Inexpensive Office 2010 options?

Frigging Microsoft - all I want is what used to be "Office Basic" - i.e. Word, Excel, and Outlook - but as far as I know, they don't offer this bundle anymore.

So far, I've come up with two options:

1) Office 2010 Home and Business (which includes the useless-to-me PowerPoint and OneNote) product key card/no media for ~$200, or

2) Office Professional Academic 2010 which includes everything for $89, but for me to acquire might not be - ahem, strictly speaking - in compliance with the Microsoft terms and conditions.

So, my questions are:

1) Does anyone know of any other inexpensive options to get Word, Excel, and Outlook 2010?

2) Does anyone have any experience with media-less product key card downloads? In particular, I want to know if the media-less version is exclusively "Click To Run", which streams the download of Office as needed and requires Office to create an user-inaccessible partition. I want to be able to download a complete ISO that can be installed without further downloads from Microsoft (not including product activation, of course).

3) Does anyone have any experience with getting Professional Academic from Microsoft? What is the process to buy - is it just submit your university/college e-mail address, and they send you a link to purchase? Do you have to provide any further information? I know that according to the T&C, Microsoft may request additional information, but I want to know if they actually do.

 

If you know anyone in university, the MS Office student discount puts the whole suite at $80USD.

Otherwise, OpenOffice is the next best (or arguably better, FREE) option.

 

... Office Professional Academic 2010 that I mentioned in my post.

I may be able to get it, but there's a clause that says that if Microsoft determines you're not eligible for it, you have to pay the difference between the discount and the retail price.

So, I know a university professor who might be able to get it for me - as he has a university e-mail address - but as he's not a student, is it possible he (and thus, ultimately, I) will get busted by MS?

 

Microsoft TechNet Standard subscription is $199 first year then $149 renewal after that. You dont' have to renew, but with a Standard subscription you get pretty much every piece of MS software (except enterprise licenses), and two keys of each with ten activations per key. This includes all versions and variations of Windows as well as Office. The keys are good until you use up all activations. Frequently there are sales too... just an option, and a decent one at that.

 

Office 2010 web (like Good Docs) See in your live/hotmail account.
It's free, but obviously less features (because it's in a web browser, and you have so much things you can do), and well a light version.

 

Does your licence/functionality expire at the end of the subscription? Or just access to software not already installed?

 

Office Home and Student for 139 or so. And use Live Mail or some other mail program and skip Outlook.

 

IBM Lotus Symphony. It works and looks great, for free. I prefer it over openoffice anytime.

 

Well, semantically the word academic should imply both students and faculty but I have no idea what Microsoft's definition or intended users may be. Maybe send them an email or call? I can't stomach paying $80 for anything from MS but good luck in your search.

 

there are lot of free office suites available on the internet, just check wikipedia. However I paid $120AUD for microsoft 2010 professional and I think it is a good investment for the next 5 or even 10 years, compatibility and ease of use is a main advantage.

 

All your keys are valid until you utilize up all the activations even if you let your subscription expire. There is some question whether or not activating on the same PC repeatedly counts as an activation or not though. Just make sure that you take note of all your keys because when your subscription expires I don't know that you can view them any more. Either way, that's 20 installations of every product. Go here to take a look. You can create a MS Live ID if you don't already have one, and at least look at the list of available programs. Start by going here and then click on Subscriber Downloads at the top.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/buy.aspx

 

I really need Office, not something Office-esque. I could use Office 2003, but I think I might as well go with 2010.

ht - It sounds too good to be true, but I will definitely look into a Technet subscription.

 

There are a number of websites that sell stuff like this to academic customers, and faculty are pretty much always valid there. I think Academic Superstore : Academic Software discounts for students, teachers and schools is one of them, but there are definitely others, such as JourneyEd.

 

+1 on the Technet just like htwingnut recommends - best deal around.

 

It's a great deal. They recently changed from just a standard "Technet Plus" subscription to two tiers, Technet Standard ($199 / 2 keys per product) and Technet Professional ($349 / 5 keys per product + Enterprise versions). Standard is really geared to home users.

The one caveat is that it is to be used by YOU and only YOU, and you are supposed to be an IT professional and/or technical specialist/hobbyist. For "evaluation" purposes only. But for the most part, if you don't hand out or sell keys, that's all they're trying to avoid.

 

Wait... so for $200 I get 2 keys to everything microsoft has on it's standard list? And those keys will stay valid forever?

 

Hmmm, so why one would purchase a license in store when he can that cheaper than virtually any software that they sells?!

I get that, these will be OEM licenses. So Office, for instance, will be 1 license code per computer, whereas Family & Student (wtv it's called) is 3 licenses.
And Windows is locked to your motherboard, so if you change your motherboard (essentially upgrade or transfer to another computer) it's a new license that needs to be acquired.

 

On the website it says the subscription is for 12 months. Can anyone clear up why it says that, and if so, if it is $199 for the first year, and $149 each year after that, why that would be a good deal for the OP, who just needs Office as cheap as he can get? Office Student would be cheaper, as it will not expire each year.

 

The subscription is for 12 months, but the keys last I believe from what I've read so far today. It would be nice to get some confirmation though.

 

The key to the subscription is that is for eval, demo environments...not to be used in a production environment. Use of a TechNet key in any production environmment would be a violation of the License Agreement. Using the software on your primary machine even at home to do school work or other work would make your home a production environment...

 

Not really, I will dig up the link when I get a chance. An MS rep specifically stated Standard was geared towards home users for use in a home environment.

These are not OEM licenses. It's just ten activations per key (at least for Windows), whether same computer or other computer. I've been using it for a few years now without issue as have thousands of others. It's designed for the enthusiast and IT professional.

Here's a good read: http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/20444-technet-ok-use-home-computers.html

And here (item #5): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/ms772427.aspx#testscenarios

5. Can I use evaluation software received in my TechNet Subscription on my devices in my home?
The TechNet Subscription license terms grant one user the right to install the program software on any devices, including those located at his or her home, but the user must fully comply with all the license terms no matter where the device is located. In other words, one user may install and use the evaluation software, only to evaluate it. You may not use it in a live operating environment, a staging or production environment, or with data that has not been sufficiently backed up. You may not use the evaluation software for software development or in an application development environment.

It's really hard to differentiate between "test" and "production" environment especially for an individual in the home, and the terms "operating, staging, production" environment are not defined. I reformat and reinstall across four different machines in my home on a regular basis. I regularly test and evaluate software and trial networking features. At the moment I'm trialing Vail, the upcoming replacement for Windows Home Server. Should a home user really be expected to own separate machines for evaluation and production? It's not realistic. Granted I'm MCSA certified so I guess that bears some weight if push ever came to shove. Bottom line from what I've gathered is that MS mainly doesn't want businesses using it in a production capacity.

(I still can't find the link that I found a week or two ago, with MS rep specifically stating use in the home, my internet history is too long to sort it out.)