New computer but no MS Office Suite

maggiesoup

Just got new package from Dell but just realised that it doesn't have MS Office Suite which I normally use, just has MS Works which I'm not very familiar with. I've looked on PC World's web and see that it's pretty expensive to buy MS Office Suite but wonder if anyone can direct me to anywhere I can buy cheaper. Thanks.

Omertron

You can always try open office, which is a free alternative to MS Office. Try https://www.openoffice.org

Little_John

Due to the huge number of versions of office now you can spend not so much or a lot depending on the version you buy
check this site out
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/howtobuy/editions.mspx it tells you what is included in which version and then go buy the version with the components you need, there is no point spending a fortune on Office Pro when all you need is word outlook and excel and the basic will do you fine.

You missed out on the cheapest way by not buying an OEM version when you bought the PC.

I do find it amusing when people buy a PC and expect to get office included, people dont seem to know the cost of software. This is usually due to using pirate versions in the past, I know I've used a pirate version before now its grat having access and powerpoint installed but It is never used so I decided to just buy office basic and it is fine. £190 well spent. when you look at the cost you know why software piracy is such a popular way to go.

lipidicman

Omertron wrote:

You can always try open office, which is a free alternative to MS Office. Try www.openoffice.org

I second this. Especially if you dont use Office at work. I do, and we have a licence for home use. If this wasn't the case I would switch to Openoffice for my occasional letter,cv or budgetting sheets

mr_fishbulb

I'd say go with open office too. There's no reason why you can't use it at home and MS Office at work as the files are saved in the same format (but openoffice will have some trouble with complexly formatted documents and spreadsheets).

If you have someone of school age in your house then you can look into getting a student license which makes MS office a lot cheaper.

Or you can buy someone's old version of office 2000 or office XP on ebay. Office 2003 doesn't have that many new features anyway.

Garetha

If you really want Microsoft Office you may qualify for the Student & Teacher Edition (see eligibility below)
It includes Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint
Amazon do it for about £93 including delivery - I'm not sure how the verification of eligibility is done (if any) - you may need a code from the school/college.

Eligibility for student licence Students: Full or part-time student aged five or over enrolled on a course that will deliver an academic qualification publicly recognised by the Department for Education & Skills (DfES) or the Irish Department of Education (DOE)
Parents and guardians: Parents and guardians who have a child who is a qualifying student and wish to buy software for their child's educational use.
Teachers: Full or part-time registered to teach in a school, college or educational establishment recognised by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), the Irish Department of Education (DoE), or the Higher Education Authorities (HEAs).

lipidicman

alexjohnson wrote:

No, you can just buy Office Student & Teacher anywhere, even PC World. They do not ask for proof of being a parent (can you imagine!). Even if you don't have kids I wouldn't get too hung up about it: basically this is the consumer version Microsoft sells; all the langauage is just to make sure there are no loopholes for businesses to use it. As an ordinary consumer you should pat yourself on the back for buying this version at all rather than stealing it.

It doesn't really matter where it is sold. If you do not comply with the licence agreement then the software cannot be legally used. The licence agreement is the key here. For illustration, our site licence allows burning of CDRs for home installation. I am just trying to emphasise that having an original CD does not make its use better than 'stealing it'. Having a false licence agreement amounts to the same thing!

MORPH3US

alexjohnson wrote:

No, you can just buy Office Student & Teacher anywhere, even PC World.

When we were at Uni, a friend brought the student version of Office from PC world (think it was £50) but it was just the box with some forms in. Turns out that she had to get a letter sent off proving she was a student and then they'd send out the CD's.

If you are going to get the student version when you aren't a student then you might as well save yourself £45 and just get a pirate version. As far as I know, they are both breaking the law!!

M

byb3

MORPH3US wrote:

When we were at Uni, a friend brought the student version of Office from PC world (think it was £50) but it was just the box with some forms in. Turns out that she had to get a letter sent off proving she was a student and then they'd send out the CD's.

If you are going to get the student version when you aren't a student then you might as well save yourself £45 and just get a pirate version. As far as I know, they are both breaking the law!!

M

I thought everybody at university had a friend, or at least a friend of a friend who had a copy of Office. I don't know many students who want to fork out £50 for a piece of software they can get for free.

MORPH3US

byb3 wrote:

I thought everybody at university had a friend, or at least a friend of a friend who had a copy of Office. I don't know many students who want to fork out £50 for a piece of software they can get for free.

The person in question from my original post had a father who is a millionaire!!

Because her parents were divorced, she didn't have to pay tuition fees and got full loan even though her parents were loaded...

anyway...

M

Lob_Rockster

MS Works has wordprocessor and spreadsheet tools....often "old" code from Office.... http://www.microsoft.com/products/works/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=002&active_tab=Compare

But I'd champion OOo along with everyone else. There is no need to try to work around EULA and the like

I have a HUL for Office and prefer to install OOo on my machines...