To think that £60 a year for MS Office is crazy? What do people have instead?

[midnightlurker]

Clicked on the link to renew and couldn't believe the price! Only want it on one computer, for Word and Excel!!!

Isn't that 16p per day?

Extortionate.

PM me your email, midnightlurker!

Libre Office. It's free. I used to use Open Office but was told Libre keeps pace with Word better.

Google Docs. Does almost everything that office does and you can share docs and edit/view them on all your devices. And it's free.

Do you have any school-age children with their own email address? you can get discounted MS software for educational purposes

Google Docs and Libre Office here.

We use Google for lots of other business stuff too.

Google docs here.

Yep, Libre Office is excellent and is easy to pick up if you are used to using MS Office.

If any one in the house is a student or has an ac.uk email address, Microsoft pretty good deals for Office too.

I used to use OpenOffice but the little compatibility issues drove me mad when uploading or downloading documents from home. Luckily my employer paid the subscription for me but I'll watch the thread with interest for when my year is up!

You buy it every year. Ive only bought it once over 15 years ago and i think its on the third computer now. Im not interested in the up to date one just something to write letters etc.

i think you can get it for single computer use for £30

£60 for a piece of software you can almost run an entire business from? That can get you through school or university? That can manage all of your finances, your email, your correspondence, writing, contacts...?

I never understand why people are so unwilling to pay money for incredibly useful software. There are alternatives, OpenOffice, Google Docs, but they don't come close to the power of Office.

Most people spend more a year on hot water and coffee granules than Office costs, yet seem completely happy to do so.

Libre and google docs. Also use scrivener to write.

Does your employer have any deals (education, public sector?). I work for a public body and bought MS Office for about £10/11. I mainly prefer it over MS Works because I like spreadsheets with more than one tab - use it for household accounts and to do lists/holiday planning etc.

I bought the student version that wasn't a subscription. Had used open office before that.

Can you access Office 365 for students? If you have a child of school age?

Libre office - you won't know the diffence most of the time. Just set it to save as .doc or .docx as the default and you're done.

The Microsoft Word app is free for tablets

I think it's great value. I get up to date versions of each programme , including publisher which I use a lot for work things and for 'craft' things. To get the same package as a one off would have cost around £300 and that would not have included any updates. I can have over four years of updates with my subscription, whereas, for the same one off cost, I would not get the updates.

Is it £60 for a one off license, or £60 per year?

How do you get the discount for school,age children? I looked into it but thought they needed an @school email address which they don't have.

Another vote for Open Office. Interested to hear about Libre Office though, must investigate.

If you're a business owner and take the subscription service (pay monthly) it's deductible.

It is amazing value for money.

You can use MS office online for free.

Google and libre here too.