[Closed] alternatives to microsoft office

Open Office

http://www.openoffice.org/

Open office

edit: beaten to it.

Haha 😀

great stuff chaps. and its compatible with microsoft yes?

Mostly.

Google Docs will also be of use. TBH Microsoft dix around with the filestructure for Office all the time, so edit and resaves often go astray a little.

But yeah, at a push they'll all be of use, if not perfec.

I'd save/export as PDF if files don't need further editing, should get a WISYWIG document save then.

great stuff chaps. and its compatible with microsoft yes?

It is for the most part, but it's not perfect. Office can be expensive but I still think it's worth paying for.

If he has kids in school, an educational licence for Office is reasonable.

Open Office is fine for 99% of the population though.

It is for the most part, but it's not perfect. Office can be expensive but I still think it's worth paying for.

This. It'll open MS Office documents, but at least in my experience things like the formatting can often change. If you're only using it for learning or the odd letter it's fine, though. (Personally I hate it, but then once you've got used to the much-maligned Office ribbon it's hard to go back to the old style menus).

[quote=sadexpunk ]mates asked me how cheap he could get office for, as he wants to get a bit better with office software for work.

Er, in which case doesn't he need to have office rather than learn how to use something which might be compatible, but works differently?

If he uses it in work, he should check whether they're signed up to the Home Use Programme, as that's by far the cheapest way to get it (significantly cheaper than educational).

he does have kids at school, and asked me about that license, but i know nowt about it. can you enlighten me on how hed get that license, and how much it is please? then he can choose which way to go.

thanks a lot

Er, in which case doesn't he need to have office rather than learn how to use something which might be compatible, but works differently?

If he has kids at school, there is always [url= http://www.software4students.co.uk/ ]here[/url]

Cheap as you are likely to find for genuine stuff.

What does he need to do? In my experience Google Docs is useless for all but the simplest Word files and useless with Excel. Openoffice is a lot better, but again isn't fully compatible, so for complex MS files, just doesn't cut it. Look at an Office 365 subscription maybe?

but then once you've got used to the much-maligned Office ribbon it's hard to go back to the old style menus

How many years does it take? I still reckon using the old menu keyboard shortcuts is quicker than the new ribbon.....

[quote=ScottChegg ]If he has kids at school, there is always here
Cheap as you are likely to find for genuine stuff.

unless of course as mentioned above he can get HUP - a fraction of that price

If he has kids at school, there is always here

Cheap as you are likely to find for genuine stuff.

thanks, just looked at it. £100 for home and student, £52 for university. his kids arent at uni so im guessing hed have to stump up £100. not sure he'd want to do that.

unless of course as mentioned above he can get HUP - a fraction of that price

Be careful with MS Office if buying - the cheaper versions are cheap because they have a 1 year license. Check before parting with money!

LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice. And it is getting more development, so more improvements and bug fixes etc. So I think it makes more sense to use LibreOffice instead of OpenOffice.

great info as ever on here 🙂

thanks

I found my copy of Office in a skip. I shit you not. Licence valid and everything!

he should check whether they're signed up to the Home Use Programme

this. I paid £8.50 for Office 2013

I use Open Office. Great, but takes ages to open. Best to double-click it before bed.

Microsoft's home use program is great, I paid £8.95 for Office 2013.

There is a problem though, you get the latest version of office and that may not be what his 'work' use. It may be quite different.