# Don't Want To Buy Microsoft Office.



## sleecjr (Mar 24, 2006)

I know before i purchased office i would have loved to be able to use word and excel. Well i found a cheap solution. It works very well for most users. I purchased a thumb drive for work. It had a u3 symbol on it. I had no clue what it was. When i plugged it in i was shocked. Its like a whole PC in a thumb drive. There is tons of software for it, most is free. You can do just about any thing you can imagine. Like write on a pdf file. Open use and save office docs, and tuns of other stuff. Check out U3.com and go to download u3 smart software and take a look around at what is out there. To use it you must get a thumb drive that has u3 software on it. But they are very cheap. I think they start at 20.00.


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## NC RVer (Feb 18, 2008)

sleecjr said:


> I know before i purchased office i would have loved to be able to use word and excel. Well i found a cheap solution. It works very well for most users. I purchased a thumb drive for work. It had a u3 symbol on it. I had no clue what it was. When i plugged it in i was shocked. Its like a whole PC in a thumb drive. There is tons of software for it, most is free. You can do just about any thing you can imagine. Like write on a pdf file. Open use and save office docs, and tuns of other stuff. Check out U3.com and go to download u3 smart software and take a look around at what is out there. To use it you must get a thumb drive that has u3 software on it. But they are very cheap. I think they start at 20.00.


You mean OpenOffice? <-- LINKY
It is free & works pretty good.

Dennis


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## fspieg (Jul 31, 2006)

You can also go to http://portableapps.com/ and download the main app and all of the open source software you need including Open Office portable. This will run on any thumb drive and does not require U3. This is very handy when traveling. A few of the campgrounds we stayed at did not have wireless yet but did have computers available for public use. By using the thumb drive you are only using their machine as a connection hub and not leaving fingerprints.

Rick


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## Lady Di (Oct 28, 2005)

I am finding this discusssion extremely interesting as I too don't really want to spent the $$$ for Microsoft Office. This is the first time I have gotten a computer with only a free trial, and then you have to buy the full version. Every other computer had Microsoft Office loaded and ready to use without having to purchase the software.


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

There is also Google Docs. Free online word processing, spreadsheets, etc.

I have not used them yet myself, as I already have Office, but I know a couple of pretty savvy computer geeks that swear by them. On advantage (to some) is that all your docs can be saved online, and thus be accessible from any computer with a web browser and internet connection. The documents can also be saved in common formats (i.e.: .doc, .xls, .pdf, etc.), so are quite transportable and compatible.

Worth looking into. Just go to Google and do a search for Google Docs.

Happy Trails,
Doug


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## Sayonara (Jul 23, 2007)

There are a few people here that use the Free Open Office. I have been told it is nearly an EXACT copy of Microsofts "Office" and was created by Sun Microsystems in a effort to reduce the monopoly Microsoft has on that type of software.


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## Moosegut (Sep 24, 2005)

I have Office 2003 on all the computers here at school and on my home computers. I have Office 2007 on MY work computer (just as I have MS Vista) in order to become conversant in it before rolling it out to the secretaries and then to the rest of the school down the road. I HATE IT!!! I've been using it for months and I STILL hate it!!! I hate Vista! And I'm starting to hate Bill Gates - though I don't know him personally.









Anything that keeps you from relying on the latest and greatest from Microsoft is fine - and free is even better. Just make sure your kids either print their papers at home or save it to the flash drive in .txt or .rtf for transport to school. I wish I had a nickel for every student who saves their papers in SOME KIND OF FORMAT that no one's ever heard of and then the teacher's send them to my office to convert it. It's no longer, "The dog ate my homework," it's "The printer ate my homework."


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

I use open office at home. Their spreasheet's charts are more limited, but it has 95% of office's functionality and for the price it is hard to go wrong!!!









Now there are also free copies of MS office on the web too, but the authorities (and Microsoft) frown upon you downloading those!


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Moosegut said:


> I have Office 2003 on all the computers here at school and on my home computers. I have Office 2007 on MY work computer (just as I have MS Vista) in order to become conversant in it before rolling it out to the secretaries and then to the rest of the school down the road. I HATE IT!!! I've been using it for months and I STILL hate it!!! I hate Vista! And I'm starting to hate Bill Gates - though I don't know him personally.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Open office will save in Microsoft formats... Pretty handy....


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

I use Open Office at home and have it at work too, though I mostly use Office 2003 there. Open Office isn't perfect but its darn good and the price is right. My oldest has used it for his reports and used Impress (Power Point) as well. It will read and save in the .DOC .XLS and other formats. It will not open the new Office 2007 files, but I have refused to accept those even at work.

The next version of Open Office should be pretty nice, and the Thunderbird (email) team is working on integrating a good calendar into the application and hopefully making changes to the address book - can you say Outlook competition!


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## Guest (Mar 4, 2008)

I've been using Open Office for a long time, and recently got fed up with Vista. I use a laptop a lot, and absolutely despise having to wait for the "Urgent Security Updates" every time I start it up. I have installed Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com on my laptop, and love it!! Linux doesn't seem to have the attraction for viruses that Microsoft poducts do, and just seems more secure. The Ubuntu download is a cd that can be booted into a "live" OS for trial use, and the same cd will install the OS if you decide that you want to switch your primary operating system. It comes with all the software that most people need, including Open Office. Just something to think about.

Happy Camping,

Gary


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## CanadaCruizin (Jul 3, 2004)

I've been using portableapps.com programs on a memory stick (thumbdrive) for about a year. No issues, other than the stick I'm using is a Rally2 (2 gigger) and there are times when it can't run an app. ie: Firefox or Filezilla or Audacity. I run chkdsk (Start, Run, CMD, chkdsk [drive letter]: /f) against it and it fixes drive errors. It just may be a bad drive as I've had to format it (FAT32) a few times.

I like that I can use the browser and not leave a history behind when I'm finished. Thumbs up







for being able to bring my bookmarks with me too! Oh, and due to the above mentioned problems, I'm in the habit of exporting the bookmarks to a file as a backup.


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## Kyoutbacker (Apr 26, 2006)

I have Open Office installed on all my computers. My granddaughter is even in the process of writing a book using open office writer.
Have Ubuntu 7.10 installed on my secondary hard drive on desktop. Thinking of ditching Msoft entirely for next computer.


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## ColoradoChip (Jan 21, 2008)

I installed open office on a machine that I bought for one of my contract employees to use at the office, and it worked well. Unfortunately, every now and then someone that we sent a document to couldn't open it. I'm not sure why, but it wasn't worth the brain damage to try and figure it out. I think that it would be an awesome application to use for personal use, but it's not worth upsetting a client, so I no longer use it in my business. Next time I build a PC for home use, which is unlikely since I've gotten the mac bug, I will install open office rather than Office for sure!


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## fspieg (Jul 31, 2006)

PDX_Doug said:


> There is also Google Docs. Free online word processing, spreadsheets, etc.
> 
> I have not used them yet myself, as I already have Office, but I know a couple of pretty savvy computer geeks that swear by them. On advantage (to some) is that all your docs can be saved online, and thus be accessible from any computer with a web browser and internet connection. The documents can also be saved in common formats (i.e.: .doc, .xls, .pdf, etc.), so are quite transportable and compatible.
> 
> ...


Be sure if you are using Google apps for business that it is not prohibited by their security and privacy policy. The fortune 500 company I worked for would not allow any company business to be stored outside of the company.

Just my .02


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## outbackgeorgia (Jan 28, 2004)

OpenOffice, or for a supportable version, StarOffice.
As noted above, all MS formats are supported, including .doc. .ppt. etc.
Sun operates a multi-billion dollar profitable corporation without Microsoft software.
StarOffice, Oracle Apps, Java Apps, Solaris (Linux will work also for notebooks, but the big servers get Solaris).
Open systems is doable, you just really have to want to save $.
For the individual, OpenOffice works on Windows, Linux, MaxOSX, Solaris, Unix, etc.
The price is right!($0.00)

Dave


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## Sayonara (Jul 23, 2007)

THat Portable Apps looks pretty cool! Ill have to look in to that more. Is it the only one of its kind?


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

PDX_Doug said:


> There is also Google Docs. Free online word processing, spreadsheets, etc.
> 
> I have not used them yet myself, as I already have Office, but I know a couple of pretty savvy computer geeks that swear by them. On advantage (to some) is that all your docs can be saved online, and thus be accessible from any computer with a web browser and internet connection. The documents can also be saved in common formats (i.e.: .doc, .xls, .pdf, etc.), so are quite transportable and compatible.
> 
> ...


While you're there...check out the Google Calendar. Great way to keep things organized between a few people. My DW and I use this to keep my hetic travel calender in sync.  If When I make a change, it sends her an email message about the change. Can also send a text message to her phone...but we don't use that function.


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

Lady Di said:


> I am finding this discusssion extremely interesting as I too don't really want to spent the $$$ for Microsoft Office. This is the first time I have gotten a computer with only a free trial, and then you have to buy the full version. Every other computer had Microsoft Office loaded and ready to use without having to purchase the software.


Why don't you just install the versions that came on the earlier computers. There should have been disc's included with your purchase. I am still using the Office 2000 version that I purchased with a computer that was retired long ago, and I just reinstall it when I purchase a new machine.

Tim


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## Moosegut (Sep 24, 2005)

hatcityhosehauler said:


> Why don't you just install the versions that came on the earlier computers. There should have been disc's included with your purchase. I am still using the Office 2000 version that I purchased with a computer that was retired long ago, and I just reinstall it when I purchase a new machine.
> 
> Tim


The problem is all the security holes that have been "fixed" (supposedly) in subsequent versions.


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## raynardo (Jun 8, 2007)

To save some money on Microsoft Office, one can buy a student or teacher edition for a little more than $100. Freeware is cheaper, but if you need the real deal, then this is the real deal!









Also, there are many different Microsoft licensing agreements. One allows an installation on a business computer, and a second installation on a home or laptop. Check with your company's IT department.

Lastly, you can always find an older version that may work for you. If you find Microsoft Office 97 on Craigslist or somewhere else, you can easily validate the serial numbers by just entering all 1's.


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## joy-rick (Jan 27, 2008)

raynardo said:


> To save some money on Microsoft Office, one can buy a student or teacher edition for a little more than $100. Freeware is cheaper, but if you need the real deal, then this is the real deal!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm gonna stick my two cents worth in on this topic.

I have used Linux (Suse first, later Kubuntu) and Open Office for years. I had it set up with dual boot partitions on my machines (Windows in one, Linux in the other). I ran this way for probably ten years. Finally, after struggling with document incompatibility issues over and over, I removed Linux and Open Office from all of my machines except the one on my Ham radio bench. There are many good Ham radio applications written for Linux that I still want to use.

Now, don't get me wrong...Open Office handled 95% to 98% of all the Microsoft documents that I asked it to. The problem is, that in my work with various organizations, I receive probably 50 documents a week from other people that I need to load into a database, or a spreadsheet, or word processor. As I said, in the vast majority of cases, there was no problem at all. But, unfortunately, the more complex the document the more likely it was to be improperly formatted. This would then entail moving the document back and forth between the Windows environment and the Linux environment. Not impossible, but a real PITA when you are in a hurry. So, reluctantly, I gave up and I now do all of my organizational type work in Windows using the MS Office suite of products.

Hopefully, in the future, I'll be able to go back to Open Office with more confidence that it will handle all of the documents that are thrown at me during the course of a week. I want that to be the case. I have never been a fan of Microsoft and would love to abandon them for once and for all. But, not yet.

If your application calls for you to ORIGINATE documents then you shouldn't have any problems at all. If, on the other hand, you are required to read and process anything sent to you, then proceed with caution.

Just my two cents worth.

Rick
K8RWG on the Air...N34759 in the Air.


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## H2oSprayer (Aug 5, 2006)

raynardo said:


> To save some money on Microsoft Office, one can buy a student or teacher edition for a little more than $100.


In addition, the student / teacher edition that I purchased last year for $149 included 3 licenses (which we use all of). In my book, that's not bad. A LEGALLY licensed version for $50 per computer.


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