Microsoft office

[crazycatlady]

I'm about to buy a new laptop and need to have the software for work. No CD drive so I can't load my old version.

Best Buy is offering the software with my computer for $50 for a year. I am googling around and seeing it for as low as $13. Are these legit?

[Mosby]

1. I would buy direct from MS

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/b/office365

I use it on my desktop computer.

One nice change is that they finally allow open office docs.

[snot]

2. Fwiw, I wouldn't buy the "discount" version.

Take a look on amazon, see if you can find the same thing you're seeing elsewhere for cheap, and read the reviews. Probably questionable post-purchase support.

If it were me, I'd do the one-time, non-subscription purchase from a trusted source – probably cheaper in the long run, plus I object to the subscription model on principle.

Just curious, can you not use a thumb drive to transfer the old software?

[crazycatlady]

3. My current software is 2007

If that will transfer, that would be awesome.

[snot]

4. Actually, I just googled

"how to install software from a CD if laptop has no CD drive", and found this: http://www.pcworld.com/article/248341/how_do_i_install_software_from_a_cd_when_my_laptop_lacks_a_cd_drive_.html

"You have two options. First, you can buy or borrow an external drive. A quick check of Ebay reveals tons of USB DVD burners selling for $20-40. Might be a handy item to have on hand.

Second, try downloading your software instead. When I checked Samsung’s support page for my SSD kit, I found not only manuals and drivers, but also Norton Ghost 15.

I downloaded it, installed it, then activated it using the license key that came with the actual disc.

You can do likewise with Microsoft Office: just download the trial version that matches the version you already own, then activate it using your product key. (This gets a little trickier with older versions of Office, as Microsoft currently offers only the 2010 edition for download. You might need to hit up some torrent sites to find older trials.)"

[Nictuku]

6. I was going to suggest an external (USB) DVD/CD drive

... but you beat me to it. They are fairly inexpensive, and you could probably get a used on on ebay or amazon for even less.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. Or, if you have another PC on the network with a CD drive, share it.

It is slower than a directly-connected CD, but it works.

It involves setting up a Windows workgroup or homegroup or something like that.

[CentralMass]

5. Or you try LibreOffice for free.

https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/install-howto/windows/

[crazycatlady]

7. Is this actual Office or something else

(My job requires Word and Excel to be name brand).

[mythology]

10. It isn't, but you can open Office documents and save in the Microsoft formats

I use LibreOffice to both Google Docs and Microsoft Office formats.

[hunter]

11. LibreOffice seems highly compatible with Microsoft Office these days.

Some hard core users of Excel will disagree.

I won't use any Microsoft products, including Windows, unless someone is paying me.

If work requires Office 2016 or a subscription to Office 365 then they ought to pay the full cost, and with zero expectations you'll get by with anything other than the full professional suite; not home editions, not student editions, or anything else.

After all, you ARE a professional.

[ret5hd]

8. Or OpenOffice (also free)

[True Dough]

12. That's what I use

It's the next best thing, IMO. But the price is FAR better!

[hunter]

13. LibreOffice forked from OpenOffice when Sun, and later Oracle, started acting like they owned it.

It was originally sponsored by Sun Microsystems, which Oracle later bought, and was supposed to be a community developed free alternative to Microsoft Office.

Most of the community developers, disgusted by corporate bullying, left to create LibreOffice. How do you fire someone who doesn't work for you, on a project in which you own no more than a name and a few obsolete bits and pieces of? Answer: You don't.

A few community developers stayed on with the OpenOffice project, but Oracle dismissed them all in 2010, leaving only Oracle employees to maintain Open Office. Less than a year later, Oracle canceled it's support of OpenOffice entirely and donated all the trademarks to the Apache Software Foundation.

LibreOffice is in all respects the modern successor to OpenOffice, and is the focus of most development efforts.

Apache OpenOffice is the successor as designated by Oracle and IBM. IBM is involved because they had merged Lotus Symphony code into Open Office as the successor to previous versions of IBM Lotus Symphony.

The politics of it all were intriguing to me.

I've got LibreOffice installed on my computer but I tend to write most everything in Markdown using lightweight editing tools, and then convert it to the desired format when I'm done, as necessary. HTML, DOC, PDF, whatever...

Markdown works on most computers, even old 8 bits, because it's plain text in a format that will never become obscure or obsolete.

[crazycatlady]

14. A little update

Bought the laptop and am on it now.

Decided on buying Office Home and Student 2016 (buying it outright rather than the subscription model and another monthly/annual bill). Priced it out at Big Boxes and online. Most stores (Target, Staples, Best Buy, PC Richard, Office Depot) have it for $149. Walmart has it for $118 and Amazon for $124.

I found a copy on eBay for $58.55. London based seller will email me the product keycode. I haven't bought anything on ebay in ages (and the only things I've bought there were physical products, not digital products). Does this sound legit? ALso does ebay offer some sort of protections if it is not legit?

[Initech]

15. Don't go the eBay route - there's way too many illigitimate sellers out there.

A lot of times the keys they obtain and sell are not by what one would call legal means, and a lot of times they are also keys that have already been used. Use caution when buying from eBay.