Should I Get MS Office?

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

At the moment, I'm using OpenOffice. Good program. Does what I need. Unfortunately, my school expects me to use MS Office. They have classes and stuff on MS Office, want everything submitted to be a Word Doc, and complain when I submit OpenOffice Docs or PDFs. I really don't want to spend $100+ on bloatware, but I will probably do better in school.

[Arminius]

I thought Open Office could save in .doc format? You could also try Libre Office (http://www.libreoffice.org/).

[MeralFegera]

I actually just bought MS Office 2010 a few days ago. My laptop came with it, and it's sorta spoiled me, since I've been working with MS 2003 on my desktop for so long.

It is quite expensive, but I figure it's worth it and is hardly a irresponsible purchase. Plus if you're at all like me, it will last you for a very long time :smallsmile:

[Mercenary Pen]

At the moment, I'm using OpenOffice. Good program. Does what I need. Unfortunately, my school expects me to use MS Office. They have classes and stuff on MS Office, want everything submitted to be a Word Doc, and complain when I submit OpenOffice Docs or PDFs. I really don't want to spend $100+ on bloatware, but I will probably do better in school.

As Arminius said, it's perfectly possible to save your work in .doc format in open office (though you might get messages saying that it might not handle some of the formatting- I've had the messages but no formatting that a .doc couldn't handle)- it might take a little more time like this, because you'll have to change from the .odt default each time you save, but this way there should be little reason to spend out on MS office.

[Cobalt]

I have the exact same thing; using OpenOffice, everything school-related is in MS Word. The documents do transfer over between the two (most of the time), typically not even needing to use .doc, but insane things happen to me every single time like duplication of any images you have in them onto sometimes other pages or in corners, font changes that are seemingly random, loss of text formatting, indents on specific areas going mad, etc. It is a pain, even as .doc's.

For myself, text-only assignments for school are usually not as big a problem as others and, at worst, I can manually transfer the work (copy-paste) from an originally-OpenOffice doc into a MS Word doc, or similar. Usually. But I realize this is probably both not a feasible option, and is in any case a painful work-around. It also doesn't cover problems like when the entire set-up of the document is both more than text and completely destroyed when opened is MS.

I'm not switching over to MS Office myself, as the school issues are less of a thing for me to deal with. But if it's really, really a problem for you in schoolwork using OpenOffice, then I'd suggest making the switch over. If you think you can manage past it, then more power to you; if you don't plan on ever using MS Office ever again outside of school, then don't. You shouldn't have to buy something that expensive for school anyhow, and if teachers get on you about that detail despite your work being done, tell them exactly that.

[factotum]

The biggest problem you'll find with Word documents in OpenOffice is the support for tables--I'm not sure why they *still* haven't got this right after three iterations, but I've seen all sorts of messed-up stuff when a Word document containing a table gets imported into OpenOffice. I have no idea if exporting a document with a table has the same issues, but I wouldn't trust it myself without at least opening the exported document in Word to confirm it looks OK.

[Icewalker]

Another alternative option is google docs, but that's just changing up for a new system again, which isn't MS Office, so I suppose you probably wouldn't want the hassle. OpenOffice (as well as Google Docs) can save files in .doc, as others've noted. So it probably largely depends on what kind of level of formatting you need as to whether this is a good option or not.

[ShadowHunter]

You can't get Office for super cheap through the school? Usually universities have a deal with software providers, I would suspect that's the very reason they're pushing it on you.

[Elder Tsofu]

I suppose that it depends on your attitude, I see a $100 investment which will reduce problems for years to come and you see it as "bloatware".

I bought mine from here, might not be the cheapest place but it is on university student licence.
USA: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/productID.229301900
Canada: http://www.microsoft.com/student/office/en-ca/default.aspx
Prices and offers might depend on your region of course. I got it in my homeland Sweden where it was even cheaper at the moment.

Remember that sending in assignments in any format except the required one will only hurt yourself. They mark what they get and if they can't open it, it gets all scrambled due to conversion issues or something else that's a problem on your side not theirs.
If you want to change policies you should do it on an university level.

If you're in elementary school they should provide computers (on site) with the programs to manage your tasks, at least it is like that around here. If nothing else you could probably get an library card and work in the local library.

[thubby]

i would just get it for the convenience. you can usually get it through the school for dirt cheap.

tables and pictures usually work when you change to .doc, but not always.

trying to make excel and an open spreadsheet work together is like getting a cat to operate a fire hose.

[valadil]

If you do buy it, make sure you get one of the student discount editions.

[shawnhcorey]

I recommend LibreOffice (http://www.libreoffice.org/) over OpenOffice. Since its split from OpenOffice, its code has been tighten, sped up, debugged, and made more secure.

[blackfox]

I'm pretty sure you could save OpenOffice things as .docs.
If that's not working for you, the only other reason I'd get MS Office is for OneNote, a note-taking/outlining program that has saved my ass in multiple liberal arts/otherwise not-math classes.

EDIT: The other other thing is that MS Word puts some degree of money into making sure that their UI doesn't suck. It'll almost always be more intuitive to use a not-free program than an open-source program.

[Lady Moreta]

I'm pretty sure you could save OpenOffice things as .docs.

You can :smallsmile: you just have to 'save as' and specify the file type to be a .doc - takes longer every time you save a new document, but is doable.

As far as I understand, pictures in documents don't translate very well between the two programs (while I have both, I've never actually had cause to translate documents with pictures).

I recently bought Office 2010 because I was doing some work for a former colleague formatting and proofreading a submission he was making. I had OpenOffice at the time and he was using Word 2003 - the formatting issues drove me so batty that I cave and bought just the basic version of Office and I am so glad I did. I was never that comfortable with OpenOffice, where as I can get MS to do almost anything I want.

And as others have said, you're a student, so you'll be able to get the student discount version. Honestly, I would say it's a good investment... once you leave school and get into the workplace you'll find that most places are running MS Office, not OpenOffice, so being familiar with it will give you an edge.

[factotum]

EDIT: The other other thing is that MS Word puts some degree of money into making sure that their UI doesn't suck.

You've clearly never used Word 2007 or 2010... :smallwink:

[Knaight]

You've clearly never used Word 2007 or 2010... :smallwink:

Yeah, there is a lot that Open Office does far better. Starting with tables.

[Brother Oni]

You've clearly never used Word 2007 or 2010... :smallwink:

2010 isn't that bad once you've wrapped your head around the ribbon concept (at least compared to the horror stories I hear about 2007).

That said, Help is probably my most used function. :smallsigh:

[lesser_minion]

It really doesn't matter. If you like OpenOffice and you can submit work written using it, then there shouldn't be a problem. You may want to mention it to your teachers, but there's no real reason why they should complain.

On the other hand, I don't think you'd regret switching -- Microsoft do put a lot of effort into making sure you get something worthwhile for your money. The fact that you describe it as "bloatware" implies to me that you've already decided, however.


You've clearly never used Word 2007 or 2010... :smallwink:

I use Office 2007. And do you know what I found? The only substantial complaint anyone has made about the ribbon is that it's different. It's a much better way to get things done.

Microsoft put a tonne of money into testing their user interfaces before releasing them. It would take something pretty exceptional for them to screw up the user interface on their flagship product. If you disagree, feel free to try MS Office for a while and notice the difference.

[Lady Moreta]

It really doesn't matter. If you like OpenOffice and you can submit work written using it, then there shouldn't be a problem. You may want to mention it to your teachers, but there's no real reason why they should complain.

Except the fact that he's been told he has to submit his work in .doc format and/or use MS Word... the fact that he isn't doing so means that yes, they have every right to complain regardless of the fact that OpenOffice can essentially do everything Word can. The simple fact is that he's been told to use a specific format, and if he doesn't do so, then those in authority have every right to complain about it, or even to refuse to accept his submissions.

[KillianHawkeye]

As Arminius said, it's perfectly possible to save your work in .doc format in open office (though you might get messages saying that it might not handle some of the formatting- I've had the messages but no formatting that a .doc couldn't handle)- it might take a little more time like this, because you'll have to change from the .odt default each time you save, but this way there should be little reason to spend out on MS office.


You can :smallsmile: you just have to 'save as' and specify the file type to be a .doc - takes longer every time you save a new document, but is doable.

It doesn't have to take longer. If you set your options to default to .doc format, then you won't have to switch it every time.

[ShortOne]

I would recommend GoogleDocs, except that when it saves as .doc, it screws up the formatting. Note: the last time I attempted this was this spring, and there have been many improvements, so take from this what you will.

[Arcane_Snowman]

Open Office should be able to convert to the proper document format for your schools liking, as long as you remember to use save as. If that is not the case, you could set up Google account and using Google Docs as your means of transferring them over into the proper format. (if your school, school library or public library has PCs that you can use.)

Simply copy/paste from your finished document into a Google Doc, then copy/paste from the Google Doc into a word document at a terminal with MS Word.

[lesser_minion]

Except the fact that he's been told he has to submit his work in .doc format and/or use MS Word... the fact that he isn't doing so means that yes, they have every right to complain regardless of the fact that OpenOffice can essentially do everything Word can.

Using OpenOffice shouldn't stop him submitting his work in .doc format. There might be the occasional issue, but no good teacher is going to discriminate against him for being unable or unwilling to spend money on Microsoft Office. So if anything comes up, they should be prepared to overlook it.

I might be tempted to check the documents out at the library or using one of Microsoft's free doc viewers, just to make sure there aren't any serious issues, but I'm not sure it's actually worth the effort unless it actually comes up -- and if something does, I think it would still be a lot easier to just switch.

[blackfox]

You've clearly never used Word 2007 or 2010... :smallwink:I've used both. Pretty sure 'oh god it's new' doesn't count as 'bad UI,' it counts as 'wry bookface so change,' basically. It's different, so you have to learn how to use it, but I've never had problems learning how to use it. Maaaybe the stupidest design decision that Microsoft made with Office is that there's just far too many features; most people wouldn't ever think of using most of them.

[Rawhide]

I use Office 2007. And do you know what I found? The only substantial complaint anyone has made about the ribbon is that it's different. It's a much better way to get things done.

This. Exactly this.

Once you get used to it, you'll find that it's actually a better system. You just need to get used to it.

[Abrexa]

Agreed. Office 2010 is boss :smallsmile:

[Tyndmyr]

I really don't want to spend $100+ on bloatware, but I will probably do better in school.

Is it worth the $100 to do better in school?

I suspect the answer is yes. Sure, it irks to spend money on something just to satisfy silly requirements, but from a pure cost/benefit, it's probably best to do so.

[shawnhcorey]

Is it worth the $100 to do better in school?

I suspect the answer is yes. Sure, it irks to spend money on something just to satisfy silly requirements, but from a pure cost/benefit, it's probably best to do so.

No. Tell them that you'll be submitting your work in UTF-8 text files and if they don't accept them, you'll launch a class-action suit against them.

I don't know where a university, college, or even a publicly-funded school gets the idea that they can dictate that students have to spend additional money to attend their courses. Tell them the same thing my boss tells me, "I'm paying for this; you'll do things my way."

[Hel65]

You can look into MS Office Starter edition. It's free, though I don't know what are the limitations put on it. Anyway, it's worth checking it out before spending $100 on a full version.

[userpay]

Let me make a suggestion on where you can get MS Office for cheap. Assuming you're in a college that this (http://www.journeyed.com/?ref=select) website accepts you can get the Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 bundle for under $100. Thats pretty much all of the programs, a $500 value, for about $80-$90 depending on if you want the download or the disk. I ordered this not to long ago myself and expect it to arrive in the next few days as I ordered the disk version.

[Tyndmyr]

No. Tell them that you'll be submitting your work in UTF-8 text files and if they don't accept them, you'll launch a class-action suit against them.

I don't know where a university, college, or even a publicly-funded school gets the idea that they can dictate that students have to spend additional money to attend their courses. Tell them the same thing my boss tells me, "I'm paying for this; you'll do things my way."

Er...it's extremely common for such things to be specified in the syllabus. It's no different than requiring specific models of calculators for specific math classes.

Yes, they can absolutely require submissions in certain formats.

[shawnhcorey]

Er...it's extremely common for such things to be specified in the syllabus. It's no different than requiring specific models of calculators for specific math classes.

Yes, they can absolutely require submissions in certain formats.

No, they can't. It's just that kind of thinking that has screwed up the world. It is a really bad thing to teach students that they must follow the arbitrary dictates of "authority". Just say no.

[lesser_minion]

No, they can't. It's just that kind of thinking that has screwed up the world. It is a really bad thing to teach students that they must follow the arbitrary dictates of "authority". Just say no.

I'm sorry, what?

It is not 'arbitrary' to require documents to be submitted in a format that the teacher can open, it is not 'arbitrary' to require documents to be submitted in a format the teacher can edit, it is not 'arbitrary' to require a single format for which both of those are the case, and it is certainly not 'arbitrary' to require it in a format that the teacher can do all of those things with using a school computer.

It is certainly not 'arbitrary' to require a file format that every single semi-competent word processing package can handle.

[shawnhcorey]

It is certainly not 'arbitrary' to require a file format that every single semi-competent word processing package can handle.

That would be a UTF-8 text file, the industry standard.

[Leon]

At the moment, I'm using OpenOffice. Good program. Does what I need. Unfortunately, my school expects me to use MS Office. They have classes and stuff on MS Office, want everything submitted to be a Word Doc, and complain when I submit OpenOffice Docs or PDFs. I really don't want to spend $100+ on bloatware, but I will probably do better in school.

Keep with OpenOffice unless they are going to give the other one at a student discount, If its expect to be used then it should be offered at a decent rate.

If they are marking you down for using a slightly different program to submit items then that is a matter worth taking to the next level above the problem staff.

[Tyndmyr]

That would be a UTF-8 text file, the industry standard.

The great thing about standards is that there's so many to pick from.

You cannot enforce standards on your college, though. That would indeed be arbitrary. Office is a very common application. Like it or not, they can and do require that this be the format your work is submitted in.

If this statement is not made clear to you via syllabus/etc prior to class, you might be able to challenge grade modifications for THAT CLASS...but you almost certainly won't be able to force a college to use whatever format you prefer.

[Arminius]

I'm sorry, what?

It is not 'arbitrary' to require documents to be submitted in a format that the teacher can open, it is not 'arbitrary' to require documents to be submitted in a format the teacher can edit, it is not 'arbitrary' to require a single format for which both of those are the case, and it is certainly not 'arbitrary' to require it in a format that the teacher can do all of those things with using a school computer.

It is certainly not 'arbitrary' to require a file format that every single semi-competent word processing package can handle.
It actually strikes me as rather arbitrary, and a poorly chosen arbitrary one at that. The format was closed source, and even after MS releasing it, it is poorly documented and inconsistent in spots, which means that if you want to write a program that will handle it correctly, you will still have to reverse engineer a lot of things. The only organization that actually has a good understanding of it is MS themselves. Open source formats are a lot better, since anyone can read the full specifications and implement them in their entirety if they want. I fail to see why people should be locked into a format that is vague and requires a hideously expensive program to enjoy the full range of it's features, especially when there are other formats that will do the same job for lower cost.

[shawnhcorey]

It actually strikes me as rather arbitrary, and a poorly chosen arbitrary one at that. The format was closed source, and even after MS releasing it, it is poorly documented and inconsistent in spots, which means that if you want to write a program that will handle it correctly, you will still have to reverse engineer a lot of things. The only organization that actually has a good understanding of it is MS themselves. Open source formats are a lot better, since anyone can read the full specifications and implement them in their entirety if they want. I fail to see why people should be locked into a format that is vague and requires a hideously expensive program to enjoy the full range of it's features, especially when there are other formats that will do the same job for lower cost.

It can also contain viruses. That's why the UTF-8 text file is the standard. Text files cannot contain viruses.

[lesser_minion]

How is it arbitrary to do something you have genuine reasons to do?

Also, where exactly is it 'standard' to present an essay, a report, or a paper in a UTF-8 encoded plain text file?

[Elder Tsofu]

I don't find it odd that a university require you to use a specific format for submitting. A college without a computer lab or a library seem like poor college indeed, so most of them provide you with the means of turning in your assignments in the required format. Doing it from home is a luxury you pay a premium for.

Do UTF-8 enable easy use of external programs like endnote?

[lesser_minion]

Do UTF-8 enable easy use of external programs like endnote?

UTF-8 is a character encoding. It's a way of representing text as numbers. In the real world, it's an implementation detail that 90% of users are under no obligation whatsoever to care about.

If you read it as "you should submit your essay as a .txt file", you wouldn't be too far from the mark.

[Gullintanni]

No, they can't. It's just that kind of thinking that has screwed up the world. It is a really bad thing to teach students that they must follow the arbitrary dictates of "authority". Just say no.

Kind of anti-establishment of you don't you think? Not that I disagree in all cases, but keep in mind that it's not the "university" that you're taking on here. It's the professor, who is but a man. And this man is in the business of grading hundreds, if not thousands of exams and essays every year...granted usually with support staff to assist.

Regardless, the professor at the front of the classroom is just one person who, I can almost guarantee, has more on his plate than you do. Profs don't really need to be worrying about which file format essay submissions will come in. The fact is that it's just not practical for a Prof to have to buy software to accommodate file formats he doesn't know or have time to fuss with. That's not accounting for the level of computer illiteracy demonstrated by some very many professors.

The prof, by specifying a preferred file format on the syllabus, is not trying to be an oppressive heavy handed tyrant, but rather, is trying to streamline essay submission by making said submission practical for him. Given that most word processors these days will save documents in multiple formats (almost all of which include MS Word compatibility), and that programs like OpenOffice are free, there's really no excuse to make your profs life harder or more complicated than it has to be by contesting a practical requirement on the syllabus, or flooding his inbox with non-standard doc types.

Ultimately, if you want to resist the thought police and the fascists, you've probably got bigger battles to worry about than the differences between UTF-8, .doc and RTF.

Everything that's wrong with the world is not exemplified by a practical requirement of .docs on a syllabus. Pick your battles man. :smallwink:

EDIT: And for the OP, I've never really used Open Office, but I find MS Word to be hit and miss. Really depends on what you're trying to do with it, but it is admittedly excellent for essays. Whether or not it's worth $100 to you is for you to decide. My copy was free, so I don't really have a dog in this fight. :smallbiggrin:

[Elder Tsofu]

UTF-8 is a character encoding. It's a way of representing text as numbers. In the real world, it's an implementation detail that 90% of users are under no obligation whatsoever to care about.

If you read it as "you should submit your essay as a .txt file", you wouldn't be too far from the mark.

As I thought then. Impractical.

[Asta Kask]

I like MS Word better, but that may be because I haven't gotten used to OpenOffice.

[Tyndmyr]

As I thought then. Impractical.

Yeah, that's not so much a solution as it is an ideology.

Me, I use open office for a lot of things. It's pretty solid, and I like it. That said, I still keep one laptop with Office on it, since OO sometimes has...issues converting things over. Businesses often prefer Office, as do schools. Using MS Office for such things is just less hassle.

[Rawhide]

UTF-8 text files lack the ability to do formatting such as headings, bold, italics, underline, superscript, subscript, etc., etc. It also lacks the ability to produce documents that will look the same on every computer (indeed even on every window size) and when printed. It lacks the ability to use meta tags (many lecturers of which will make use of) and lacks the ability for the lecturer to use many of the tools he or she might be using. Finally, it could cause issues with printing (particularly as all of the assignments are usually sent to the printer in a batch job when printing is required).

It is far from the "standard" for university assignment submission or indeed the "standard" for article publishing (which is what the university is training you for in the assignments).

[Lady Moreta]

It doesn't have to take longer. If you set your options to default to .doc format, then you won't have to switch it every time.

I didn't know that... I probably should have realised it would be possible though. That's probably the simplest solution then. Just set OpenOffice to save everything as .doc and that should be that :smallsmile:


Using OpenOffice shouldn't stop him submitting his work in .doc format. There might be the occasional issue, but no good teacher is going to discriminate against him for being unable or unwilling to spend money on Microsoft Office. So if anything comes up, they should be prepared to overlook it.

Oh I know, but from what the original poster said, he hasn't been doing that. My point was that the school has the right to specify which format they want submissions in. You can protest that it's unreasonable, on those grounds that you specified, but you can't simply say 'no I'm not going to do that'.


Maaaybe the stupidest design decision that Microsoft made with Office is that there's just far too many features; most people wouldn't ever think of using most of them.

But once you know they're there, they're so much fun :smallbiggrin:

[KnightDisciple]

It can also contain viruses. That's why the UTF-8 text file is the standard. Text files cannot contain viruses.

Standard for what?

No, seriously. I've been an employee at 4 fairly large national companies. 3 of the 4 use MS Office; the 4th uses Open Office, though I guarantee they try to use .doc format stuff.

My university generally required .doc, though really it mostly required you print the document.

And Rawhide is absolutely right; .txt files are really quite poor. No real formatting to speak of, and certainly no support for headers, footers, endnotes, and the like.

MS Office supports those, and Open Office does too, both via .doc formats. Which...is a perfectly workable format.

I guess I'm still confused where something besides either .doc or .pdf became a "standard" for...anything. :smallconfused:

EDIT: Apparently (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utf-8), UTF-8 is a pretty big standard....in web page encoding. Which is totally different from a format that's good for submitting academic papers.

[factotum]

It's really a shame that the RTF format never took off--it's a nice standard interchange format, and it's even all in text so shawnhcorey should be happy!

As for my earlier jokey comment about Word 2007, yes, it's definitely different, and for people like me who've been using Word since Word 2.0 on Windows 3.1, it was a massive paradigm shift that I'm still not entirely used to. If you've never used Word before it probably isn't a problem, because you have to learn the whole UI from scratch anyway in that case!

[Lady Moreta]

As for my earlier jokey comment about Word 2007, yes, it's definitely different, and for people like me who've been using Word since Word 2.0 on Windows 3.1, it was a massive paradigm shift that I'm still not entirely used to. If you've never used Word before it probably isn't a problem, because you have to learn the whole UI from scratch anyway in that case!

I remember Windows 3.1 :smallbiggrin: -having been in much the same boat, I too found Word 2007 a bit of a brain-breaking exercise to try and lean to use. I found Word 2010 much easier to wrap my head around... largely does the same stuff as 2003 (which is the version I'm most familiar with) it was just a matter of figuring out where everything was hiding!

The only problem with text-only formatting is that a lot of assignments these days involve things other than text, like graphs and pictures. I suppose it largely depends on what you're studying/what the topic is, but I wouldn't have been able to use a text-only format because of images/graphs that I had to include. This was definitely the case for uni and became the case in the later years of high school as well.

[Abrexa]

No, they can't. It's just that kind of thinking that has screwed up the world. It is a really bad thing to teach students that they must follow the arbitrary dictates of "authority". Just say no.

And they would simply show you the door. Seriously, what country you live in where even being passively a citizen doesn't give you a boatload of 'dictates' by simply breathing? :smallconfused:


It can also contain viruses. That's why the UTF-8 text file is the standard. Text files cannot contain viruses.

Citation needed. Please show some proof of 'viruses' because as of now, such a claim isn't very true, and even 15 years ago, with Office 1997, it was a very feeble one.

[Tyndmyr]

Well...macro viruses exist.

But if you're doing anything that would require enabled macros, it's something you just couldn't do in text files anyway.

So...it seems like kind of a moot point.

[Abrexa]

Well...macro viruses exist.

But if you're doing anything that would require enabled macros, it's something you just couldn't do in text files anyway.

So...it seems like kind of a moot point.

First, macro scripts, while they can do some unvanted activities, are not viruses. Second, harmful macros, IIRC, were removed from Office years ago. So, the point is doubly moot. Third, he is wrong even on his last claim, that text files or graphic files can't contain viruses - you can make a specially prepared file that can trigger security vulnerability in your PC. It usually works only in a single program (say, modified .jpg for old version of adobe), but so do macros - only in one specific program of MS Office, and in specific version of that. So, that's 0 for 3.

And, considering Office is speedily and automatically patched, while his 'UTF-8 format' file text editor usually isn't, well...

[Manga Shoggoth]

First, macro scripts, while they can do some unvanted activities, are not viruses.

...Unless they modify the AutoOpen macro and the default template, in which case yes they are. Some of the early macro viruses (yes, they do exist - Melissa is probably the best known) did this.


Second, harmful macros, IIRC, were removed from Office years ago. So, the point is doubly moot.

Nope. It has been made harder to run macros and a lot harder to make them propagate, but since the harmful macros came from outside Microsoft, I doubt whether you can claim that they were "removed from Office". I haven't heard of any very recent Macro viruses, but then again, nobody had heard of them at all until Concept was accidentally released (by Microsoft, no less....


...but so do macros - only in one specific program of MS Office, and in specific version of that. So, that's 0 for 3.

Depends entirely on how the macro code is written. I have several macros (none viruses, obviously) that run happily on all versions of Office between 4.3 Professional and the current versions, and several that break on the newer versions.

The point about text and image files not propagating viruses is more or less true, however. There was a "virus" that was supposed to be spread by JPG files a few years back, but there was a huge discussion as to whether it was actually a virus as it couldn't actually spread very well.

[Syka]

Yes.

Well, it depends.

I used OpenOffice for several years and it was perfectly sufficient for my needs at the time, which was typing essays that would then be printed to be handed in.

When I began my business degree, I quickly learned this was not sufficient. For one, OpenOffice's version of Excel did not do some of the stats stuff I needed. There was apparently an add on I found somewhere, but I never could get it to work. There were also some transfer issues between Word and OO, as I found when doing group projects.

I got Office 2007 in March 2010 (which then gave me free upgrade to 2010 when it came out) for less than 70USD, and it is the whole package. A fantastic deal.

No more compatibility issues, professors were able to help me much more succinctly (I introduced some of them to OpenOffice, but it made life difficult when neither of us could find a particular thing). It made me confident that professors were actually getting the document I was sending them...since, unlike my undergrad years, they across the board wanted stuff emailed (frequently with a very specific file naming instructions). A lot of my professors/classmates did stuff in .docx, which was incompatible with my OpenOffice so I'd have to ask for it in .doc...super annoying.


I never had a problem using 2007 or 2010. I find it a lot easier to use than OpenOffice, actually.