17 replies to this topic

[WreckWench]

Hey gang...the ongoing saga of my dying laptop never ends. So the hardware finally died beyond repair on the Mayaguana trip. Fortunately Kate P and Cmdr Clownfish were able to transfer all my data via c prompt to my new hardware that I had in tow! (Thank goodness all efforts to salvage the laptop had been successful so I had time to get another one!)

Now the latest turn of events...in my move I have lost my office install disks and publisher. I need both of these programs to run shop as they say...so it seems I have to buy them again.

So where is the best place to get them...I need the best deal as well...sadly the scubabiz is a great lifestyle but doesn't pay well! LOL!

[peterbj7]

Can't speak for Publisher, but why don't you switch to Open Office instead of MS Office? Not only is it free but in several respects it's better software, and your input and output documents can be identical to what they would have been with the MS software.

[shadragon]

Open Office site here

Agree with Peter. OO is an excellent software package and you cannot beat the price. Only down side is you cannot design nuclear weapons technology on it. (Read the EULA)

GoogleDocs is another alternative as well. Certainly mobile enough even for your travel habits Wenchie.

If you do have your heart set on MS. Click here is a good place to start.

(Added later) Here is a link to a news article for FREE Office 2010. Like all free things from Microsoft the price list is at the bottom.

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

Question: Will it work side-by-side on the same PC that the MS Office Professional suite is loaded on? Some softwares have to be uninstalled before loading a competitor. Just checking....I'd love to explore Open Office!

[peterbj7]

Yes it will. For a long time I ran the two side-by-side, then dumped the MS version altogether when one of their Windows updates meant I kept getting messages that my version of MS Office wasn't legal. Kinda bugged me since I installed it from the original MS disks which I still have!

Another alternative is provided free by Lotus (part of IBM these days) and I also have that installed. Not as powerful nor as flexible as Open Office. I really can't think of ANY reason not to use OO and I'm amazed that people still pay money for MS Office.

I'm wondering about Publisher though. I've never used it so am not really sure what it does. If it's for getting into the nuts and bolts of the SD website you may find that only that software will work, even if there are better alternatives available. I had that with some Adobe software, but I overcame it by simply switching my website to another software package and standard.


Actually Kamala, what happened to your laptop? Was it simply a hard disk failure (easily remedied, though possibly with a lot of work finding and reloading device drivers) or something more drastic like being dropped in the sea?

Edited by peterbj7, 17 May 2010 - 02:33 PM.

[Racer184]

I switched to Sun OpenOffice a few years ago. I am VERY glad that I did.

It's serving me well and today I hit the 127,000 words mark in my book. (About 328 pages, including alphabetical index, 340 citations, plus footnotes. I have done many very large multi-page spreadsheets with it (electrical engineering). And the charts (graphs) in OpenOffice 'calc' are faster, easier, and simpler to use than in excel.

OpenOffice beats the heck out of Excel, ms word, it has a database, does great 'powerpoint' presentations, exports in .pdf, and of course does simple HTML webpages also.

Engineers please take note... for years I fought microsoft products - they refuse to let us write in correct I.S.O. units... microsoft won't let me type kHz, MHz, mS, pFd, nFd, nH, mW, mV, kVA, kVAr, etc. OpenOffice lets me, and even lets me enter those in the spell checker.

You may be aware that there are people in this world that are so enthusiastic & passionate about Apple/Mcintosh computers that they border on being annoying. Well... that's how I am with Sun OpenOffice.org !

It is free and it is fantastic. So please switch to OpenOffice.org before I cross the border from 'almost annoyingly passionate' to 'please shut him up'.

[peterbj7]

Kamala - I've done some basic research on the Publisher side. As you can see from the Wikipedia comparison of office suites http://en.wikipedia....cal_information the functionality of Publisher is (apparently) embedded within OOo (Open Office) and found within the "Draw" program.

[uwfan]

I'm interested in this OO discussion for another reason, when we now buy Office software for the school I work for we have to pay separately for Publisher. A bit annoying when earlier versions of Office had Publisher included and our 6th grade team pushes Publisher with the kids HEAVILY. Now that we are moving from 2003 to 2007... (yes, I know it's 2010...and MS 2010 is right around the corner)... what we thought we had... we don't and I'm scrambling for a solution to not enough computers having Publisher. Does OO have any of the features of Publisher (we particularly use the brouchure making features.)

Looks like Peter beat me to the post... and gave a link I'll have to try out. Thank you!

[shadragon]

Multiple Operating Systems are supported with OpenOffice. Linux, Mac and even Solaris.

One nice advantage is you can set (in preferences) to save in native MS formats (.xls, .doc, .ppt, etc.) so you maintain the same standard just in case you want to pass it onto someone with MS Office.

I once set up a recycled workstation for someone in the warehouse where I used to work. There was no budget for a MS Office license, but she needed to read / write internal reports so I downloaded OOo and installed it on her machine. I renamed the program shortcuts to MS Office vernacular (Calc to Excel, Writer to Word), preset the file formats as described above and told her I was giving her the latest version and not to let anyone else in the office know as they would all want it.

I never had a single OOo based complaint from her in the two years I was with the company from that point.

[Racer184]

All information that I have is that everyone that has tried OpenOffice recommends it. 100% of users that I have talked to.

[Fordan]

All information that I have is that everyone that has tried OpenOffice recommends it. 100% of users that I have talked to.

I just swapped OpenOffice on my personal PC for MS Office 2007 with a free upgrade to 2010 when available, but that's mostly because I could get a great deal on it. Unfortunately probably one that Kamala can't take advantage of: http://www.theultimatesteal.com/ has Office Ultimate for $60, but you need to be a student with a .edu email address. While I graduated in March, my student ID is still good for another month or so.

What do you need your office software to do? Openoffice might be a good option, depending on what you're trying to do. I didn't think it had a Publisher equivalent though.

Office 2010 is supposed to be available to consumers around June 15, if you buy 2007 now, you get a free upgrade, and there may be deals around the new release, although I haven't seen them.

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

OK, bought the new PC at home, and it has the dreaded Vista on it....which means my very expensive MS Office XP Professional suite will not work on this PC, because it's pre-2007.

I can either purchase a student version of MS Office for $200 or so at Sam's Club to get Word & Excel, or I can use the MS Works that came with this PC (whichcan read & save as .doc, .docx, .xls and .xlsx files but has other limitations) or do the Open Office thing. I was just on the OO web site, and although it's a 'free' software, it appears that you have to sign up for an annual membership of some sort in order to use the free software. Is this correct, or am I loopy from a very long work day?

[finGrabber]

OK, bought the new PC at home, and it has the dreaded Vista on it....which means my very expensive MS Office XP Professional suite will not work on this PC, because it's pre-2007.

I can either purchase a student version of MS Office for $200 or so at Sam's Club to get Word & Excel, or I can use the MS Works that came with this PC (whichcan read & save as .doc, .docx, .xls and .xlsx files but has other limitations) or do the Open Office thing. I was just on the OO web site, and although it's a 'free' software, it appears that you have to sign up for an annual membership of some sort in order to use the free software. Is this correct, or am I loopy from a very long work day?

For $200, look at upgrading to Windows 7 Professional Upgrade...this is the one that has XP mode; of course, I'd make sure it can run the version of Office XP you already have

[peterbj7]

I thought Vista ran Office XP Pro. That said, it claims my version of Office XPPro is fake, when it isn't. But it still runs it.

[Racer184]

I was just on the OO web site, and although it's a 'free' software, it appears that you have to sign up for an annual membership of some sort in order to use the free software.

Just download it, install it, and start using it. When it asks you to register, don't. You are not required to.