Help with Microsoft Office

tumbletots

Hi all,

Hope one of you clever people can help. My son had a new laptop for Xmas and wants/needs Microsoft Office. I purchased this approximately 2/3 years ago and have three discs. My problem is

1) How do I know if this can be used on more than 1 PC.

2) My major problem is my son has had an Samsung ultrabook and it doesnt have a disc drive.

Is there anyway of utilising these discs or do I have to purchase again in a download format? I have looked around and the best deal I can see is software 4 students. Does anyone know of any other places to buy it.

Sorry for all the questions but everytime I think I am getting the hang of all this computer malarkey something crops up to remind me I know nothing!!

Thanks for any help.

martinthebandit

Has your son not thought of something like openoffice?

Does everything that microsoft office does but at a very msc price (free)

https://www.openoffice.org/product/index.html

Its got to be worth a try at that price! and yes you can open and edit word docs etc in it.

bengalknights

Just burn the disc to iso format then use winrar on your ultrabook

System

Just copy the discs to a USB stick and use from there.

You don't have to mess about making an ISO image and Winrar.

If the software was purchased through one of the student routes (Software4 students etc) then they normall allow it to be on 2 machines at the same time. In theory it should be the laptop that the student takes to school/college and the desktop at home. No checks are ,made on this though apart from the number of machines registered against the licence key

railbuff

you can get a portable/external disc drive and use it via USB

esuhl

Or share the optical drive of another machine on the network so you can access it from the ultrabook...

As for the licence, I think a standard MS Office licence allows you to install the software on two devices -- a "primary" machine and a "mobile" one (used by the same person who uses the primary machine). The full licensing terms are on the Microsoft website.

If you aren't licenced to install it on the ultrabook, LibreOffice is worth a look (didn't OpenOffice get shelved as all the developers moved to LibreOffice...?)

gb12345

esuhl wrote: »

(didn't OpenOffice get shelved as all the developers moved to LibreOffice...?)

Not quite.

Oracle bought Sun Microsystems and took over development of OpenOffice and as you say a lot of the developers left to set up the Document Foundation, which produce LibreOffice and Oracle did then stop development of OpenOffice. But in mid 2011 Oracle transferred the code etc to the Apache Foundation and development re-started.

WhiteChristmas

If the version you already have is Office 2010, then go with the installation advice above.

If it's 2007 then seriously consider getting 2010 - it's 2007 with all the bugs and niggles sorted out and is the best version of MS Office to date by a country mile.

If it's 2003 then (and only then) LibreOffice, with its old-fashioned interface, becomes an option. Its word processor is good and its spreadsheet program is acceptable but the presentation software will drive anyone used to Powerpoint to distraction.

macman

It should say on the packaging how many licences it gives you.

tumbletots

Hi all,

Thanks so much for all the advice. I can always rely on this site. I am going to try and copy it on to a USB stick and see how I get on. Actually I lie, I wouldn't have a clue how to do it but hopefully my son will!!

Thanks again.

tumbletots

Sorry to bother you again folks. Tried to copy disc to USB but don't know what i'm doing. Is anybody able to give an idiot's guide to what I need to do?! Many thanks.