Student? Get MS Office 2007 for under £40, but check out the free alternatives first

Former_MSE_Lawrence

What's the deal?

Until 30 April, Microsoft is offering university students the chance to buy the most up to date Microsoft Office suite for £38.95. Considering the suite usually retails at around £600, this ain't bad. Also, if you only want a one-year license, you can get it for £12.95.

Before diving in though, do consider the variety of free office suites now available. You may be surprised at just how good they've become...

IMPORTANT: This offer closes on 30 April, there is a chance a new deal may be launched then, but no guarantees, so for safety this is the best chance.

Do I qualify?

To qualify for the MS deal, you need to fit 2 criteria:

1. You have an active university email address which ends with .ac.uk
2. You are currently enrolled at any university, taking on at least one half-course. You needn't be studying full-time.

I qualify! How do I get it?

You can get the discounted download from Microsoft's special promotion website, The Ultimate Steal. Simply choose whether you want the full perpetual license (you'll be able to use it indefinitely and upgrade to any newer versions cheaper) or just the one-year version (which will be totally restricted after a year), then fill in the forms as you would for any other online purchase.

What's included?

Microsoft isn't skimping on the package you get for the cash. It's the top of the range 'ultimate' edition, including:

• Word 2007 (Word processing)
• Excel 2007 (Spreadsheets)
• PowerPoint 2007 (Presentations)
• Outlook 2007 (Email)
• Access 2007 (Databasing)
• Publisher 2007 (Desktop publishing)
• OneNote 2007 (Note-taking/organising)
• Groove 2007 (Information sharing for team projects)
• InfoPath 2007 (Electronic form building)

The software and license are only provided as a download for this price. If you want the safety of receiving a hard copy on a DVD instead, you'll have to pay a small surcharge for it.

It's a full retail license, rather than an academic one, entitling you to install it on one PC only.

Update: Mac user in full-time education?

You too can get discounted Office software; try RM software or software4students for offers. You should be able to get a similar price. Thanks to gooismeid and taff007 for posting these below.

Wanna steer clear of Microsoft altogether? Check out the free alternatives:

Whilst £38.95 is undoubtedly a great price, there are now numerous other applications that provide the same functionality (or, in the case of online versions, even more) for the grand price of nada, zilch, zip. Thus, they're certainly worth a look before you go down the Microsoft route.

Downloads:

• OpenOffice is an open-source project which includes equivalents of most of the programs above, and will even open many Microsoft documents. Find it in the Free Office Software article. Free virus & firewall protection is also available from the Kit Out Your PC For Free article.

• StarOffice 8 is the Sun Microsystems package that OpenOffice was built from. It includes a few features missing in OpenOffice, such as clip-art graphics, fonts, templates and tools for Microsoft Office migration.
  
  Whilst it usually comes at a price, the software's currently available for free as part of Google Pack. Be aware though that the installer's 140mb, so will take a long time to download if you don't have a fast connection.

Online office suites:

There are now a couple of office suites online, and they offer excellent possibilities. You store your work online so it's accessible from anywhere, and there's nothing to actually install on your computer. Here's the top two:

• ThinkFree. Almost 100% compatible with Office, ThinkFree is a free online suite which bears a striking resemblance to the latter, and has received glowing reviews all round. It includes the equivalents of Word, Excel & Powerpoint, looks pretty, and most importantly for an online suite, is responsive and simple to navigate.
  
  It also holds a trump card in the way it hides your web browser window when in use, so you can use regular keyboard shortcuts to control it without upsetting your browser. Neat.

• Zoho Office Suite. This basic-but-superfast package is fine for simple tasks, but if you're going to need advanced features it's best to look elsewhere. Whilst it offers a wider range of applications than ThinkFree, they aren's as detailed. Zoho stores all your documents in its 1GB free storage space, and allows you to share them with (member) friends via email invitation.

-Lawrence

spandit

Not sure if this helps more people get it, but you don't necessarily need to be at university to have a .ac.uk email address.

In my uni, previous students can register for an Alumni Email-For-Life account.
This provides you with a .ac.uk email address which automatically forwards all emails to an email address of your choice.
I'm not sure if they would accept the original course you did as a "currently studying" course, so if anyone goes down this route do so at your own risk.

GeoThermal

Another one is OxygenOffice Professional. It's basically Openoffice but with added features such as clipart, templates, fonts. For some it's maybe just more bloat but others might like the added features.

"Version 2.3.1 includes enhanced capabilities of running Excel's Visual Basic, more elements to templates and galleries, Office Open XML import, and bug fixes."

http://www.download.com/OxygenOffice-Professional/3000-2064_4-10758848.html

skibster

My husband just ordered this full deal at £38.95 (not the one-year version), and it's about £8.95 extra to get an actual disc of the programs mailed to you (which will come in handy if he has computer probs or upgrades his system). The disc arrived two days after we downloaded the software -- make sure you save the Key code you get when you download the program and write it on the disc package in case you need to reinstall later! This was a really great bargain!

nat2607

Is this all compatible with a mac?
*Is computer illiterate*
Please can you explain anything technical as if you're explaining it to a computer illiterate grandma? Cheers, Nat x

spandit

MSE_Lawrence wrote: »

It's a full retail license, rather than an academic one, entitling you to install it on one PC only. There's no cheap option for Mac users; Office 2008 for Mac retails at around £90 at Amazon.

So sadly no it isn't compatible with a Mac

gooismeid

Just to add that anyone with a child in full-time education can benefit from heavily discounted Microsoft prices here - you need to register on the RM site and specify which school or college your child attends. Downside is you don't get manuals with the CDs - but who reads the manuals these days?
http://www.rm.com/thebasement/?srcurl=/rmcomhome.asp

If you're an Apple fan then Office Mac 2008 goes for £35.45 here.

taff007

For the mac I can recommend http://www.software4students.co.uk, who currently do the Office 2008 package for under £40 including delivery for all students (not just university). My disk arrived within a couple of days and is excellent for the money. The company is also mentioned on the microsoft website if anyone is concerned about it being legit.

Odd_Fellow

MSE_Lawrence wrote: »

edit....
Microsoft isn't skimping on the package you get for the cash. It's the top of the range 'ultimate' edition, including:

• Word 2007 (Word processing)
• Excel 2007 (Spreadsheets)
• PowerPoint 2007 (Presentations)
• Outlook 2007 (Email)
• Access 2007 (Accounting)
• Publisher 2007 (Desktop publishing)
• OneNote 2007 (Note-taking/organising)
• Groove 2007 (Information sharing for team projects)
• InfoPath 2007 (Electronic form building)

Access is a DATABASE application - nothing to do with accounting.

raket

Not to forget NHS employees (with an nhs email account) can obtain this for approx £18.00 and this does include Macs.

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/nhs/pages/nhs_licensing_home_user_programme.aspx

andypturner

This is also open to Staff with an .ac.uk, ac.im, ac.gg or ac.je address who work an "average of 8 hours per week or 4 teaching hours per week"

Many staff at institutions may already be entitled to use Office at home through Microsofts home loan scheme if your employer has signed up to certain other eligible schemes. This route can be free but it only entitles you to use the software whilst an employee, not afterwards like the ultimate steal.

The ultimate steal is also the top MS office suite, versions available on home loan are not.