Reply to: Most economical way to get MS Office legitimately?

[gables]

Office365 here £59.99 from MS can install on 2 devices which is all I need

[BigRed]

my kid has just started secondary school and got a school email address so I think I can install on all the devices she might use for next to nothing. My youngest is 4 years behind so that's me covered for the next 10 years with any luck.

[d000hg]

Office 365 if you plan to use the other products you get and are ok paying per month. Alternatively you can buy it old school from Currys (you might even get a box with it

Word is essential, Excel is handy as is Outlook for integration with Word. I'll see what standalone MSWord goes for, though again the license for use on a tablet and to install on my desktop and laptop is handy.

[Einstein Jnr]

Office 365 if you plan to use the other products you get and are ok paying per month. Alternatively you can buy it old school from Currys (you might even get a box with it

[eek]

When I looked, PC World had the best deal for a 5 user licence (plus 5 tablets, 5 phones). If you're an IPSE member, you can get 7% off as well.

I've always steered clear of buying software from eBay, but the PC World price was only £70 (minus 7%, so £65) and I knew that it would be legit and hassle free.

I would be the same were it not that the license is just enter a key in microsofts website and watch the renewal date shift 12 months into the future

[missinggreenfields]

When I looked, PC World had the best deal for a 5 user licence (plus 5 tablets, 5 phones). If you're an IPSE member, you can get 7% off as well.

I've always steered clear of buying software from eBay, but the PC World price was only £70 (minus 7%, so £65) and I knew that it would be legit and hassle free.

[LondonManc]

MS Office beat Lotus SmartSuite once IBM took Lotus over and shifted it, killing its competitive advantage; it hasn't looked back and hasn't had a decent competitor since. It's market share prevents competitors gaining an easy market entry (a bit like other dominant brands, e.g. Autotrader).

It being available throughout education makes it become the office suite of choice, that and most businesses using it. I've got Office 365 (but preferred my Lotus 123 Release 5 BASIC macros ) and had no bother with it. Nice and cheap, easy to maintain and install.

[d000hg]

I'd look at non MS options. Do we really need to be paying MS for what is basically the same old crap they've been churning out for 20 years?

www.freeoffice.com - FreeOffice for Windows, Linux and Android
https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/libreoffice/
https://www.google.com/docs/about/

You really want to pay MS a monthly fee forever when 95% of people just knock up some documents, spreadsheets and presentation slides?

As I said, these are big, complicated documents. Many have been maintained since 2000 or even earlier through many versions of Word and are hundreds of pages long with all kinds of styles as well as macros - they're originally .doc files distorted over the years. When I've tried other alternatives before, the styling alone defeats them

[SueEllen]

I also think that anyone with a .ac.uk email addy can also get a low cost deal too. All legit and legal.

If you have a .ac.uk address it's free.

[SueEllen]

Agreed....he did mention macros, do those have any scripting?

They don't work with MS Office macros.
They have their own language.

They are basically fine for people who don't need them.

[DimPrawn]

Agreed....he did mention macros, do those have any scripting?

Dunno, I've got Office 2007 from years ago on my laptop, don't intend to ever upgrade or go MS again.

I will leave it to the OP to investigate macros and scripting on these free alternatives.

[MrMarkyMark]

I'd look at non MS options. Do we really need to be paying MS for what is basically the same old crap they've been churning out for 20 years?

www.freeoffice.com - FreeOffice for Windows, Linux and Android
https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/libreoffice/
https://www.google.com/docs/about/

You really want to pay MS a monthly fee forever when 95% of people just knock up some documents, spreadsheets and presentation slides?

Agreed....he did mention macros, do those have any scripting?

[DimPrawn]

I'd look at non MS options. Do we really need to be paying MS for what is basically the same old crap they've been churning out for 20 years?

www.freeoffice.com - FreeOffice for Windows, Linux and Android
https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/libreoffice/
https://www.google.com/docs/about/

You really want to pay MS a monthly fee forever when 95% of people just knock up some documents, spreadsheets and presentation slides?

[cojak]

Yep O365 works for me.

[Fred Bloggs]

Ask around the family. My wife has a deal from work where she can install up to five copies of Office 365 for free.

I also think that anyone with a .ac.uk email addy can also get a low cost deal too. All legit and legal.