Cheapest office solution?

I only need word which creates table and form

I do not need powerpoint, excel or anything otherwise.

What is the cheapest buying option of getting Ms Office in my case?

Another question is - What is the major difference between the free OpenOffice and the paid Ms Office

What's the advantage of Ms Office that makes it over the free one

 

1. Functions works-some math fractions do not work well in OpenOffice, I've seen this first hand.
2. Everyone wants MS Office you pay for something that does what it does well
3. Just plain works
4. MS Office is the standard everyone want to be like but can never really be MS Office
5. If you work for Institution that uses MS software you can get discount buying MS Office through your institution.
6. The cost is part of getting something that works and is recognized by everyone.
Now to OpenOffice
1. Cheap is never better
2. look at post 1 why it's not a good alternative-even if they fixed this should give you pause
3. Support how often does it get update and get company updates that support it forever
4. There is MS Office Starter with limited functions but it will work
5. Get something that will always work and be supported by Major company even if you hate them everyone wants it
6. Well that is up to you what you want to use but there should be standard you don't want compromised even if it is free

 

MS office is the de facto standard.

Some free options are:

Open Office
Libre Office
WPS Office
Abiword
Google Docs​

There are probably more..

 

The crutch is that those wouldn't existed if MS Office wasn't around for them to imitate from. People wanted a cheap alternative to MS Office so that's how these started. MS Office standardized the extension formats so now everyone wants it but MS Owns those already so they have to follow MS lead so that tells you knocking MS Office off will be a steep climb.

 

That is how I got mine. They said it was free but it cost $25.00 US for shipping by FedEx. ..but was still a great deal.

 

Personally, I use LibreOffice (and OpenOffice, before the fork) and as far as basic usage it works just as well as the de facto standard. I imagine the more complex functionality is also more or less the same, but I haven't tested that.

Welcome to the network effect!

That said, it's not only because it's just as good, but free; it's kind of hard to patch in improvements or bug fixes when you don't have access to the code (and also, hardcore FOSS people won't stand for commercial code )

By the way, Office's current format is OOXML, which was created in part to have better interchangeability with Office competitors and also to help prevent vendor lock-in. So having competition isn't such a bad thing . It certainly makes my job easier at least.

 

Check MS Home Use Program to see if your institution or company qualify for a download copy or two of Office Plus for $10US.
All you need is your company or your school email to check if it qualifies.

http://www.microsofthup.com/hupus/home.aspx

Most medium - large companies and universities accounts are part of that program.

 

They want a program code. What's that?

 

They seem to change the system recently.
Before, all you need to do was to enter a valid email and click get my code which they email your company specific code.

You need both your email and the code which your administration provides ... usually it just listed in their public access benefits website.

It is limited to 2 copies max in a 2 year timeframe (a 32 bit and a 64 bit copy - both keys work on any version)

 

Not the institution that I work for it's a non-profit that uses Microsoft Office so any employees can get it. There is no limit to whom can buy it you can only buy it one version per release like office 2013 one year and next was Office 2016 when it was released. So not sure what your reading from but from my options is more open then yours.

 

Is that your institution's HUP setting? Not bad.
I know it can be customized.

Mine was seems to be the normal configuration when I compared it on several institutions

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I been taking advantage of that program since office 2010 since I was in college.
Never tried getting more than 2 copies per qualified email or test if it was per release as they reset prior of release.

Though I wish I knew about it for Office 2007 when they first offered it.
It was far cheaper than the academic box discount version.

(Kind of stupid of me upgrading frequently as I don't use any features set beyond office xp )

 

There is also Office We Apps. A free online version of Office that MS offers.