Which Microsoft Office?

[slowmotion]

Our daughter is off to college at the weekend and needs a copy of of Office, including Powerpoint, Word and Excel. I'm finding the various options a bit confusing. Could anybody point me in the right direction for a single user with one Windows 7 laptop only? The cheaper the better.

Thanks.

 

[ianrauk]

The latest is 2013 (obviously) £109 for 1 computer student version direct from Microsoft but probs a little cheaper elsewhere.

 

[Trickedem]

[QUOTE 2658710, member: 259"]If you work somewhere they use MS Office, you might be entitled to a Home Use Program version of Office for a pittance (literally a few quid and even cheaper than the student version).

It might be worth asking.[/quote]
I have this £8 I think and works on 2 computers

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Why not use the OpenOffice free software that'll do pretty much everything MS office does.

It's a free download just google.

 

[numbnuts]

OpenOffice free software +1

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

OpenOffice free software +1

+2

It takes up less memory, it can read MS docs and convert .ods docs back to MS format, i.e. it has more flexibility than MS Office which is blind to Open source standards. No licensing issues. Completely free. (Their presentation program is not as flexible or as easy to use as the MS version in my experience - no idea about Open source databases)

Open Office is now under the Apache umbrella, in case you're wondering whether it's the same one.

 

[fossala]

I'm a huge Open souce fan, I only use open source programs and have used linux and Free/OpenBSD for years. Sadly there isn't a good program for powerpoint IIRC

 

[slowmotion]

Thank you very much for your replies. I'll have a look at Open Office.

 

[stephec]

If she has a university email address she might be entitled to Office Professional for £8.95, I got it for that with my works email.

The cheap deal was posted on here - https://www.facebook.com/StudentMoneyTips?ref=stream&hc_location=stream

The exact post was sometime back in August I think, but I can't find it.

The guys who run that page are helpful though, if you message them they'll get back to you as they've done for me in the past.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Come to think of it, most uni's use microsofts online outlook with their email which is like an online office.

 

[Davidc]

Libre Office is from the same open source origin as Open Office. The Powerpoint equivalent is more advanced, and exports Powerpoint files perfectly (provided you don't happen to use the functions which Powerpoint doesn't have yet).

I've been using Libre office for some years now and wouldn't go back down to MS office. It's smaller, faster, more stable, and easier to use - as is its cousin Open Office. The file export to Microsoft Office files seems to work perfectly with no complaints from MS Office users yet.

For email Thunderbird works well. I changed over from Outlook soon after ditching MS Office, and have never considered going back.

 

[Chris Norton]

Kingsoft do a decent alternative too. Very much available free.

 

[Danny]

You can get a 4 year student licence for Microsoft Office 365 from www.software4students.co.uk for £53.

Open Office is fine in theory, but still nowhere near as good as MS Office. My son tried it when he first went to Uni but quickly switched back to MS Office.

Having said that if you really want a free product you could try Google Docs which is improving all the time and is now probably comparable to Open Office.

 

[marzjennings]

Another vote for Google Docs, all the MS Office integration you need and all the docs are stored online. So no worries when she spills beer/coffee/tea/milk over the pc.

I've heard Office 365 is pretty good, but I've not had a chance to try it yet.

 

[slowmotion]

You can get a 4 year student licence for Microsoft Office 365 from www.software4students.co.uk for £53.

Open Office is fine in theory, but still nowhere near as good as MS Office. My son tried it when he first went to Uni but quickly switched back to MS Office.

Having said that if you really want a free product you could try Google Docs which is improving all the time and is now probably comparable to Open Office.

I suggested freeware but she wants to stick with what she knows. (Ah, the power of branding burns deep in the minds of Youth!). A student licence looks good but quite how you persuade MS that you are a bonefide student is a bit unclear. I'm on the case. Thank-you.