Author Topic: Advice needed- what Office product to buy?  (Read 4604 times)

Goldielocks

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Advice needed- what Office product to buy?
« on: August 15, 2015, 02:09:04 PM »
Hi,  just bought a new laptop and we decided to bite the bullet and pay for MS office, but so  many choices now and many are subscription based....  Need your help!

4 family members, 2 in high school.  I am the super user, but kids could make use of it too.

I definitely use Excel a LOT, including data pak addins  That free Google version stinks and I won't go there again.  Likewise I refuse to buy devices that won't run full Excel...it is my crutch through life.

I would like Access but can use it at work only if needed, and we all use Power point.  Kids are OK with Prezi but that is a learning curve for me.  Word does not have to be fancy, but great for essays and tagging in photos.


I qualify for the faculty pricing ( student) and we can like qualify for at least two student versions.  But most of those are single user...

Chances are we would want to pull up something on our tablets.

Oh and we often use it when WiFi fails, so need to be able to work off line.

What version to buy?

jmusic

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Re: Advice needed- what Office product to buy?
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2015, 05:20:30 PM »
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this before, but what about open source products like LibreOffice? 

I know the user interface is a bit different, but if you're remotely computer savvy it's pretty easy to pick up.

Goldielocks

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Re: Advice needed- what Office product to buy?
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2015, 01:09:22 AM »
I will check it out, the free Google version was too light on features, and I used it for a year at home.  I tried another that was not great either...  But not the one you mentioned yet.

alsoknownasDean

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« Last Edit: August 16, 2015, 03:31:43 AM by alsoknownasDean »

dess1313

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Re: Advice needed- what Office product to buy?
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2015, 03:34:21 AM »
what about openoffice?

https://www.openoffice.org/

patrickza

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Re: Advice needed- what Office product to buy?
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2015, 04:32:31 AM »
what about openoffice?

https://www.openoffice.org/

There was a big dispute between the open office developers and Oracle. Basically all the top developers forked the project to start libre office. Ubuntu also switched to libre office, it's the one to go on now: http://www.datamation.com/open-source/libreoffice-vs.-openoffice-why-libreoffice-wins-1.html

Goldielocks

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Re: Advice needed- what Office product to buy?
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2015, 10:05:53 PM »
What about this?

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msca/en_CA/pdp/Office-365-Home/productID.286397700?icid=Compare2_Home_V1

I saw this one am I am hesitant to spend $500 over 5 years, but the alternatives aren't great.  I am looking into ways to get this for a free one year trial.

BlueMR2

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Re: Advice needed- what Office product to buy?
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2015, 03:14:33 AM »
Another vote for the free options.  I use LibreOffice on my Linux computers since it's built-in.  OpenOffice on my Windows machines because it's more stable/less flaky than LibreOffice.  I trade docuements with MS Office users without any issues.  If I did have an issue, well, I could just buy an Office license then anyways.  :-)

iluvzbeach

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Re: Advice needed- what Office product to buy?
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2015, 05:20:07 AM »
Many employers who use MS Office have agreements that allow their employees to purchase it via download for $10 or for free. Check with your company before purchasing elsewhere at higher expense.

Goldielocks

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Re: Advice needed- what Office product to buy?
« Reply #9 on: August 17, 2015, 12:08:26 PM »
Many employers who use MS Office have agreements that allow their employees to purchase it via download for $10 or for free. Check with your company before purchasing elsewhere at higher expense.

Thanks!

cautiouspessimist

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Re: Advice needed- what Office product to buy?
« Reply #10 on: August 17, 2015, 12:51:33 PM »
Many employers who use MS Office have agreements that allow their employees to purchase it via download for $10 or for free. Check with your company before purchasing elsewhere at higher expense.

Thanks!

This is the best option. I used Open Office for a while and had a number of issues with compatibility when I was using it for school (also it seems to have come with a browser toolbar that kept gumming up the works). For example, I once gave a presentation in class with no pictures in it. Fortunately the professor was very understanding. :-/  For that reason, I wouldn't use it if you have students that will need to open the same file with both open office and microsoft office.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!