Microsoft Office

[ecotourist]

When I look at the Microsoft website all I can find is Microsoft Office 365. You pay a monthly rental - and I don't want that.

In the past it was possible to just buy the program. I've seen a couple of ads in the last few days offering to sell Microsoft Office 2021 just like in the old days but the selling agent isn't Microsoft. Has anyone done this and has it worked out?

 

[Nick1994]

Office 365 is subscription based, stays up to date, and is a monthly subscription.

The latest Office you can purchase outright is Office 2019. You can buy it on Amazon for $109:
Amazon Office 2019

 

[Jimmy9190]

Libre Office is almost exactly the same as MS Office 365, it is completely cross compatible with MS Office documents and best of all it is absolutely free to use. My wife bought Office 365 for her own use and I share the subscription with her. If not for that, Libre Office is what I would use. I have used Libre in the past, it works great.

Home | LibreOffice - Free Office Suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft

Free office suite – the evolution of OpenOffice. Compatible with Microsoft .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx. Updated regularly, community powered.

www.libreoffice.org

 

[paulri]

There are plenty of resellers of MS Office. I have bought mine from academicsuperstore.com, for instance.

As far as if that particular site/seller is legit, I'd look at reviews for it, or at least post it here to see what others might say.

But I also second the suggestion of LibreOffice. I use that 99% of the time. For some files, I go back to MS Office.

EDIT: And if you don't need the latest and greatest, you might even find some CDs of earlier versions on Amazon--of course, those might not be compatible with newer versions of Windows, you'd have to make inquiries.

EDIT 2: One thing though, you need to figure out if you are getting merely a download link, or the installation files. My last purchase from academicsuperstore was merely a download link that was good for 2 years. That enabled me to install MS Office, but any time after 2 years, if I decided to reformat Windows, I was out of luck as far as getting MS Office again. So if you do go with a third party seller, be sure to figure out what exactly you are getting for your money. Some would be just fine with a download link; others would at least want the installation files that you can use to re-install MS Office at any time.

When I look at the Microsoft website all I can find is Microsoft Office 365. You pay a monthly rental - and I don't want that.

In the past it was possible to just buy the program. I've seen a couple of ads in the last few days offering to sell Microsoft Office 2021 just like in the old days but the selling agent isn't Microsoft. Has anyone done this and has it worked out?

 

[blufeb95]

On Microsoft's website, Amazon, Bestbuy, Staples, etc... I'm seeing you can buy licenses for Office 2021 Home & Student, Home & Business, or Professional straight out.

 

[ecotourist]

I have MS Office 2010 Professional on our desktop. It was a nice perc from when I was working. It still works fine and I'd like to leave it alone.

I've been using SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018 on our laptops which works well enough but isn't backwards compatible. I can read material created using MS Office on the laptops but usually can't read material created using SoftMaker FreeOffice on the desktop. I have work arounds but that's getting real old.

I attended a seminar this past weekend and was told that Google has a free Office program that is completely forward and backward compatible with MS Office.

I haven't tried LibreOffice.

 

[ecotourist]

On Microsoft's website, Amazon, Bestbuy, Staples, etc... I'm seeing you can buy licenses for Office 2021 Home & Student, Home & Business, or Professional straight out.

I'm a bit leery of buying MS Office from a 3rd party. I can see how that could go wrong. But I suppose if you bought it from BestBuy or Staples you'd be relatively safe.

MS Office Home and Business 2021 from MS is $319 Cdn per computer which I think is kind of expensive.

 

[Jimmy9190]

I'm a bit leery of buying MS Office from a 3rd party. I can see how that could go wrong. But I suppose if you bought it from BestBuy or Staples you'd be relatively safe.

MS Office Home and Business 2021 from MS is $319 Cdn per computer which I think is kind of expensive.

A lot of the time the cheap ebay licenses are pirated, corrupted or outright stolen. A lot of the "resellers" on ebay are actually selling Office licenses that were stolen or pirated/cracked from colleges, universities and other schools. About 5 years ago my wife bought an ebay license for Office 2016 Professional from an ebay seller in England. At the time we had no idea the license might not be legitimate. It was there on ebay from a seller with good feedback, it was cheap so she bought it. The first key they sent did not work, MS said it was invalid. The same thing happened with 3 or 4 replacement keys the seller sent her until they finally found one that worked. Even then I remember her having the error from MS saying the "license key can not be validated" but she was able to click through it and use Office anyway.

 

[Jimmy9190]

I have MS Office 2010 Professional on our desktop. It was a nice perc from when I was working. It still works fine and I'd like to leave it alone.

I've been using SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018 on our laptops which works well enough but isn't backwards compatible. I can read material created using MS Office on the laptops but usually can't read material created using SoftMaker FreeOffice on the desktop. I have work arounds but that's getting real old.

I attended a seminar this past weekend and was told that Google has a free Office program that is completely forward and backward compatible with MS Office.

I haven't tried LibreOffice.

Libre is an excellent program, and I never needed any workarounds when I used it. It looks and works just like Office. I have tried FreeOffice but had too many problems with it.

 

[wkcars]

There's retailers that sell the non subscription versions like costco, best buy, sometimes they are on sale, and apple sells the mac editions. microsoft also sells the non subscription versions just gotta browse through the subscription stuff that they try to push

Buy Office Home & Student 2021 (PC or Mac) - Download & Pricing | Microsoft Store

Buy Office Home & Student 2021 for Windows or Mac. A one-time purchase gets you apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, featuring security updates.

www.microsoft.com

Buy Office Home & Business 2021 (PC or Mac) - Download & Pricing | Microsoft Store

Buy Office Home & Business 2021 for Windows or Mac. A one-time purchase gets you apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, featuring security updates.

www.microsoft.com

Buy Microsoft Office Professional 2021 - Download Key & Pricing

Buy Office Professional 2021 for Windows or Mac. A one-time purchase gets you Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for lifetime use. Licensed for home or commercial use. Digital download from Microsoft Store.

www.microsoft.com

 

[Hall]

On Microsoft's website, Amazon, Bestbuy, Staples, etc... I'm seeing you can buy licenses for Office 2021 Home & Student, Home & Business, or Professional straight out.

Yeap, I just bought a license of 2021 2-3 months ago for a new employee.

 

[Hall]

I have MS Office 2010 Professional on our desktop. It was a nice perc from when I was working. It still works fine and I'd like to leave it alone.

I attended a seminar this past weekend and was told that Google has a free Office program that is completely forward and backward compatible with MS Office.

If you're working on your own, something like Google Docs would probably be 100% suitable for you. If you're sharing files with Office users, it will be a pain. Yes, Google Docs can open MS .docx files but there's still some behind-the-scenes conversion.

 

[ecotourist]

A lot of the time the cheap ebay licenses are pirated, corrupted or outright stolen. A lot of the "resellers" on ebay are actually selling Office licenses that were stolen or pirated/cracked from colleges, universities and other schools. About 5 years ago my wife bought an ebay license for Office 2016 Professional from an ebay seller in England. At the time we had no idea the license might not be legitimate. It was there on ebay from a seller with good feedback, it was cheap so she bought it. The first key they sent did not work, MS said it was invalid. The same thing happened with 3 or 4 replacement keys the seller sent her until they finally found one that worked. Even then I remember her having the error from MS saying the "license key can not be validated" but she was able to click through it and use Office anyway.

This is exactly what I was worried about.

 

[ecotourist]

Has anyone tried the Microsoft Office Online version? It sounds like a reasonable option though it seems rather slow in the video, and I don't put anything on the cloud.

 

[ecotourist]

Here is a pretty glowing review of LibreOffice, published earlier today.

LibreOffice review

Never pay for office software again

www.techradar.com

 

[CleanSump]

Here is a pretty glowing review of LibreOffice, published earlier today.

LibreOffice review

Never pay for office software again

www.techradar.com

I've used it because it does work and is free. Nieces, nephews, random acquaintances wanting MS Office for free. Uh, no, but I can Libre you.
The word processor resembles WordPerfect more than MS Word. But, I believe Corel is a sponsor of Libre project.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

I'm on Windows 8.1 with MS Office 2010 home and business.

I have to say that Microsoft software is good, I just wish they did not discontinue popular titles. (streets and trips, encarta)

 

[uc50ic4more]

I've used it because it does work and is free. Nieces, nephews, random acquaintances wanting MS Office for free. Uh, no, but I can Libre you.
The word processor resembles WordPerfect more than MS Word. But, I believe Corel is a sponsor of Libre project.

The Document Foundation, which has some pretty heavy hitters behind it, is what supports LibreOffice - https://www.documentfoundation.org/

LibreOffice is *okay* for MS Office interoperability. Not close enough for my uses, however. Luckily my wife, a high school teacher, has an Office365 subscription through her school so I can lean on her MS Office installation from time to time.

 

[Shel_B]

Libre Office is almost exactly the same as MS Office 365, it is completely cross compatible with MS Office documents and best of all it is absolutely free to use. My wife bought Office 365 for her own use and I share the subscription with her. If not for that, Libre Office is what I would use. I have used Libre in the past, it works great.

Home | LibreOffice - Free Office Suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft

Free office suite – the evolution of OpenOffice. Compatible with Microsoft .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx. Updated regularly, community powered.

www.libreoffice.org

I have been using Libre for several years. My sweetie has been using it as well. I recommend it as an alternative to Microsoft Office. One caveat: I only use certain aspects of the program, the word processor and the spreadsheet, so I cannot speak to the entire suite.

 

[CleanSump]

The Document Foundation, which has some pretty heavy hitters behind it, is what supports LibreOffice - https://www.documentfoundation.org/

LibreOffice is *okay* for MS Office interoperability. Not close enough for my uses, however. Luckily my wife, a high school teacher, has an Office365 subscription through her school so I can lean on her MS Office installation from time to time.

Thanks. Maybe I'm confusing the Sun/Oracle link with Open Office. It's been over 15 years, I think. I was big on Open Office.