I Can't Afford Microsoft Office...

[blacktothefuture]

Originally Posted by Jesse69

If I want Microsoft Office, I need at least the Professional version or better, so I can have Access. The problem nowadays with Office is their greedy Licensing - before if you had Office 2003 you could install it on any amount of computers you own. So I'd put that on my two desktops and laptop computer. But Office 2007 changed that; you have to have a license for every install so it got too expensive so I just abandoned MS Office. No hope in getting a working bootleg version either. $480 for every computer install is just too expensive! I have 2 desktops and 2 laptops!

So now I just do everything with the free Open Office 3.2. Has old Office 2003 compatibility. Thank God Sun offers this software.

Did Microsoft experience a drop in sales of Office 2007 because of their greedy licensing?

How about you? What do you use?

Another greedy company is Adobe. The Master Collection costs $2599 for CS5. That's maybe why a lot of people get the bootleg version...

Look at the comments on this web page - Microsoft’s Vista and Office 2007: bad news for pirates | The Blade by Ron Schenone, MVP

Amazon.com: Microsoft Access 2007: Software

[johnfrisco]

Unfortunately my company is still running Office 97. I tell them to upgrade to Office 2000 which I use at home and is superior to 97.

[remixedcat]

Openoffice writer can even make PDF files! That alone makes it awesome!

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Not always so easy. My wife, for example, works in an office where they do random re-imaging of desktop machines to remove software, and where they do other things to make the downloading and installing of software difficult.

You are authorized to use the standard application set. Period. I also get the impression that the installation of unauthorized software is a fairly serious infraction in that shop.

Unless the corporate folks make those converters available to her, she can't use them.

While one would hope those who administer the corporate desktops would see the value in such things, there's no guarantee of that. Or common sense.

I don't want to beat this horse to death. You are right that if you reimage a computer you will lose the "MS Update" that provides this functionality. However, if you update your PC's with Microsoft Update, as you should, then this free update will be included as well.
Also most good IT departments (including the large one I used to work at) should be updating their images so they don't have to keep reinstalling MS and Windows Updates.
Having said all that I have seen job postings clearly state "send your resume in Office 2003 format". Since it is WAY easy to save a 2003 .doc from 2007 there is no excuse for not doing that. So I actually agree with your HR department.

Back to the topic: Prior to Office 2010 I would have disagreed with the OP. Now I do agree. The one thing I haven't seen mentioned in this thread (and yes I read it all lol) is that Microsoft has now changed the licensing structure once again. It used to be that if, for example you already own Office 2000 PRO, you could buy an upgrade version for about half the cost of a full retail install. However now with 2010 there are no more "upgrade versions". You have to buy a full install copy. MS has removed the upgrade path. That, I think, is really sad and is going to kill them in the long run. Breaks my heart too because I am using 2010 and it freaking rocks!

When my current company upgraded to 2003 it cost about $3,000 for 30 licenses since we got the upgrade price. Going forward from here to 2010? It's almost $7,000!! Since we have other more pressing needs we won't be ditching 2003 until MS prys it from our cold dead machines (by EOL'ing it).

[Peregrine]

And one more thing: OpenOffice sucks.

It is a great program in and of itself but it really does NOT work all that well with MS Office as it claims. I have tried it many times over the years. There is always some issue when trying to open MS Office documents or saving OO docs as Word docs.
I know this will be an unpopular opinion but it really is buggy even today.

Let's Google: This Inside Wire: Six Years Later and OpenOffice Still Sucks

That guy knows exactly what I mean.

[Jesse69]

Open Office is great for the personal user who just can't afford Office 2010 on 4 computers. I also have a problem where my desktop runs multiple hard drive installs based on which removable hard drive I put in my Kingwin removable hd tray. I hope I don't need a separate License for each hd.

Microsoft is just too greedy on their licensing for personal use. I just tried Office 2010 trial and it's awesome but spending $350 for every PC License is just too much.

I only need a copy of Office 2010 so I can know it for the jobs I have or apply too.

[bustaduke]

Originally Posted by Jesse69

If I want Microsoft Office, I need at least the Professional version or better, so I can have Access. The problem nowadays with Office is their greedy Licensing - before if you had Office 2003 you could install it on any amount of computers you own. So I'd put that on my two desktops and laptop computer. But Office 2007 changed that; you have to have a license for every install so it got too expensive so I just abandoned MS Office. No hope in getting a working bootleg version either. $480 for every computer install is just too expensive! I have 2 desktops and 2 laptops!

So now I just do everything with the free Open Office 3.2. Has old Office 2003 compatibility. Thank God Sun offers this software.

Did Microsoft experience a drop in sales of Office 2007 because of their greedy licensing?

How about you? What do you use?

Another greedy company is Adobe. The Master Collection costs $2599 for CS5. That's maybe why a lot of people get the bootleg version...

Look at the comments on this web page - Microsoft

That's the price of doing business my friend, pass it on to your customers.

I use Xactimate Pro that runs $2200 per year and it stings every time I pay for it.

busta