Microsoft Office

audiobliss

I cannot survive any longer without Microsoft Office. I have to buy a copy. So, what are the new versions and what're the differences? Office 2003 and Office XP are the two newest ones, as far as I know. Which one's newer? What are the primary differences? Is one 'better' than the other?

I'm going to get it for school, but also to 'play' around on. My new 'career of interest' is something like database administrator, so I'd spend a bunch of time in Access. I'd also be getting the full, professional version.

So, what's the version to get?

audiobliss

Also, where's the best place to buy it from? From looking before, I think I determined newegg had pretty good prices for Office.

Being a student, I remember from when I looked all this up before I could get a pretty good discount. Don't remember how I found that, though.

Holydoc

Really a bad time to be purchasing MS OFFICE since a new one is about to come out. 2003 is the latest published one. 2007 is in beta stage.

Here is your chance to try out the beta and give MS some of your inputs. Have fun.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/default.mspx

Holydoc

audiobliss wrote:

Also, where's the best place to buy it from? From looking before, I think I determined newegg had pretty good prices for Office.

Being a student, I remember from when I looked all this up before I could get a pretty good discount. Don't remember how I found that, though.

Purchase from your local university or college. They will have the academic version which will cost nearly a third of what the normal retail cost is.

audiobliss

If by 'academic version' you mean the student and teacher version, it doesn't include Access. However, you may not be referring to that.

Is there an expected release date for Office 2007? I'll check out that beta version.

How important is it to be familiar with the older versions? Unless I'm mistaken, Office XP (if it came before 2003) took a pretty radical departure from the previous versions. So, would it be a good idea to have an older version/be familiar with the workings of the previous versions?

Thanks!

audiobliss

Major bummer. I'm downloading the Beta version of 2007, and all the 'extras' seem to be working, but when I click on the link to download the actuall Office suite, there's an error and it can't find the page.

janmike

Check on eBay. I purchased Office 2003 (OEM version) sealed and at a fraction on the price. I cannot remember how much I paid but way under a $100 and came with Access, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and InfoPath and Publisher. Lots of there right now.

audiobliss

Man, a price like that'd be great!! But, ebay's out.

markmarc

I have a copy of MS OfficeXP 2002 Professional with the key code. It was never used. Yes, it's older, but 98% of what is in 2007 is in this version. Micro$oft never gets office right until it's second edition updates, so you are looking at 2008 before the bugs are out.
It's on three discs and I'll sell it for $70, just pm me if interested.

audiobliss

Thanks for the offer, I appreciate it. If I can get this Beta version to download, and if it works great with no apparent bugs, then I'll probably just stick with that.

But if not, I may very well be interested.

tryrrthg

Buy a copy from your college/university. I had my brother buy me Office 2003 professional from his school, cost me $16.

Demiurge

audiobliss wrote:

Thanks for the offer, I appreciate it. If I can get this Beta version to download, and if it works great with no apparent bugs, then I'll probably just stick with that.

But if not, I may very well be interested.

The Beta version won't work forever. You're going to have to spend money. You're on a trial.

audiobliss

Demiurge wrote:

The Beta version won't work forever. You're going to have to spend money. You're on a trial.

Yeah, that's a good point. But, assuming I can actually get it to download and work right, it's good through (or 'til) February of next year. So that's long enough for me to use it and figure out if I want 2007 or 2003 or whatever.

Do y'all really think the first release of Office 2007 will have a lot of bugs and that it'd be worth it to wait for a later release?

It seems to me that each successive edition of Office just dumbs it down even more, making it easier to use. I'm not sure, though, 'cause I never really used the older versions.

audiobliss

tryrrthg wrote:

Buy a copy from your college/university. I had my brother buy me Office 2003 professional from his school, cost me $16.

$16?! Wow...I don't think FTCC is selling it that cheap. But I'm going to check out their website right now!

exalted512

I got mine through the university for $15 shipped :-)
-Cody

audiobliss

Wow...I'm thinking the bookstore at my community college sucks, then...I've never heard of a price that low...:eek:

SCompRacer

Beta software is great until your working on something important and something goes wrong. I'd go with a current academic version.

audiobliss

SCompRacer wrote:

Beta software is great until your working on something important and something goes wrong. I'd go with a current academic version.

Hmm. Well, maybe you're right.

2003 would be a better choice than XP, then, right?

SCompRacer

IMHO, it is usually best to pick up the latest version provided MS has at least applied a couple of service packs to it. I have both 2003 and XP on different computers here and have yet to use all the bells and whistles in either. 2003 will most likely be cheaper. Perhaps some of your classes will have minimum requirements for software so it is worth checking on.

audiobliss

Actually none of my classes revolve around Office itself. I'll just need it for word processing and ordinary stuff. For which the Works I have now would work. However, like I mentioned before, since I'm now considering a career in database administrator, I'd love to get Access and play around with it some. And we just started using PowerPoint at church, so I could play around with that some, too. So I just need to get Office.

Why would 2003 be cheaper? I thought it was newer than XP?

Fireman32

I have office xp pro that includes access and frontpage. pm me if intrested

SCompRacer

audiobliss wrote:

Why would 2003 be cheaper? I thought it was newer than XP?

Your correct, 2003 is the later version. I had a brain fade.

mrbigbluelight

All those offers for "Free Magazines" that you get in your email, well .....

...."Qualify for these occupational magazines, too. Please fill out the following questionaire to see if you qualify".

I like reading about stuff, even if it isn't strictly in my field, so I fill them out.
If they think I "qualify", than more power to them. You can actually learn a lot about a lot of different things.

And it is legal, by my way of thinking. :rolleyes: When they ask, "Please check the appropriate box that most closely describes your work duties", and the choices are:

1. Supreme Leader of the Free World
2. Assistant Supreme Leader of the Free World
3. Midwest Director of IT mangagement for your company

...well, none of them apply, but the CLOSEST thing that describes me would be #3. Might not be even in the ballpark, but .... #3 is closest.

And these companies share their information, so if they get a jigsawed picture of me as somebody who's on the phone to Bill Gates every other day, saving his butt, well .... :rolleyes:

That lava lamp that Microsoft gave away free to select customers at the release of Windows Xp .... looks kind of nice by my desktop.

As did the free Office 2003 Pro edition that they sent.

Neatest stuff I received was the detailed maps of the Gulf of Mexico. All the oil rigs, locations of pipelines, topographical maps of the Gulf (and around the world, as a matter of fact).
Want to know what the best pig to use on a 10 mile+ clogged oil pipeline ?

Just ask me.

If I ever decide to set up an oil derrick in my backyard, I have demo software to run it. As an "End User" (hey, I put gas in my cars, don't I ?), I qualified.


Well, I think I'll submit this post in the "Most Off Topic" contest for 2006.