Microsoft Office 365

ElecKtrA

Hi,

I don't know if this is the correct forum to post this question in, so Mod feel free to move elsewhere if necessary.

I'm currently sussing out buying a laptop/tablet and most of them come with a 12 month subscription with Microsoft Office, thereafter you would have to buy the package...which is 160euros!!! :eek:

Can anyone advise if there is an alternative package that would open word documents?! I don't want to be paying this amount of money on a package!

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated TIA

gloobag

ElecKtrA wrote: »

Hi,

I don't know if this is the correct forum to post this question in, so Mod feel free to move elsewhere if necessary.

I'm currently sussing out buying a laptop/tablet and most of them come with a 12 month subscription with Microsoft Office, thereafter you would have to buy the package...which is 160euros!!! :eek:

Can anyone advise if there is an alternative package that would open word documents?! I don't want to be paying this amount of money on a package!

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated TIA

Google Docs can open MS Word files. 100% free

eezipc

https://www.openoffice.org is the free alternative to MS Office.

ElecKtrA

Thank you guys, ye are fantastic. I will look into downloading these. Would they have any limitations i.e. can they open all Microsoft documents....

gloobag

ElecKtrA wrote: »

Thank you guys, ye are fantastic. I will look into downloading these. Would they have any limitations i.e. can they open all Microsoft documents....

I don't think any free alternative is going to completely match MS office, as it's feature list is quite extensive, but all of the basic functionality should be there in both the Google Apps suite and Open Office. You might see some weird formatting irregularities when opening a file that was originally edited in MS Office, but it's usually fine in my experience. I use the Google apps for my business and have never felt limited by them.

ElNino

You can buy cheap Microsoft Office license keys on Reddit for between $15 to $40 depending on the version.

me_irl

ElNino wrote: »

You can buy cheap Microsoft Office license keys on Reddit for between $15 to $40 depending on the version.

In a word: don't.

Stick with openoffice, libreoffice or google docs suggestions already mentioned.

Jack Killian

gloobag wrote: »

I don't think any free alternative is going to completely match MS office, as it's feature list is quite extensive, but all of the basic functionality should be there in both the Google Apps suite and Open Office. You might see some weird formatting irregularities when opening a file that was originally edited in MS Office, but it's usually fine in my experience. I use the Google apps for my business and have never felt limited by them.

I've found OpenOffice to be both superior and more standards-compliant than MS Office. Interface is far better too, rather than the non-intuitive and confusing "click a coloured globe to access some odd submenu somewhere" rubbish that MS introduced in 2012 or whenever.

If I had to pay for either, I'd choose OpenOffice in a heartbeat.