about my setup, called Best Buy and was put in chat queue for a tier 3 expert yesterday. He put me on hold and never came back to me. I terminated chat after 4.5 hours. In meantime I called Dell and got my problem solved. I finally went to Barnes and Noble and bought Windows 8.1 for Dummies. I am fairly technically proficient but need a little documentation with an entirely new OS and new PC. Maybe this is why people pay double the price for Apple products - they are easy to use, they work and you get much better support.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I have been porting most of my "Office" type work to Google Docs. Libre Office is my local app of choice. I rarely have anything complicated enough to need the local app.
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
If you only use 10-20% of Office features, you can probably survive using Google Docs. However, I'd probably still buy Outlook as a standalone app and use that for my email.
One thing to keep in mind though, if you do decide to go with Google Docs, is that they will be scanning and indexing all of the documents you create. I personally wouldn't put anything online that I didn't care for the world to see. I do keep some spreadsheets online, but anything pertaining to my finances, is kept directly in Excel spreadsheets on my local PC. If I do put sensitive information online, nothing in the sheets gets labeled. It is just a raw jumble of numbers and formulas. I have to remember what each cell contains and why. This would make it much more difficult for someone to figure out what the sheet is for.
One thing to keep in mind though, if you do decide to go with Google Docs, is that they will be scanning and indexing all of the documents you create. I personally wouldn't put anything online that I didn't care for the world to see. I do keep some spreadsheets online, but anything pertaining to my finances, is kept directly in Excel spreadsheets on my local PC. If I do put sensitive information online, nothing in the sheets gets labeled. It is just a raw jumble of numbers and formulas. I have to remember what each cell contains and why. This would make it much more difficult for someone to figure out what the sheet is for.
- Aptenodytes
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
The less frequently you share documents with others, the less you need MS Office. But the more you use free alternatives, the greater the chance that a sharing effort will go wrong down the line. You have to do the tradeoff analysis. You anticipate some sharing of documents. Are these likely to be plain-vanilla, sentence-and-paragraph documents, or more intricate ones with tables, footnotes, graphics, style sheets etc? If they are almost all plain vanilla, you won't have problems. Even with the more intricate documents, they will port back and forth fine most of the time, just not 100%.
Google apps work very well if you can live with the only-on-line requirement.
Outlook is another matter. There's no collaborative benefit to using Outlook; the only benefit is not having to learn a new system. You have time, so pick a free alternative and use it. Before too long you'll be comfortable with it.
Google apps work very well if you can live with the only-on-line requirement.
Outlook is another matter. There's no collaborative benefit to using Outlook; the only benefit is not having to learn a new system. You have time, so pick a free alternative and use it. Before too long you'll be comfortable with it.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
Have you considered taking the MS Office you own off of your laptop and loading it onto the new PC?
Last year I replaced a desktop running Windows 98 with a new computer running Windows 7. Has no problems reloading MS Office 2000 onto the new purchase.
If for no other reason than just being comfortable using what I had and like you seldom use all the features of the newer software available from Microsoft.
Ed
Last year I replaced a desktop running Windows 98 with a new computer running Windows 7. Has no problems reloading MS Office 2000 onto the new purchase.
If for no other reason than just being comfortable using what I had and like you seldom use all the features of the newer software available from Microsoft.
Ed
"What am I gonna do if I run out of money?"
- tractorguy
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I was in your situation 3 years ago. I switched to LibreOffice for all on my non-email activities and Google's web interface for e-mail. I haven't had any reason to switch back.
My Windows 7 laptop came pre-installed with the de-featured version of Office (I think its called the "starter" edition) I found it didn't have some features that I used in Excel and wouldn't display some of my old excel spreadsheets properly. I have had zero problems with compatibility with LibreOffice. LibreOffice has an option to save things in Microsoft compatible format. The few times I've had to send something to an Office user that has worked fine for me.
I was using Outlook until I bought the laptop. The free replacement I installed for it was Thunderbird (also an open office application from Mozilla). After setting it up, I've found I don't use it. I have migrated to using Google's web interface for all of my e-mail. The biggest two paradigm shifts I've had to make are:
1) I hardly ever tag or file anything. Everything except junk mail gets archived after I read it. Google's search function lets me find e-mails much, much faster than my old filing system ever did.
2) E-mails are in conversation strings. You have to be careful that you don't delete a whole conversation when you only want to clean up one or two e-mails in the string.
I still keep Thunderbird on my laptop as a way to access the 10 years of e-mail that I have stored before I migrated to Google.
I've played around a bit with Google's office suite but frankly don't see the point. There aren't any unique features that would drive me to use it and I prefer to have my documents stored locally. They load faster and are available even when I'm not connected (occasionally happens). If I want to share something, I just put it on Google drive.
My Windows 7 laptop came pre-installed with the de-featured version of Office (I think its called the "starter" edition) I found it didn't have some features that I used in Excel and wouldn't display some of my old excel spreadsheets properly. I have had zero problems with compatibility with LibreOffice. LibreOffice has an option to save things in Microsoft compatible format. The few times I've had to send something to an Office user that has worked fine for me.
I was using Outlook until I bought the laptop. The free replacement I installed for it was Thunderbird (also an open office application from Mozilla). After setting it up, I've found I don't use it. I have migrated to using Google's web interface for all of my e-mail. The biggest two paradigm shifts I've had to make are:
1) I hardly ever tag or file anything. Everything except junk mail gets archived after I read it. Google's search function lets me find e-mails much, much faster than my old filing system ever did.
2) E-mails are in conversation strings. You have to be careful that you don't delete a whole conversation when you only want to clean up one or two e-mails in the string.
I still keep Thunderbird on my laptop as a way to access the 10 years of e-mail that I have stored before I migrated to Google.
I've played around a bit with Google's office suite but frankly don't see the point. There aren't any unique features that would drive me to use it and I prefer to have my documents stored locally. They load faster and are available even when I'm not connected (occasionally happens). If I want to share something, I just put it on Google drive.
Lorne
- Grandpaboys
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
Purchased new Dell laptop 8.1 OS 6 weeks ago. I am no good at this computer stuff. Tried to load Office 2003 and Cannon Printer 3 years old that I had DVD for. Would not work. Under warranty I called Dell tech support and the tech from India installed office 2003 and my Cannon printer. Even burned a new DVD for my Cannon printer. I have counseled with 9 tech's for 9.5 hours from India. If I did not have the excellent tech support from Dell the computer would have gone back to Dell the first week for a full refund. These tech people in India are absolutely fantastic.
Good Day |
GP
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I use Open Office. Even for my consulting business, I have been able to export to Word, Excel, PowerPoint formats and share with my clients with no difficulties.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I think Outlook is unnecessary - there are perfectly OK alternatives like Thunderbird (which I use). However if you are going to do things like generate a resume to send to recruiters or use or create spreadsheets with custom macros you are kind of stuck with Word and Excel.
However there is no reason you need to spend $200 unless you are using the product in a business environment. There are versions of Office in the $100 or so range that include Word and Excel.
For example Amazon sells a keycard for the Home and Student 2010 and 2013 versions for $100 or so.
However there is no reason you need to spend $200 unless you are using the product in a business environment. There are versions of Office in the $100 or so range that include Word and Excel.
For example Amazon sells a keycard for the Home and Student 2010 and 2013 versions for $100 or so.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
You might check to see if your employer offers discounted purchasing of MS Office. Many employers, including the federal government, have agreements with Microsoft enabling employees to purchase their products for use at home at a steep discount. I am a government employee, and recently received an email from our IT staff with an offer to purchase Microsoft Office Professional for $9.95.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I like Libre Office.
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
We have multiple desktops and laptops. What I do is I have a copy of Office 2007 and another of 2010 that's home and student. I bought each for $70-$100 and each can go on 3 computers. If I decommission a computer I deactive office and activate it on its replacement.
I've also used LibreOffice and like it. There's a way to set it to default to .doc or .docx or whatever other format you want. In this case you' shouldn't have any trouble. Still, I find Office easier to use, especially since I do ppt a lot and libreoffice's designs to my eye don't look as nice and seem to display strange in ppt.
Hope this helps!
I've also used LibreOffice and like it. There's a way to set it to default to .doc or .docx or whatever other format you want. In this case you' shouldn't have any trouble. Still, I find Office easier to use, especially since I do ppt a lot and libreoffice's designs to my eye don't look as nice and seem to display strange in ppt.
Hope this helps!
- bertilak
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I hardly ever send DOC files to anybody. I export to PDF. Anyone can read and print PDF files without problem. Also, they can't be edited by the recipient (under normal circumstances) so your words will not get twisted. I keep the master copy in its native format for my purposes.
I am annoyed when someone sends me a DOC file from a 15-year-old version of Word or WordPerfect, or even a WPS file, and expects me to be able to deal with it. Truth be told, I almost always can but it sometimes takes a bit to decipher just what they sent or deal with some ancient and obscure feature or bug in the file. Recently I got an old DOC file that was completely strike-through. I also just got a document where the font sizes were somewhat random throughout.
What often happens is that I am just one of several people on copy and I get included in a back and forth set of emails while others try to figure things out. ("Can you open the document?" "Did you try XXX?" "Didn't work." "OK I''ll send it again perhaps it got corrupted." etc. etc.) If this goes on for more than a bit I usually create and send a PDF file.
Almost any document you are not collaborating on (multiple authors, annotators) should be sent as a read-only file. Currently, PDF is the only such format that is near universal. It's format is an open standard that anyone can implement without fees, complex legal agreements or licensing. Almost every application can, and does, support it. Even if you have an application that doesn't support it you can install a printer driver that "prints" anything printable as a PDF file.
Note that most (all, as far as I can tell) financial institutions send statements and reports as PDF, not in an editable format. Otherwise you would be able to show them a very convincing forgery, giving yourself a nice large balance! ("What?! You telling me Vanguard lost track of that $100K I put into VTSAX last month? Here is the confirmation to prove it!")
I am annoyed when someone sends me a DOC file from a 15-year-old version of Word or WordPerfect, or even a WPS file, and expects me to be able to deal with it. Truth be told, I almost always can but it sometimes takes a bit to decipher just what they sent or deal with some ancient and obscure feature or bug in the file. Recently I got an old DOC file that was completely strike-through. I also just got a document where the font sizes were somewhat random throughout.
What often happens is that I am just one of several people on copy and I get included in a back and forth set of emails while others try to figure things out. ("Can you open the document?" "Did you try XXX?" "Didn't work." "OK I''ll send it again perhaps it got corrupted." etc. etc.) If this goes on for more than a bit I usually create and send a PDF file.
Almost any document you are not collaborating on (multiple authors, annotators) should be sent as a read-only file. Currently, PDF is the only such format that is near universal. It's format is an open standard that anyone can implement without fees, complex legal agreements or licensing. Almost every application can, and does, support it. Even if you have an application that doesn't support it you can install a printer driver that "prints" anything printable as a PDF file.
Note that most (all, as far as I can tell) financial institutions send statements and reports as PDF, not in an editable format. Otherwise you would be able to show them a very convincing forgery, giving yourself a nice large balance! ("What?! You telling me Vanguard lost track of that $100K I put into VTSAX last month? Here is the confirmation to prove it!")
May neither drought nor rain nor blizzard disturb the joy juice in your gizzard. -- Squire Omar Barker (aka S.O.B.), the Cowboy Poet
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
There are several free PDF editors out there and you can also buy the real version from Adobe if you want to breakdown or edit a .pdf file. It might be a little tougher if the file is "locked" by the creator but nothing is impossible.
- RyeWhiskey
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I have used most MS Office alternatives and I can say that Libre Office and Open Office are both superb, with Libre Office being slightly more user friendly. Google Docs is great for simple word processing and excellent for sharing, but doesn't operate in the same docs-on-computer-edit-in-program mindset as MS Office. You would need to be comfortable with using cloud storage and having an internet connection at all times unlike Libre Office which operates pretty much exactly the same as MS Office. Either way, don't spend the money on MS Office - alternatives are very useful. And use Thunderbird for your mail needs, Outlook is terrible.
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- bertilak
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
You are right. Nothing is impossible. That's why I added "under normal circumstances." Maybe "typical" would have been a better word choice.pshonore wrote:There are several free PDF editors out there and you can also buy the real version from Adobe if you want to breakdown or edit a .pdf file. It might be a little tougher if the file is "locked" by the creator but nothing is impossible.
In any case it is much simpler than sending someone a native document. "Native" isn't the same in every "ecosystem!"
May neither drought nor rain nor blizzard disturb the joy juice in your gizzard. -- Squire Omar Barker (aka S.O.B.), the Cowboy Poet
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I recommend the free OpenOffice and zamzar.com for occasional file conversion. And I don't want any Microsoft products on my Mac.
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
Libre. Google stumbles.
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
Parthenon wrote:Have you considered taking the MS Office you own off of your laptop and loading it onto the new PC?
Last year I replaced a desktop running Windows 98 with a new computer running Windows 7. Has no problems reloading MS Office 2000 onto the new purchase.
If for no other reason than just being comfortable using what I had and like you seldom use all the features of the newer software available from Microsoft.
Ed
Good suggestion! Thanks. I thought license was not transferable but I checked license and it is transferable. Thus, I will reassign Office 2010 to my new PC and use one of the suggested alternatives on my laptop. Nice to able to keep using what I am used to most of the time.
Thanks to everyone who has provided feedback. You provided some good information. Nothing like hearing from the voice of experience.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I use Google Docs for documents and spreadsheets, and Gmail for email. I use a Chromebook most of the time, so am pretty much in the cloud. Only thing I still use a PC for is TurboTax.
Google docs provides sharing and collaboration, and I don't miss anything about Outlook for email (which I used at work before I retired), so unless you need the extra features in Office and similar programs, you might try just getting by without Office for awhile and see how it goes.
Kevin
Google docs provides sharing and collaboration, and I don't miss anything about Outlook for email (which I used at work before I retired), so unless you need the extra features in Office and similar programs, you might try just getting by without Office for awhile and see how it goes.
Kevin
If I make a calculation error, #Cruncher probably will let me know.
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
Does your employer offer a reduced corporate price for employees? I bought my Office 2010 for like $25 bucks last year through the Microsoft Home Use Progrom (or something like that).
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I load Office onto a new laptop when I bring one up. I don't delete it from the old one, which becomes a backup. It never occurred to me that this might be unacceptable.johnep wrote:Parthenon wrote:Have you considered taking the MS Office you own off of your laptop and loading it onto the new PC?
Last year I replaced a desktop running Windows 98 with a new computer running Windows 7. Has no problems reloading MS Office 2000 onto the new purchase.
If for no other reason than just being comfortable using what I had and like you seldom use all the features of the newer software available from Microsoft.
Ed
Good suggestion! Thanks. I thought license was not transferable but I checked license and it is transferable. Thus, I will reassign Office 2010 to my new PC and use one of the suggested alternatives on my laptop. Nice to able to keep using what I am used to most of the time.
Thanks to everyone who has provided feedback. You provided some good information. Nothing like hearing from the voice of experience.
I also use thunderbird for email. I particularly like the ability to customize spam filtering. I have spam filtering by my ISP turned off and do it via thunderbird, because the ISP fairly often thinks a real email is spam.
As a side note, I have used the website http://www.zamzar.com/ to convert a file when someone sends me a docx file. It claims to handle many file types.
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I use LibreOffice but I always have formatting errors when exporting to Word, Excel, or PP. Always. I've just become accustomed to quickly going over the document soon after exporting to fix all the formatting. Powerpoint has been a bit more of a hassle than Word and Excel. So, it depends on what exactly you are doing and how important the formatting is to what you'd be exporting. A lot of the stuff I was doing was in an academic setting, so it didn't look too professional when I was sending documents to my students with APA formatting errors when I expected them to have none.dickenjb wrote:I use Open Office. Even for my consulting business, I have been able to export to Word, Excel, PowerPoint formats and share with my clients with no difficulties.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I used Thunderbird for several years and recently went back to Outlook. I really like Outlook, largely because of the Calendar options. The ability to share, sync, color co-ordinate, link, and attach between calendar and e-mail, make tentative appointments and so forth is just really useful to me.
And since they use Outlook at my spouse's office, it is easy to co-ordinate work and family schedules.
I guess my point is if you are not using a lot of features of Office, maybe you should explore them a little.
And since they use Outlook at my spouse's office, it is easy to co-ordinate work and family schedules.
I guess my point is if you are not using a lot of features of Office, maybe you should explore them a little.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
You can add on the Lightning calendar application to Thunderbird to get many of the calendar features of Outlook.sls239 wrote:I used Thunderbird for several years and recently went back to Outlook. I really like Outlook, largely because of the Calendar options. The ability to share, sync, color co-ordinate, link, and attach between calendar and e-mail, make tentative appointments and so forth is just really useful to me.
And since they use Outlook at my spouse's office, it is easy to co-ordinate work and family schedules.
I guess my point is if you are not using a lot of features of Office, maybe you should explore them a little.
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/projects/calendar/
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I had the same problem a few years ago. The computer came with "works for windows". That provides an acceptable spreadsheet and a usable word processor. I use Thunderbird instead of Outlook. Everything works.
Jeff
Jeff
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I purchased Office for 9.95 through my employer. under Microsoft HUP. For $10 no way I'm going even bother trying anything open source or god forbid use google docs.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
Libre Office has the same functionality for a typical user, and compatibility with the MS file types, however this compatibility is not always perfect with respect to formatting. If you need it for work, especially if you have to transfer documents you produce to colleagues, then I would buy MS Office if that is what others use. If it's only for home use I would use Libre Office. $220 is too much to pay for a barely different product.
There are also open source alternatives to Outlook, like Thunderbird.
There are also open source alternatives to Outlook, like Thunderbird.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I only use google docs for minor file sharing with my siblings. Nothing too personal.
I use iWork with my Mac, but not the online version.
I use iWork with my Mac, but not the online version.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I'm still using Office 2003 on a W7 laptop. Does anyone have hands on experience as to whether it will run on Windows 10?
MS says it's "not compatible"; several online blogs say in "may" run in compatibility mode; one user on a blog claims it runs fine as is.
Anyone running W10 and Office 2003?
MS says it's "not compatible"; several online blogs say in "may" run in compatibility mode; one user on a blog claims it runs fine as is.
Anyone running W10 and Office 2003?
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
Libre/Open Office has worked ok for me as well. I've found I've done less and less docs and spreadsheet these days anyway.
Never used Outlook. Once Yahoo, and now Google have gone webmail, I gave up the local features for anywhere access. Then came smartphones, and the inclusion was transparent. If you use outlook server, you can always use web interface and Outlook App on iOS/andoid is quite good and free. http://www.macworld.co.uk/review/ios-ap ... s-3611212/ (Outlook isn't homegrown, but they rebadged an acquisition, Acompli)
I've also tried the gmail save everything mentality and search for it, but now it's more moderated. It might take you a while, but after archiving over 100,000 mails, I've come to realize there reaches a point where deleting some mails is helpful. Advertising doesn't need to be saved. Reminders and notifications don't need to be saved. Saving everything led to too much clutter when searching.
For documents, I've tried local storage, Dropbox, Google Apps and others (Microsoft 360). I haven't decided on any one in particular, but I do want more cloud based anywhere access. I'm not excited about permanent subscription fees and potential for loss of privacy (indexing, hacks, etc.), so haven't settled on any one particular mode, but I'm moving more and more stuff online, except for the most critical/private.
Never used Outlook. Once Yahoo, and now Google have gone webmail, I gave up the local features for anywhere access. Then came smartphones, and the inclusion was transparent. If you use outlook server, you can always use web interface and Outlook App on iOS/andoid is quite good and free. http://www.macworld.co.uk/review/ios-ap ... s-3611212/ (Outlook isn't homegrown, but they rebadged an acquisition, Acompli)
I've also tried the gmail save everything mentality and search for it, but now it's more moderated. It might take you a while, but after archiving over 100,000 mails, I've come to realize there reaches a point where deleting some mails is helpful. Advertising doesn't need to be saved. Reminders and notifications don't need to be saved. Saving everything led to too much clutter when searching.
For documents, I've tried local storage, Dropbox, Google Apps and others (Microsoft 360). I haven't decided on any one in particular, but I do want more cloud based anywhere access. I'm not excited about permanent subscription fees and potential for loss of privacy (indexing, hacks, etc.), so haven't settled on any one particular mode, but I'm moving more and more stuff online, except for the most critical/private.
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
Office 2013 works for me. People are saying that 2003 works as well.heartwood wrote:I'm still using Office 2003 on a W7 laptop. Does anyone have hands on experience as to whether it will run on Windows 10?
MS says it's "not compatible"; several online blogs say in "may" run in compatibility mode; one user on a blog claims it runs fine as is.
Anyone running W10 and Office 2003?
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/offi ... f26?auth=1
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I'm a big fan of Libre Office for light users. However, Office Home and Student 2013 can be purchased for around $100-$120 on Amazon and Ebay.hiddensee wrote:If it's only for home use I would use Libre Office. $220 is too much to pay for a barely different product.
Also, you can get a free 120-day trial of Office 2016 at this link:
https://products.office.com/en-us/office-2016-preview
You'll have to purchase it or uninstall it once Office 2016 is officially released this fall. In the meantime, the preview version seems relatively stable and might make for a decent stopgap.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
Go Google office. For sure. I went off MS Office a few years back, and haven't looked back. It has been a fantastic transition and only gets better. I am sure that MS Office will become better at sharing and other Gdocs features as time goes on, but Gdocs is already great.
Here's why:
- FREE. And will almost certainly stay free. And this case, free doesn't mean lower quality.
- You will use most of Gdocs features. No feature bloat. Core features are front and center, and doesn't feel stripped down at all.
- Works fantastically well integrating with Gmail if you use gmail.
- Auto updates. MS Office will also have these, but you won't have to pay for future evolutionary upgrades with gdocs.
- Yes, you can still download your files in bulk to have a local copy - there's an easy option in settings to 'download all' and specify mail, docs, sheets, etc.
- Going cloud is awesome. You will be untethered to your 'home' PC and can get up and running 95%+ functionality on any computer with a net connection, instantly.
The main (only) reason to keep using MS Office is if you actually regularly use their advanced functions like advanced pivot tables in Excel, or complicated Word doc formatting. But doesn't sound like OP fits in this category, so going free is a no-brainer.
I was worried at first when I went cloud that there would be some regrets and hiccups with the cloud vs local storage transition, but that hasn't been the case at all - it's been totally smooth.
I would actually skip LibreOffice completely. It's not bad, but it's not as good as Gdocs.
Here's why:
- FREE. And will almost certainly stay free. And this case, free doesn't mean lower quality.
- You will use most of Gdocs features. No feature bloat. Core features are front and center, and doesn't feel stripped down at all.
- Works fantastically well integrating with Gmail if you use gmail.
- Auto updates. MS Office will also have these, but you won't have to pay for future evolutionary upgrades with gdocs.
- Yes, you can still download your files in bulk to have a local copy - there's an easy option in settings to 'download all' and specify mail, docs, sheets, etc.
- Going cloud is awesome. You will be untethered to your 'home' PC and can get up and running 95%+ functionality on any computer with a net connection, instantly.
The main (only) reason to keep using MS Office is if you actually regularly use their advanced functions like advanced pivot tables in Excel, or complicated Word doc formatting. But doesn't sound like OP fits in this category, so going free is a no-brainer.
I was worried at first when I went cloud that there would be some regrets and hiccups with the cloud vs local storage transition, but that hasn't been the case at all - it's been totally smooth.
I would actually skip LibreOffice completely. It's not bad, but it's not as good as Gdocs.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
If your work uses Office 365 you likely have 5 licenses to use for yourself.
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
^^^ This ! If you can get it through your employer, no need to look for any other program.oakfan52 wrote:I purchased Office for 9.95 through my employer. under Microsoft HUP. For $10 no way I'm going even bother trying anything open source or god forbid use google docs.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
northernisland,northernisland wrote:We have multiple desktops and laptops. What I do is I have a copy of Office 2007 and another of 2010 that's home and student. I bought each for $70-$100 and each can go on 3 computers.If I decommission a computer I deactive office and activate it on its replacement.
I've also used LibreOffice and like it. There's a way to set it to default to .doc or .docx or whatever other format you want. In this case you' shouldn't have any trouble. Still, I find Office easier to use, especially since I do ppt a lot and libreoffice's designs to my eye don't look as nice and seem to display strange in ppt.
Hope this helps!
Could you please explain to me how you do that??
Thanks.
KlangFool
30% VWENX | 16% VFWAX/VTIAX | 14.5% VTSAX | 19.5% VBTLX | 10% VSIAX/VTMSX/VSMAX | 10% VSIGX| 30% Wellington 50% 3-funds 20% Mini-Larry
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
Do you still have the install CD and key?
- DrippingSprings
- Posts: 153
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I've used OpenOffice for years. No problems worth speaking about.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
If you do decide to go with Office 365 check for discounted prices on the keycodes on Amazon (and ebay if you are into taking more risk).
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
We switched about 8 months ago from Windows 7 and Vista to Linux.
With it came Libre office and I have not had to worry about incompatibilities. I have had no problems at all opening or saving-as any file.
Admittedly, I am not a power user and the most stress that I have put on the xcel equivalent was with other spreadsheets, some of which I got here, that had a few macros scattered about. Never a problem.
Re Outlook, I at first switched to Thunderbird and it was an easy switch. I have since switched to an INet mail system, Fastmail, so as to avoid ATT.NET.
The only thing that I had trouble with was running TurboTax under a Windows emulator.
I especially like not having to worry so much about virus.
I would heartily recommend that you switch.
With it came Libre office and I have not had to worry about incompatibilities. I have had no problems at all opening or saving-as any file.
Admittedly, I am not a power user and the most stress that I have put on the xcel equivalent was with other spreadsheets, some of which I got here, that had a few macros scattered about. Never a problem.
Re Outlook, I at first switched to Thunderbird and it was an easy switch. I have since switched to an INet mail system, Fastmail, so as to avoid ATT.NET.
The only thing that I had trouble with was running TurboTax under a Windows emulator.
I especially like not having to worry so much about virus.
I would heartily recommend that you switch.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
+1DrippingSprings wrote:I've used OpenOffice for years. No problems worth speaking about.
"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity" –Bruce Lee
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
If you always want the file dialogs to show another format by default, choose Tools - Options - Load/Save - General and select that format as Default file format.KlangFool wrote:
northernisland,
Could you please explain to me how you do that??
Thanks.
KlangFool
"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." H.G. Wells
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
TheGreyingDuke,TheGreyingDuke wrote:If you always want the file dialogs to show another format by default, choose Tools - Options - Load/Save - General and select that format as Default file format.KlangFool wrote:
northernisland,
Could you please explain to me how you do that??
Thanks.
KlangFool
Thanks.
KlangFool
30% VWENX | 16% VFWAX/VTIAX | 14.5% VTSAX | 19.5% VBTLX | 10% VSIAX/VTMSX/VSMAX | 10% VSIGX| 30% Wellington 50% 3-funds 20% Mini-Larry
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
I was recently quoted $129 for MS Office at the local Office Depot with the purchase of the computer I was buying.
As for me, I want to be able to share files with my wife, family and friends. All the "free" products that I have tested claimed compatibility with MS Office but I have not experienced that.
As for me, I want to be able to share files with my wife, family and friends. All the "free" products that I have tested claimed compatibility with MS Office but I have not experienced that.
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
Depends to some degree on the complexity of the documents. Generally speaking,the less complex the better the odds of compatibility. However, if one frequently has to share files with Office users then it may make sense to stick with Office. You really just have to try and see what works best for your specific situation versus relying on "I've never had problems" from others.
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Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
Microsoft has a free package that works on both Windows 8 and 10 that includes an email program that I prefer over Outlook.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... essentials
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... essentials
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
jlawrence01 wrote:I was recently quoted $129 for MS Office at the local Office Depot with the purchase of the computer I was buying.
As for me, I want to be able to share files with my wife, family and friends. All the "free" products that I have tested claimed compatibility with MS Office but I have not experienced that.
Google Docs
https://support.google.com/docs/answer/2494822?hl=en
"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity" –Bruce Lee
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- Location: Southern AZ
Re: New PC - Buy Office or use free alternatives
Toons wrote:jlawrence01 wrote:I was recently quoted $129 for MS Office at the local Office Depot with the purchase of the computer I was buying.
As for me, I want to be able to share files with my wife, family and friends. All the "free" products that I have tested claimed compatibility with MS Office but I have not experienced that.
Google Docs
https://support.google.com/docs/answer/2494822?hl=en
It has neither the functionality or the compatibility that I need for a spreadsheet program. I share too many documents with people. And yes, I have tried Google Docs and Libre Office. No thanks.