they always do.

This won't stand up in court. The Europeans will tear it down first.

We needed Project at work, IT FRACKING DELETED OFFICE 2010 PROFESSIONAL DURING THE INSTALL. Microsoft said basically tough shit.



We told them they lost the sale. We returned to to Staples as defective.


We bought the old version on Ebay

unavailable. I am not smart enough to work around Microsoft and figured I'd better grab 2010 while I could. At least I can use it three times.

There are alternatives that are just as good if not better and free.

Open Office

LibreOffice

I can't speak for Open Office but I've been using Libre Office for the last year and it's just as good as MS's offering.

It's enough to learn one office suite well.

And when I tried playing with those a few years ago, I found it too difficult to move stuff between them.

I do recommend those alternatives to those who want an office suite for personal use and aren't rich. Also Google docs for basic stuff.

I use LibreOffice and have no problems interfacing with the MS Office products. A large number of individuals that I send documents to exclusively use the MS product and they have no issues opening and working with documents I send them produced in Libre. Also documents they send me I have no problems working with in Libre.

I use the Text, Spreadsheet, and Database documents.

Way back when I managed a publishing company, I switched everyone over to OpenOffice. Its only fault then was speed, and currently it's better than the dumbed-down puke that M$ Office has become. It's sad that their product peaked at version 5.1a for OS 9.

WordPerfect Office X3 Standard Edition Full oem Version $16.95
http://www.buycheapsoftware.com/details~productID~3048.asp

Want to upgrade from 07 to 10? Pay full price.

No issues at all.

If I used their Office program, I wouldn't bat an eye in finding a way around this pathetic scheme. And normally I never pirate stuff but this is absurd.

talking about.

Nobody here except the geekiest of geeks understood why DRM and online-only licensing for software was becoming a problem and more than a few always whipped out theft accusations, or accusations that people with very legitimate concerns "supported theft".

Well, now everyone gets to live with the results of not slapping down that short-sghted, dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks appeal-to-emotion logical fallacy. Those of us who were trying to point out how such measures only harm legitimate, paying customers now get to say "we fucking told you so, and you didn't listen to us at all."

Everyone who has a problem with this should pull up all the old DU threads regarding software and copyright, find those posters, and complain to them. Some of us tried to tell everyone this was where it was going and they're the ones who shouted us down.

Every game I've bought the past few years has involved this bullshit DRM (well except the Witcher series by CDProcjeckt because they are awesome.)Honestly I think it creates more piarting then it prevents because it really pissed people off to be told they can't use the product they paid for on more than one of their computers. It seems like M$ is moving in that direction with consoles as well. Appearently the next Xbox won't allow used games. So I guess I can't loan games to my friends or take them over to a friend's house without packing up my Xbox. Honestly, I probably won't even buy one for that reason alone. It's utterly riddicuious.

Screw that....

Everyone else should give it a try before they buy M$Office too.

I think a lot of companies are going to start looking for alternatives to Microsoft Office as they don't want to keep repurchasing software they already paid for. Google is growing fast and I suspect that soon they are going to reveal that they are working on their own PC Operating System to compete with Windows and an Office Suite to go along with it. Google actually has the resources to pose a serious threat to Microsoft and if Microsoft keeps doing things like this to piss off their customers then I could easily see Google absolutely destroying them in the not too distant future.

I don't need all the bells and whistles for at home use, I think few people do.

We get Microsoft at Home through our corporate license which allows me to get the Enterprise version for something like $20 including disc. This is cheap enough that I'll use it just to make sure all my documents are coherent.

I purchased MS Vista Ultimate Edition off the shelf.... not on a PC... some time ago. I wiped the hard drive on my laptop and installed it there. A few years later, I replaced Vista with Ubuntu on the laptop and created a virtual machine on a server where I installed Vista - my licensed copy of Vista. When I tried to validate the product, I was prompted with a message that the license key was invalid. Called Microsoft... was told that the OS was licensed to be used on only 1 machine. That I couldn't move the OS to a different machine.

I've since replaced my Windows OS with Ubuntu server 64 bit on the server. I've been an extremely happy Linux user from that point on. Free OS, and free software.

It's not that I mind paying for a product. I actually don't mind at all. But when I'm being forced to re-purchase the same product over and over, that's where I draw the line. The alternative - Ubuntu/Linux - is a very good one. Easy to install, easy to configure, easy easy easy. And... Not 1 virus alert since moving from MS to Linux. It's a very stable and secure platform.

Now... back to MS Office.... I use Open Office. Took a while to get used to it, but I can't see one reason why I would ever pay MS for a licensed copy of Office when I can use this perfectly good alternative. And for free.

They know the vast majority will just pony up the cash.

invalidate your license.

Other nations don't let them get away with this crap.

ITS FREE!
I would rather have something sub-par for free than to pay 10 bucks a month for something that is still sub-par!


the free alternatives are not the PITA that they used to be-a little tweaking, and you have a very user friendly set of programs

Open Office and Libre Office no longer suck as bad as they used to.

Like any piece of software, they continue to evolve. Their compatibility is excellent, however, there will always be exceptions. But honestly, Microsoft often makes their formats moving targets for even their own previous versions of Office.

If someone is a serious desktop publisher, they won't be using Microsoft Office anyway. If someone is need a resume in Word, a .doc from Office 2000 will still open in current versions and look just fine. So will an OO .doc.

It's almost an exact copy of MS Office 2003, which was by far the best version of MS Office ever. Ever since then all they've done is junk it up with needless extras so they can continue getting people to pay the extra money for the new release. But Open Office will be more than sufficient for 95% of all computer users out there.

The only reason I still even have MS Office on my computer is because I'm in IT and need to keep up to date on technology. If I wasn't, I would gladly and cheerfully ditch MS Office and just use Open Office.

I have a spread sheet that actually transfers realtime data from another website. I wonder if Open Office can do that (and perform it better).

If I can, then I am willing to dump 8 and go Ubuntu on this laptop.

I don't use it very much, but the few times I did it performed pretty much almost exactly like Excel does. I would advise you to download Open Office and give it a try and see if it will work for you. Since it's free, you have nothing to lose.

....REALLY dumb move Microsoft, all based on greed.

of course if people are tired of paying the high fees their are plenty of alternatives. Open office for one

A lot of licenses tied to a particular system have that problem. Upgrade the RAM and video card and bam, you have to purchase a bunch of software again.

...when I lost a hard drive on a fairly new computer and the recovery discs had some glitch that wouldn't let me reinstall the windows OS. I called Microsoft and they kindly told me the only option was for me to buy a new set of Windows discs, with a new license, for $139.

Then six months later the same damn thing happened on a second computer - virus took down the hard-drive and I had to reformat it and reinstall the OS. This computer came with no recovery discs, but I figured "no problem! I have the Windows program I just bought!" - but no, the activation key would only work once, for one install. I called Microsoft and explained the situation, how I had bought the first computer with Windows, then had to buy the OS again when it failed, and now I had bought a second computer with Windows - why should I have to buy the OS again? But that's what they said - the best they could do is sell me another activation key, for $139.

Wouldn't it be nice if you bought a car, and every time it broke down and you took it in for service they said "sorry, not serviceable, time to buy a new car!"

Anyway, I switched that second computer to Ubuntu and its been great. For the last ten years of development, Ubuntu has always been better than windows, one step ahead, and the latest version is the best yet. Admittedly, I don't like Open Office as much as MS Office, but it does everything I need to well enough, without all the MS bullshit.

Just, install it and activate it on a VMWare virtual and put it on a USB 3.0 portable drive.
Now you just need the free VMWare Player and you can take it to any workstation you want.
Set it up on a Linux host and your MS Operating System that is activated isn't tied to specific hardware either.

I'm not going to go by the statement of some marketing person.

Sometimes Microsoft makes some pretty dumb decisions.

Each disk allows three installations. When I buy a new laptop I buy it without the office suite and use my old one. Since I was a student I got a basic copy for $99. Unfortunately I will need it until I finish my dissertation.