[Req] Microsoft Office

gn3dr

Where's cheapest to get a legal copy?

All I can see for any way sensible money is Student and Teacher versions but they don't seem to include Outlook which I need.

Oracle

Interesting that the Student and Teacher version no longer includes Outlook, that's fairly sneaky. Of course it does include the very handy OneNote application :rolleyes: Anyway if you're a student you can get MS Office Professional 2003 for €98 at www.software4students.ie then again you'd probably be able to get it through your college for less.

I'd really advise downloading OpenOffice at www.openoffice.org for free and supplementing it with Thunderbird for your email from Mozilla: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird and adding the Lightning extension: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning/index.html for scheduling and calender also for free.

I've been using OpenOffice now for years and the latest version is the best yet.

aidan_walsh

I presume the idea behind leaving out Outlook is the fact that Outlook is really a business application, and Microsoft reckon that home users and students would be better served by Windows Mail in Vista.

I've been using OpenOffice now for years and the latest version is the best yet.

I can say the exact same about Office, tbh.

Oracle

But not that is free though...:D

I've just found a version of the excellent Evolution email and calendar application for the Windows platform: http://shellter.sourceforge.net/evolution It's another alternative to Outlook.

Capt'n Midnight

Don't forget that if your organisation uses an exchange server, the cost of the CAL allows you to use the latest version of Outlook.

If you aren't using Exchange then what do need most from Outlook apart from email ?

Alternatively you could buy a non-OEM copy of a previous version on eBay.

gn3dr

Oracle wrote:

Interesting that the Student and Teacher version no longer includes Outlook, that's fairly sneaky. Of course it does include the very handy OneNote application :rolleyes: Anyway if you're a student you can get MS Office Professional 2003 for €98 at www.software4students.ie then again you'd probably be able to get it through your college for less.

I'd really advise downloading OpenOffice at www.openoffice.org for free and supplementing it with Thunderbird for your email from Mozilla: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird and adding the Lightning extension: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning/index.html for scheduling and calender also for free.

I've been using OpenOffice now for years and the latest version is the best yet.

Thanks for the replies.
Ok on discounted MS office - I'm not a student so I assume there is no way to get the student discounts then? Or is there? When you get the actual software is there something in the registration that checks....

On the open office and Outlook alternatives - must check these out a bit more. I would have some concerns about how reliable these would be (unfounded and some would say the same about MS products I know)
so will have to do a bit more research - interesting though

forbairt

As the lads have said ...

Open Office ... I've had no compatability issues so far ... that said I don't use office that much either way ... Thunderbird ... to go with it .. and its a great combination

Capt'n Midnight

gn3dr wrote:

On the open office and Outlook alternatives - must check these out a bit more. I would have some concerns about how reliable these would be (unfounded and some would say the same about MS products I know)
so will have to do a bit more research - interesting though

At the moment installing Office 2007 may cause outlook express to use a French spell checker.

OpenOffice has had the option to save as PDF for years. And the nice thing is you can always upgrade to the latest version, you don't have to buy the "new" features.

Reliable - Openoffice can be set to always create backup copies of spreadsheats and can open .xls files that are too broken for Excel to open.

swingking

there is a student and home office version, for 150euro

It contains word, excel, powerpoint and onenote

Doesn't matter if you are a student

aidan_walsh

He knows. Stated in the OP that he doesn't want that because it doesn't include Outlook.

Oracle

There's a few other great things about OpenOffice there's always the worry when you haven't used it before that it will open all your MS Office files and "take over" your computer. No fear, during installation it actually presents you with file association options so you can choose which files OpenOffice will open by default. I've run both MS Office and OpenOffice on my PC for years with no problems. I've still got MS icons and files on my computer, together with OpenOffice icons and files as well.

Amalgam

Oracle, many thanks for that link.

Remember, the student version of Office 2003 does not include the business contact manager, something to bear in mind, if you've used it before, you'll miss it.

Office 2003 will install on Vista, will it not?

Everywhere in Dublin seems to be touting the 3 PC License version of Office 2003 Student\Teacher Edition for 185 euro, VAT inclusive. You don't get asked about your student status..

Not a bad price if you spread the cost over the 3 PC's.

I'll be using Oracle's link soon enough, great stuff.

MarkR

Probably won't suit many, but when you buy a new dell the oem version of 2003 (or was it 7?) costs 139.

Capt'n Midnight

There is also the 2007 trial version