Cheapest (Legal) Way to Get Office XP / Open Office Question

I just ordered an e1505 notebook from Dell that doesn't include Office.

What's my cheapest bet for getting Office XP? (or am I going to get the same deal just by walking into Office Depot?)

Also, maybe this should have it's own thread but how does Open Office compare to MS Office?

I'm a psuedo-power user of Excel (I write some macros and do some web importing and such) and I'm worried about having a ****py version of Excel (similar to Quattro or whatever it is).

 

Got any friends that work for Microsoft? They can buy the XP Office Professional thru the company store for around $50 + shipping. It is an OEM copy.

 

If you know anyone that is currently in college, Best Buy offers a discount to students. Get it for around $150

 

Buy an office xp version off of ebay!
office xp and office 2003 are barely different. Just make sure you buy from a reputable vender with great feedback and get a new version. Should be able to get it for 100 bucks.
I really wanted to made open office work for me, but I collaborate with others who are using MS office, and my revisions, and edits did not translate perfectly for them, and I spent more time fixing things than it was worth. I would guess you may run into similar issues. It's close, but IMHO not quite there yet for power users.

 

If you are a student or Teacher you can buy Student and Teacher Edition (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, 1 other) for ~130 at Wal-Mart or Sam's club. I mean they don't check, but to be legal by the EULA, you have to be a student or teacher. I bought my copy when I was a student, so I believe I still am right to use it.

If you work for a big company, your company may have a deal with Microsoft, or some schools have deals with them. My company has a deal where I can buy Office Pro for like 20 dollars, one of the schools I know of allowed their students to buy Office XP pro, for 10, and XP Pro for 5.

 

what bout that free officce suite. open something or source something. i forget.

EDIT: whoops u said legal and you said officexp. nm lol

 

Hey guys-

First off, thank you! I just discovered this forum this weekend and everyone is really helpful. It seems like most forums are full of grumpy sarcastic people who don't actually like to contribute any information.

Second, (if anyone cares) I think I'm going to give Open Office a shot just because $100-$150 isn't a ton of money but I'm just out of school and money is tight of course. I'll let you guys know what I think of it after my notebook gets here and I give it a run.

Thanks again!

 

Yeah, openoffice is a great choice. And in the next couple of years, internet2 will bring us online word processing tools.

 

I work for my college computer store, we sell licensed copies $75 to faculty, $95 to students. Office 2003/2004 Professional.

 

I was going to suggest this solution. Hey, Open Office.org is FREE, it's LEGAL, and it integrates with Word and Excel, so why not at the very least, download it and give it a try?

I've been trying it for the last couple of days, and it's not bad at all!~

 

Yeah, mine has $100 for student select licensing on Office 2003 Pro.

 

Here is a glimpse into the future of office software:

http://www.ajaxwrite.com/

 

if all you're doing is word processing, spreadsheets, etc for personal use, then openoffice is perfect for you. if, however, you're collaborating (like previous poster metioned), you'll probably want office. also, it sounds like your just out of school which i assume means you're job hunting. if you're emailing resumes and the individual wants it it Word/.doc format, then you want office. even tho openoffice has .doc compatibility, do you really want to take a chance with compatibility issues when trying to get a job? it's worth the investment, in my book.

but, again, if all you wanna do it type stuff up and print it out at home, then save the $ and go with openoffice. no one but you sees the results anyways, so what's the difference?

 

I love open office. It's free and portable; It's one of those cool programs I keep on my usb keydrive in case I need wordprocessing, spreadsheet, presentation software etc. and have an available "host" computer. You'd be surprised the amount of things you can get accomplished on someone else's computer with a thumb drive and a good program.

 

The 'student' M$ office deal (~$130) allows you to install office on three PCs. It does require only one of those to belong to a student. I'm a parent of students, therefore my installation is totally legit.

 

I love Openoffice, however macros written in Excel don't (if I recall) work in openoffice, it has a different scripting language, so if you have a lot of pre-existing macros you don't want to rewrite, you need to get excel.

Having said that I LOVE open office, and think it's perfectly good product and much better than spending a vast fortune on the newest release of office (which is probably full of bugs anyhow).

 

There is also the Military Appreciation version of Office 2003. $50.00 at a Base near you. It has Word, Excell, Powerpoint, and Outlook.

Know someone in the active military? Deployed soldiers, Retirees, new troops in Basic Training?