Microsoft Office or "Open Office"?

anken · #1 December 31st, 2006, 10:27 PM

Hi,
I have a 10 year old version of M.S. Word and would like to upgrade.
It seems that it's cheaper to buy the whole M.S. Office Bundle.
Have been looking online and found MS Office for Teachers/Students, which is less expensive.
What is the difference? I'm not a teacher or student.....is it not beneficial for me to buy this version or is it even prohibited for me to buy it?

Also, I came across an "Open Office" Application. It promised everything
M.S. Office does for a whole lot less money.
Does anybody have any experience with that program?
Is it one of those "you get what you pay for" situations?
I'll appreciat any input you can give me. Thanks

**Miz** · #2 December 31st, 2006, 11:31 PM

Everybody I know who uses Open Office likes it. It's free for personal use.

Check out this page for information about the MS Office Student & Teacher Edition. There's a link on that page for "Find out if you qualify" and another to product information.

**Snurfen** · #3 January 1st, 2007, 12:22 AM

I like it - it's free and you can collaborate with MS Office users if you save your items in the appropriate file type.

MS Office upgrades will make your wallet squeak in protest!

renegade600 · #4 January 1st, 2007, 01:09 AM

microsoft office student edition is the full version. the only difference between it and microsoft office is you cannot upgrade it.

Open office is a great office suite. I have both microsoft office 2003 and open office installed and I much prefer open office. If you do alot of macros, some heavy duty forms and such, stick with MS Office. If you just need a general word processor, spreadsheet, and such, the give open office a try.

Since open office is completely free, go ahead and download it and see if it fits your needs.

anken · #5 January 1st, 2007, 03:08 AM

Thank you to all who took the time to write!
Open Office sounds great. Have tried to download it but with my soooo slow dial-up, it took way too long and I finally gave up on it.
Have found it on ebay for $1.00 & S&H and bought it.
I'm looking forward to all the other applications too.
Again, thanks for your advice!

renegade600 · #6 January 1st, 2007, 03:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anken

Thank you to all who took the time to write!
Open Office sounds great. Have tried to download it but with my soooo slow dial-up, it took way too long and I finally gave up on it.
Have found it on ebay for $1.00 & S&H and bought it.
I'm looking forward to all the other applications too.
Again, thanks for your advice!

Yep, open office would be slow on dial up. I used to start big files before going to bed and hopefully it would be finished when I woke up when I had dialup.