Free downloads

[Aggers]

I have been considering getting Windows Excel software for my accounts.

The proper price for this software is around £100 but there are several websites offering a free download.
There must, surely, be a catch somewhere. What is it ?

[Workingman]

The snag?

The download is free, to use the application after x days or uses costs money.

You need an alternative to Excel that works in a similar way and is FREE. I would go for Ashampoo/SoftMaker Office. it works seamlessly with Excel. See this article: http://www.mostiwant.com/blog/ashampoo- ... erial-key/

To get the Office go to item 4. fist and download the ashampoo_office_2010_10.0.584_fm.exe as described. Then proceed to item 2. to register.

Another alternative is OpenOffice available here: http://www.openoffice.org/ Simply download and install. It is also FREE to use forever.

[Fugitive]

Open Office is great. Can't tell the difference between that and MS Word, Works, Office and Excel.

My first PC in 1999 was pre-loaded with so many free software programmes and a box of discs it felt like Christmas.

[Workingman]

Open Office is great. Can't tell the difference between that and MS Word, Works, Office and Excel.

There are some compatibility issues with OO for commercial use, esp with the new formats, but for personal use it is as good as it gets.

My first PC in 1999 was pre-loaded with so many free software programmes and a box of discs it felt like Christmas.

Ah, I remember those days... sadly gone now. I still use some of them even now - Micrografx Picture Publisher, Nero Burning CD Rom, Partition Manager and others - they now tend to be time/use limited.

[Aggers]

Thanks, Frank & Fugitive.

I have just installed Open Office and am now in the process of getting to know it.

It seems to be very comprehensive.

[Workingman]

Aggers, if you have used MS Office/Works in the past, and I assume that you have, the learning curve for OO is relatively painless.

The reason I offered Ashampoo/SoftOffice is that I got it as a FREE older version and was so impressed that I bought the upgrade.

Tip: If you ever think that you might need to use MS Office at some time in the future, or make your work available to, say, an accountant, then when saving your work use "Save As" and choose one of the MS options available. OO will still work with them when you open them later.

[JoM]

Open Office is great. Can't tell the difference between that and MS Word, Works, Office and Excel.

My first PC in 1999 was pre-loaded with so many free software programmes and a box of discs it felt like Christmas.

Those were the days!

It does annoy me that something like Office doesn't come preloaded any more. My boys need it for their homework so just after Tom started at secondary school we had to purchase a copy and thankfully at that time Software4Students were able to offer it very cheaply, I think we paid around £30 for it. Since then though they've been prevented, I think by Microsoft from what I understand, from selling it so cheaply so now it's for sale on there for around £80. It's a lot to have to fork out on top of a laptop/PC purchase
Luckily for us, when Joe got his laptop last year, Argos were throwing in a free copy of Office on a time-limited offer with certain models.

[Workingman]

Jo, when I was teaching it used to drive me to distraction that MS Office was always promoted as the office suite to use.

It was the same when I was teaching Literacy and Numeracy for a local college. At every turn it was MS products that were promoted as the the ones to use.

The reality is that MS products are not needed in order to complete any education course.

Any compatible office suite will do. It could be Lotus Symphony, or OO, or any one of the the ones I have highlighted here. SoftMaker is actually one of the better ones as it is compatible from the outset, but it is not the only one.

I just wish that parents were aware of the alternatives.

[pederito1]

I use open office, it is fine and in some ways better than MS. Just a little difficulty typing envelopes I have found.

[JoM]

Jo, when I was teaching it used to drive me to distraction that MS Office was always promoted as the office suite to use.

It was the same when I was teaching Literacy and Numeracy for a local college. At every turn it was MS products that were promoted as the the ones to use.

The reality is that MS products are not needed in order to complete any education course.

Any compatible office suite will do. It could be Lotus Symphony, or OO, or any one of the the ones I have highlighted here. SoftMaker is actually one of the better ones as it is compatible from the outset, but it is not the only one.

I just wish that parents were aware of the alternatives.

It was the teachers who were on at us that he needed MS Office. I remember going to a parents evening a month or so after he'd got his laptop, which I'd set up with Open Office as that's what I use, and two of them mentioned that they couldn't read his homework as it wasn't in MS Office