Microsoft Office for new staff

[intelligentppc]

Back in the day everyone had an uncle with a Microsoft Office CD and a key generator which allowed you to put it on any computer you wanted, gratis.

I have 2 new staff starting on Monday and I need to get Microsoft Office for both of them.

Seems that for businesses you have to pay a monthly fee of around £7. It doesn't let me buy outright, unless I went for the Home version which is probably illegal, but maybe illegal in the sense that recording TV shows onto VCR used to be illegal, ie not enforced.

Can someone shed some light on how I can get 2 versions of Office cheaply before Monday - do I just have to go for the monthly fee?

Thanks

 

[NickGrogan]

There are different license levels, the cheapest gives you email and online versions which aren't that useful, the next step up which is around £7 gives you email and full software versions, which you can download and use on up to 5 PCs / Macs per license.

So one £7 subscription is all you need.

 

[tony84]

Could you not buy a copy of an older version? - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-...138246&hash=item28661403a8:g:akEAAOSwFyhaR452

 

[Noah]

Back in the day everyone had an uncle with a Microsoft Office CD and a key generator which allowed you to put it on any computer you wanted, gratis.

I have 2 new staff starting on Monday and I need to get Microsoft Office for both of them.

Seems that for businesses you have to pay a monthly fee of around £7. It doesn't let me buy outright, unless I went for the Home version which is probably illegal, but maybe illegal in the sense that recording TV shows onto VCR used to be illegal, ie not enforced.

Can someone shed some light on how I can get 2 versions of Office cheaply before Monday - do I just have to go for the monthly fee?

Thanks

Does it have to be MS Office? There are alternatives - e.g. OpenOffice. Unless you need tight integration with other software, OpenOffice is very similar to MS Office in functionality.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

Could you not buy a copy of an older version? - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-...138246&hash=item28661403a8:g:akEAAOSwFyhaR452

Faked Chinese volume license key. Not sure why you would recommend that.

 

[ffox]

Provided Internet access is available. Create Microsoft Outlook accounts (free) for each employee (Google Outlook Live). They can then use the browser versions of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint and a whole host of other Office 2016 applications.

Use of these is completely free, documents can be saved locally or to a network share mapped to the users computer, or to the Microsoft cloud OneDrive. Cloud saved documents can be replicated back to the local machine, or to any other machine on your network.

Why cheat, when MS give it to you for free?

You can do similar with Google docs and a gmail account, but if your organisation already uses Microsoft Office you may have a few compatibility issues.

 

[tony84]

Faked Chinese volume license key. Not sure why you would recommend that.

I feel like there is some attitude coming from your post. No idea why.

How about you assume I thought it was cheap because its a 2 year old product rather than me assuming someone was ripping off Microsoft?

 

[billybob99]

I feel like there is some attitude coming from your post. No idea why.

How about you assume I thought it was cheap because its a 2 year old product rather than me assuming someone was ripping off Microsoft?

There are tons of legit websites selling Office 2016 for Mac for between £5-11 for between 1 and 3 users.

 

[Dimo]

I suggest you buy older versions of MS Office or use an alternative like Open Office (or similar). Personally I think companies like Microsoft and Adobe are ripping people off by charging a monthly license fee. Why would you hand them money every month? Kinda reminds me of the PPL licensing scam . . .

 

[Nico Albrecht]

I feel like there is some attitude coming from your post. No idea why.

How about you assume I thought it was cheap because its a 2 year old product rather than me assuming someone was ripping off Microsoft?

No attitude on my part. Office 2016 home and business is min. 148 + vat. You go below that and get some dodgy crap from China or illegal sold volume licenses. Software from eBay 90% pirated stuff.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

There are tons of legit websites selling Office 2016 for Mac for between £5-11 for between 1 and 3 users.

Would you mind naming 2 websites that sell legit stuff for 5 - 10 £££

 

[MikeJ]

Amazon will sell you Office for around £20. You download the software and use the key that's emailed to you. It's an OEM version, but works fine.

 

[Mr D]

Amazon will sell you Office for around £20. You download the software and use the key that's emailed to you. It's an OEM version, but works fine.

And sellers are not undercutting amazon?

How prices have risen since last year....

 

[Nico Albrecht]

Amazon will sell you Office for around £20. You download the software and use the key that's emailed to you. It's an OEM version, but works fine.

There is no oem office 2016 fact. I just checked the cheapest genuine version sold directly by amazon is £178 , the other stuff floating around is just pirated stuff , a good indication is anything with office plus in it's name. They are volume licenses not allowed to be resold for retail.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

Just to clarify the Office versions and what it cost to get a genuine office. You can by the subscription which is called office 365, currently you would get 365 as a rental 2016 professional version from Microsoft. Most basic one is 3 computers 1 year around £35 - £50. If you want to buy a lifetime licences you need to buy an office product that contains a full year in the name aka 2010 / 2013 / 2016 office. Office Home & Student doesn't contain outlook so you need office home & business or professional. The cheapest is amazon at the moment at around £178. Any office version containing the name Office plus aka Office 2016 professional plus is not meant to be for retail and is only sold as a min pack of 5 or more through Microsoft partners. You cannot legally obtain a volume license without a Microsoft contract number.

Question now is how can ebay and amazon 3rd parties offer it so much cheaper. Simple they either use something called Microsoft Action pack which cost $250 and gives you 10 licenses for internal use and testing only. They work but are not allowed to be sold.

Second option. They buy 1 Microsoft Office 2016 volume license key for around £300 which allows for up to 50 activation. They can now sell that key 50 times and it takes 90 - 180 days for Microsoft to find out and they will block the key.

Office OEM there's an option to buy Office 2016 with Dell Hardware but it is only £5 cheaper.

As a general guideline go to the Microsoft Store and check prices. 3rd parties can offer that price 15% cheaper at best. If you find a product in the Microsoft store 15% cheaper on the internet it is a doggy product.

 

[Mr D]

. If you find a product in the Microsoft store 15% cheaper on the internet it is a doggy product.

And known as Microsoft Kennel.

Seriously can be worth looking around for older MS packages. Much of my office stuff is done on an old version. 2003 I think.
These days there are multiple options regarding word processing, spreadsheets etc. The days of MS Office being the only option are long gone.

 

[Bob Morgan]

Someone has already mentioned 'Open Office.' This is an MS Office Work-a-Like and can work with MS File Formats - There is little point in buying MS Office! 'Open Source Programmes' are worth investigating, dependent upon your business and sphere of activity. CAD, 3D Modelling, Accounts, PDF Editing and DTP are all catered for.

Buying Overseas is another option. Most Software Houses have different pricing strategies throughout the world - The UK is the most expensive! (By a long way!) I have done this in the past (Purchasing from Branch Offices in Dubai and Manila). However, it did raise a query on a VAT Inspection ("You can't buy it Manila and use it in the UK!") Nothing was heard afterwards.

 

[Phil Elvin]

I know it's not maybe the cheapest but surely the solution is an Office 365 solution at under a tenner per month to get all the up to date (and future) software. covering 5 PCs/MACs, 5 phones and 5 tablets is the way forward.

 

[ffox]

I know it's not maybe the cheapest but surely the solution is an Office 365 solution at under a tenner per month to get all the up to date (and future) software. covering 5 PCs/MACs, 5 phones and 5 tablets is the way forward.

I wholeheartedly agree.

Many Office 365 plans deliver the option of installing Office suite software on local devices at very reasonable cost.

However, all O365 plans deliver the browser versions of Word, Excel (SaaS, or Software as a Service) and other applications in addition to the locally installed version. The same SaaS applications are available to anyone FoC. All you need to do is create a Microsoft account (also FoC) and you can use Word Excel, PowerPoint and other apps legally and without charge.

The only requirement is Internet access.

You can do the same with Google Office products.

Another plus of SaaS applications is that you are not tied to a particular PC or Laptop. You can create, update and process the same documents across a range of devices that are Windows, Android, IoS or even Linux.

Why install local software if you don't need it?

 

[Inva]

Unless if you have a reason for needing MS office, you should take a look at LibreOffice or OpenOffice as others said. I use LibreOffice but OpenOffice is similar (they were the same project once, which split in 2). These are both free and you can do with them pretty much all that you would with MS Office. Also you won't worry about the legality of it and will be getting updates without worry.

 

[Bob Morgan]

Why are respondents still recommending an MS Solution (At a Substantial Cost), when there are Open Source Options for FREE!

 

[Nico Albrecht]

Because the free versions are not even coming close to office 2016. There is a reason why Microsoft is a market leader. Nothing wrong with open and libre office but they are not as good as Ms office. Free stuff is normally not good to start with.

 

[Bob Morgan]

Because the free versions are not even coming close to office 2016. There is a reason why Microsoft is a market leader. Nothing wrong with open and libre office but they are not as good as Ms office. Free stuff is normally not good to start with.

How much does Microsft , AutoDESK and Trimble pay me to 'Test Drive' their Software?

 

[Inva]

Because the free versions are not even coming close to office 2016. There is a reason why Microsoft is a market leader. Nothing wrong with open and libre office but they are not as good as Ms office. Free stuff is normally not good to start with.

Not really true, it's just that people are used to these and are afraid to try learn another. Most people use these programs for simple jobs which can be handled easily by another suite.

Free stuff is normally not good to start with.

If it comes from corporations like Google, Microsoft, etc then i would agree. If it comes from the free world, then i disagree. Why all top 500 supercomputers are Linux, if it's not very good? (according to you)

 

[ffox]

If it comes from corporations like Google, Microsoft, etc then i would agree. If it comes from the free world, then i disagree. Why all top 500 supercomputers are Linux, if it's not very good? (according to you)

But, Linux is an operating system, not a suite of Office Software.

I agree with @Nico Albrecht , MS Office is MS Office. Open Office, Libre Office and Google Docs may be good, but there are compatibility issues with the Microsoft product. Sent a Document created using 'alternative' software to a user on MS Office and you can't guarantee the formatting and layout.

Add to that the slow pace of development involved with open source software and it becomes a no-brainer

 

[Inva]

But, Linux is an operating system, not a suite of Office Software.

I agree with @Nico Albrecht , MS Office is MS Office. Open Office, Libre Office and Google Docs may be good, but there are compatibility issues with the Microsoft product. Sent a Document created using 'alternative' software to a user on MS Office and you can't guarantee the formatting and layout.

Add to that the slow pace of development involved with open source software and it becomes a no-brainer

Well, he said "free stuff" which it sounds to me like a general rule so i took a more well known example. Regarding the document format, free suites work with ODT and such which are standards and work everywhere (including MS Office), while MS works with their own proprietary format. Usually free suites will have support for the MS formats too. In any case, the issue here is not with "the rest of the world" but with that one which tries to lock you in.

99% of tasks can be made with free suites. The question is "what do you need to do that you can't do it with a free one?"

 

[Mr D]

I learnt to do word processing back in the early 1980s so I'm not wedded to MS office. Its nice and all but for what I want to do there are other options.

When I have office software I use it. When I don't have it then I use something else. Either way files are created, letters sent etc.

 

[ffox]

Regarding the document format, free suites work with ODT and such which are standards and work everywhere (including MS Office), while MS works with their own proprietary format. Usually free suites will have support for the MS formats too.

It's not what it can do it's how it appears on the page. The vast majority of computer users (especially in the business sector) use MS Office.

You can format and layout a document or SS in (say) Open Office for submission to a customer and if they use MS Office the format and layout can be radically different. This is especially an issue where both supplier and client need to collaborate on a document.

 

[Dimo]

You can format and layout a document or SS in (say) Open Office for submission to a customer and if they use MS Office the format and layout can be radically different. This is especially an issue where both supplier and client need to collaborate on a document.

Oh? I use Libre Office and it allows full compatibility with MS Word versions and spreadsheets. Never once had an issue sending or receiving files in more than five years of use. I still have MS Office 2003 but it's redundant.

 

[Alan]

I too haven't had paid for MS Office product since my kids were at school ( they left school 15 years ago ).

I find Libre Office the best product for my desktop needs and never had a compatibility issue, but then office processing isn't really a major part of my life.

Certainly if multi person collaboration is a requirement then being on the same product is likely to be important, and in 2018 if you are collaborating then you should really be doing that on a browser based product ( O365 Word - G Suite Docs being the main contenders - others exist ) rather than a desktop product.

 

[ffox]

Oh? I use Libre Office and it allows full compatibility with MS Word versions and spreadsheets. Never once had an issue sending or receiving files in more than five years of use.

Try table layouts, table-of-contents and font matches. You can get away with quite a lot, but when presentation matters it, falls down. The biggest issue is that you won't know until your customer observes your apparent lack of effort.

But, why bother when for the same cost as Open Office (zero) you can use Word online and be sure that there is full compatibility. And, you don't need to install, maintain or update any local software at all.

Certainly if multi person collaboration is a requirement then being on the same product is likely to be important, and in 2018 if you are collaborating then you should really be doing that on a browser based product ( O365 Word - G Suite Docs being the main contenders - others exist ) rather than a desktop product.

Sure. But, you will find that if collaborating in O365 issues will arise if different editing software is used. For O365 all collaborators should use either client based MS Word or Word online.

The OP has already indicated that his origination uses MS Office

 

[alan1302]

Oh? I use Libre Office and it allows full compatibility with MS Word versions and spreadsheets. Never once had an issue sending or receiving files in more than five years of use. I still have MS Office 2003 but it's redundant.

Have used Libre and Open Office at home and had issues with it displaying correctly word and excel documents - would not want to trust it with all the spreadsheets I am sent at work