Microsoft Office 2003 software

Little_John

Pavese wrote: »

Hi,
I'm trying to get hold of a copy of MS Office 2003 and have had my fingers burnt after receiving a pirated copy. I thought it was a good deal - £150 instead of £350 - but you really do get what you pay for. Is there anywhere out there that sells old MS software that is reliable and sells the genuine article?? I'm looking for the Small Business or Professional editions.

sk3 wrote: »

There's no need for that now, let's keep things civil.

How do you know he might not be interested in saving £150 when he's posting on a money savings website? Can you read his mind?

I also recommend Open Office.

A few clues in the OP's post to why I responded the way I did to the suggestions of Open Office. The red ones you may of missed when you read it the first time. Now the blue bit, why would they be specific in wanting Pro or SBE? because both have features that open office doesn't have like Microsoft publisher, Outlook and Business contact manager. If the OP wanted the standard edition then yes Open office would have been an option.

Just because it is free doesn't mean it will do the job, not everyone on here is happy to use free software just because it is free. AVG is free but I would never use myself it it just isn't good enough.

Sput2001

username wrote: »

Why not? Office 2007 has a horrible interface.

All a matter of opinion of course, but I found that once I'd given it a few days, Office 2007's interface is actually very intuitive.

Little_John

I'm not sure if it has been fixed yet but with office 2007 the dictionary files are not compatible with outlook express as a result the only spell check available is in French. Other than that yes 2007 isnt bad it just takes a little getting used to.

Pavese

Many thanks to everyone. I didn't go into detail but there are good reasons why we want to stick with '03. I've tried ebay and the first one from there had to go back - a used pirated copy. The next was from Amazon Market place and this time, even though sold as 'new' was used and covered in sticky fingerprints and scratches (how do they get away with this?). The suite is for business and the last thing I want is to be 'deactivated' for any reason in the near future.

sk3

Little_John wrote: »

A few clues in the OP's post to why I responded the way I did to the suggestions of Open Office.

There was no explicit indication that he wouldn't have been interested in open office from his first post, which may be why he thanked all the people recommending it. Besides, there may be other people (you know people other than yourself) out there reading this public forum who may find open office to be an interesting alternative. It's an alternative few seem to have heard of and it's FREE and this is a MONEY SAVING WEBSITE. Can't you read the URL, it should be right up there in your browser?

Just because it is free doesn't mean it will do the job

It doesn't mean that it doesn't either.

I am not the one using abrasive terms like !!!!!! against anyone who tries to help people out on a public forum built to help people save money! What's with the aggressive attitude? Why did you get so angry, do you have a personal vendetta against the authors of open office?

If you don't recommend open office, just say so and perhaps explain why. But don't bark out profane terms, we have standards here, we are not dogs.

Little_John

It isn't that I dint recommend open office but my work involves listening to or reading what people want and providing solutions reading between the lines etc. The fact that the OP said they wanted pro or SBE told me they wanted more than just word processor and spreadsheets and outlook so suggesting home and student edition was out of the question. If your a private user and you don't need publisher then open office is OK but for business use the backup of Microsoft is essential.

As for the OP not saying they didn't want open office maybe they were more interested in finding office 2003 not open office.

The !!!!!! was in there because its the same thing every time on here anyone wants MS office there are always 2 or 3 people that post open office. Fine when the person wants word and excel but not this time.

Money saving expert yes but not everyone goes to different forums for different things some people see a techie advise forum on here then go to other advice forums. Take a look in the travel section its not all posts about people wanting stuff for free or saving money it is advise on what to do in new york or where ever

cjmarcantonio

Gordon861 wrote: »

Have you taken a look at Open Office ?

http://www.openoffice.org/

Free and can read/save MS Office files.

I hate open office. It maybe free, which is great for companies... but, not bad for nowt I suppose.

Office '07 is great, takes a bit of time getting used to, but... the interface is the only battle

robredz

I would go with Open Office even though I could be a masochist and run MS Office under Wine in Ubuntu, but I am too money saving to consider shelling out serious dosh for Ms Office

sk3

Little_John wrote: »

It isn't that I dint recommend open office but my work involves listening to or reading what people want and providing solutions reading between the lines etc. The fact that the OP said they wanted pro or SBE told me they wanted more than just word processor and spreadsheets and outlook so suggesting home and student edition was out of the question.

Why didn't you put it like this to begin with? This should have been your first reply, not the flame baited one you posted. You get this mad at people for not "reading between the lines?" It seems like a highly unreasonable reaction to me.

If your a private user and you don't need publisher then open office is OK but for business use the backup of Microsoft is essential. As for the OP not saying they didn't want open office maybe they were more interested in finding office 2003 not open office.

Why is it essential for business use, all businesses, really?

The !!!!!! was in there because its the same thing every time on here anyone wants MS office there are always 2 or 3 people that post open office. Fine when the person wants word and excel but not this time.

It was unwarranted and definitely not ok on a board like this one. Different websites have different etiquette.

I've found that very, very few people have ever heard of open office. Few people even know that there's a choice out there. How would you feel if you unnecessarily paid between 50 to 150 pounds for office needs and people, at a forum called moneysavingexpert.com, who you asked for help from, didn't even bother to tell you about the perfectly reasonable and free alternative, just because they were afraid of an unreasonably angry response from someone like you? This should be a helpful website, not yet another copy of the plentiful angst ridden, grouchy, I hate the world websites out there.

Money saving expert yes but not everyone goes to different forums for different things some people see a techie advise forum on here then go to other advice forums. Take a look in the travel section its not all posts about people wanting stuff for free or saving money it is advise on what to do in new york or where ever

Not every single post is going to be about saving money. But a poster asking for help and keen on saving money probably does want to save money.

Making the assumption that someone, mentioning saving money on a money saving website, wants to save money is very reasonable, assuming the opposite isn't!

[Deleted User]

Pavese wrote: »

Many thanks to everyone. I didn't go into detail but there are good reasons why we want to stick with '03. I've tried ebay and the first one from there had to go back - a used pirated copy. The next was from Amazon Market place and this time, even though sold as 'new' was used and covered in sticky fingerprints and scratches (how do they get away with this?). The suite is for business and the last thing I want is to be 'deactivated' for any reason in the near future.

It hasn't been sold in shops for nearly two years, and as you've discovered your buying options for a legitimate copy are virtually non existent.

What are the reasons you don't want to go with Office 2007? It's looking very likely it's your only option..

Edit: The copy you purchased from Amazon Marketplace, do you still have it? If so, it might be worth contacting Microsoft stating you have the license but the media is no longer intact and if for a fee they can replace it for you.

Edit2: Here's Microsoft's telephone number 0870 60 10 100