I am getting ready to buy a new Windows 7 desktop. Microsoft Office Starter software used to be supplied with all new computers, but no longer. There is no word processing software of any kind supplied unless I want to spend $140 for Office Home Student, and I don't. Office Starter was basic, but all I needed. Which of the free download Home/Office software programs would you guys recommend? It must simple and completely compatable with my Word documents that I will be transfering to the new computer. I have read about Libre Office, Kingsoft, Open Office, and others, but would like some expert advice. Thanks!
Home/Office Software Question
- Thread starter Wingman
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If you need more than what Google Docs offers -- http://www.libreoffice.org/
Open Office is what I have used on 5 or 6 recent builds/buys. MS Office is way too expensive.
keep shopping until you find a system that bundles MS office with it. I buy refurbished or used auction systems form Dell and many refurbished ones have it on the HD.
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Originally Posted By: Danno
Open Office is what I have used on 5 or 6 recent builds/buys. MS Office is way too expensive.
"For the most part, LibreOffice and Microsoft Office have the same suite of software with the exception of one thing: Outlook. LibreOffice doesn't come packed with an email client, so if you need Outlook or an equivalent, you won't find it here. The rest of the suite is pretty similar.
It's pretty obvious that if money is tight, LibreOffice is the office suite for you. Even still, if Microsoft Office isn't actually required at your work (especially with Outlook), LibreOffice has a lot to offer these days. LibreOffice also supports extensions, which means you can customize the look, features, and feel of the suite to suit your needs. Fortunately, the two office suites usually play nice together, so if you want to give LibreOffice a try for a few days you should be able to continue working with documents you've already created in Microsoft Office (though as stated above, you may run into a few small issues).
If LibreOffice doesn't suit your needs, OpenOffice is also worth a look. Both LibreOffice and OpenOffice are built on the same foundation, and while they're relatively similar, LibreOffice has a little bit more of a mass appeal and gets updated more often. If you're sick of dealing with Microsoft or you just don't feel like paying a lot for software, LibreOffice and OpenOffice are both worthy alternatives. It's certainly taken a few years for them to really catch up, but now that they have, Microsoft has something to worry about."
http://lifehacker.com/battle-of-the-office-suites-microsoft-office-and-libre-1147940828
Open Office is what I have used on 5 or 6 recent builds/buys. MS Office is way too expensive.
"For the most part, LibreOffice and Microsoft Office have the same suite of software with the exception of one thing: Outlook. LibreOffice doesn't come packed with an email client, so if you need Outlook or an equivalent, you won't find it here. The rest of the suite is pretty similar.
It's pretty obvious that if money is tight, LibreOffice is the office suite for you. Even still, if Microsoft Office isn't actually required at your work (especially with Outlook), LibreOffice has a lot to offer these days. LibreOffice also supports extensions, which means you can customize the look, features, and feel of the suite to suit your needs. Fortunately, the two office suites usually play nice together, so if you want to give LibreOffice a try for a few days you should be able to continue working with documents you've already created in Microsoft Office (though as stated above, you may run into a few small issues).
If LibreOffice doesn't suit your needs, OpenOffice is also worth a look. Both LibreOffice and OpenOffice are built on the same foundation, and while they're relatively similar, LibreOffice has a little bit more of a mass appeal and gets updated more often. If you're sick of dealing with Microsoft or you just don't feel like paying a lot for software, LibreOffice and OpenOffice are both worthy alternatives. It's certainly taken a few years for them to really catch up, but now that they have, Microsoft has something to worry about."
http://lifehacker.com/battle-of-the-office-suites-microsoft-office-and-libre-1147940828
This is where I get my desktops.
http://www.dellauction.com/cgi-bin/ncomm...&MoreSubs=Y
I run them 24/7/365 for 3-4 years and toss them in the trash. I usually get the precision workstation for $250 with an OS and then buy what applications I need from ebay.
http://www.dellauction.com/cgi-bin/ncomm...&MoreSubs=Y
I run them 24/7/365 for 3-4 years and toss them in the trash. I usually get the precision workstation for $250 with an OS and then buy what applications I need from ebay.
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Are you sure it doesn't come with Microsoft Works?
These days it seems that consumer grade computers will come with a 30 day free trial of MS Works, but it seems to be a less than full version and after 30 days you're on your own again.
Have you seen MS's new slogan ?
Microsoft, putting ourselves out of business one computer at a time.
Have you seen MS's new slogan ?
Microsoft, putting ourselves out of business one computer at a time.
One more vote for Open Office. I've been using it for more than a decade and it is an excellent office suite. I exchange documents with others frequently, so I have set my Open Office to automatically save documents in the Microsoft format. No compatibility problems for those using MS Office whatsoever.
Libre or Open Office on my Linux boxes. One of which is my corporate workstation.
iWork (Pages/Numbers/Keynote) on the Macs. Both work really really well.
I hate Outlook so "loosing" that is of no value to anyone.
If that is a necessity just grab Thunderbird or another e-mail client.
There really is no need for anything Microsoft makes.
iWork (Pages/Numbers/Keynote) on the Macs. Both work really really well.
I hate Outlook so "loosing" that is of no value to anyone.
There really is no need for anything Microsoft makes.
Originally Posted By: Danno
Open Office is what I have used on 5 or 6 recent builds/buys. MS Office is way too expensive.
The business world is slowly going to Open Office. I have been using it for a year or so. MS Office is too expensive and Open Office can do almost everything MS Office can. Microsoft has made enough money.
Open Office is what I have used on 5 or 6 recent builds/buys. MS Office is way too expensive.
The business world is slowly going to Open Office. I have been using it for a year or so. MS Office is too expensive and Open Office can do almost everything MS Office can. Microsoft has made enough money.
Works hasn't been around in a long time. 8 or so years I believe.
The Open Source Office suites are becoming more and more popular. At my last job, we started installing it on a lot of client computers when they would buy new. Some of them were using old, old versions of Office that wouldn't run on their new windows 7 computers.
Couple of things the open source office suites having going for them over MS Office - no Ribbon Interface and cheap (There is still some training costs involved).
I like the interface of Open Office because I can still navigate it with a keyboard. The new MS office products are not able to be navigated by keyboard. I'm not a "mouser".
My current company switched to Open Office on all non-customer facing computers. Saved a boatload!
The Open Source Office suites are becoming more and more popular. At my last job, we started installing it on a lot of client computers when they would buy new. Some of them were using old, old versions of Office that wouldn't run on their new windows 7 computers.
Couple of things the open source office suites having going for them over MS Office - no Ribbon Interface and cheap (There is still some training costs involved).
I like the interface of Open Office because I can still navigate it with a keyboard. The new MS office products are not able to be navigated by keyboard. I'm not a "mouser".
My current company switched to Open Office on all non-customer facing computers. Saved a boatload!
OpenOffice has been forked some months ago into a superior and more well-supported software suite called LibreOffice and most are abandoning OpenOffice in favour of it. A combination of LibreOffice and an email client like Thunderbird gives you pretty much everything you'd need in an office suite; PLUS it is entirely cross-platform, across Windows, mac and Linux.
I've used OpenOffice and it worked well enough for most things. However, I've since switched back to MS Office for full time use.
Some of my students use OpenOffice and the results are 90%. That is, it will do about 90% of what MS Office can do. There are occasional compatibility issues with formatting and such.
Sometimes tasks are handled differently, so trying to coach them to do something may not work (but that can be said about different versions of MS Office too).
All three of my employers are MS Office users and have no plans to switch. Dealing with minor compatibility issues costs money. If you don't have to worry about that, then use Open or Libre Office. If you do, pony up.
Some of my students use OpenOffice and the results are 90%. That is, it will do about 90% of what MS Office can do. There are occasional compatibility issues with formatting and such.
Sometimes tasks are handled differently, so trying to coach them to do something may not work (but that can be said about different versions of MS Office too).
All three of my employers are MS Office users and have no plans to switch. Dealing with minor compatibility issues costs money. If you don't have to worry about that, then use Open or Libre Office. If you do, pony up.
My company still reuses existing licenses of MS-Office 2003 and then gives the newbies OpenOffice. They finally had to fork money to M$ as they finally moved to Win 7 off Win XP this past year with nearly 400k+ machines. We also have company support linux (ubuntu or fedora) and mac.
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