[Naren]

Yesterday after I had transferred all of my important files from my laptop to my new computer (about 30GB worth), I tried to open a .doc file and it gave me the message that this format is not recognized on my computer and whether to search the web for it. I was all confused, thinking, "This is a Microsoft product. Why wouldn't Windows be able to open it?" I went to accessories and noticed that WordPAD and not Word was included in Windows. However, of the 4 previous computers I've owned, all of them (with the exception of the one I built myself) came with Word previously installed.

I planned on buying it, assuming it'd be $25-45 dollars. I was shocked when I found out that it's $220 and that the Office 2007 suite is around $450. That's more expensive than an Xbox 360 Elite. I swore I'd never pay $220 for something that I thought should be included free. I tried to install the old version of Word for XP off the CDs that came with my laptop, but it wouldn't let me.

I doubt there's a cheaper way to get it. Is there an older version of Word for free on the net? Or is there another similar program that can view and edit .doc files? "Windows Media Player Classic" is a great program that was made by people who don't work for Microsoft and is offered for free on the net. Is there anything like that for Word? $220 seems pretty insane for just a word processor. It's just that I have thousands of text files on my computer in the doc format that I cannot read at the moment. A colleague suggested just using my laptop for word processing, but it's way too inconvenient to whip out my laptop every time I want to view something I wrote or write something new.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Makelele]

Openoffice is freeware and uses the .doc format.


OpenOffice.org: Home


OpenOffice.org - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[the.godfather]

Originally Posted by Makelele

Openoffice is freeware and uses the .doc format.


OpenOffice.org: Home


OpenOffice.org - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That's what I use. Superior in every way, and it's free!

[Naren]

Originally Posted by Makelele

Openoffice is freeware and uses the .doc format.


OpenOffice.org: Home


OpenOffice.org - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

+rep

Thanks a hell of a lot, dude! I read through the whole wikipedia page and I'm downloading it right now. Looks great! Better than I was expecting!

[Makelele]

No problem.

[Toshiro]

Also, if you want a cheap real version of Word, pick up Works Suite 2006 for about $70. Comes with Word 2002. Though that Open Office thing makes me fell like any Word is a rip, no surprise there M$.

[Naren]

Originally Posted by Toshiro

Also, if you want a cheap real version of Word, pick up Works Suite 2006 for about $70. Comes with Word 2002. Though that Open Office thing makes me fell like any Word is a rip, no surprise there M$.

Seeing as this Open Office thing is free, can open every single file in Microsoft Office, and that Writer (the Word-equivelent) looks like a cross between Microsoft Word and Microsoft Works, I don't think I'll be buying any version of Word.

[ukfswmart]

I can't attest to Open Office myself, but people in my office have had pretty massive problems with their version of Excel

The Office suite is only horrifically expensive if you buy the fully-fledged version with every office app they develop; try tracking down the student version on eBay if you can, as it's an awful lot cheaper and only contains the basics (Word, Excel etc). Office 2008 is actually really nice once you get used to the new interface

[Naren]

Originally Posted by ukfswmart

I can't attest to Open Office myself, but people in my office have had pretty massive problems with their version of Excel

The Office suite is only horrifically expensive if you buy the fully-fledged version with every office app they develop; try tracking down the student version on eBay if you can, as it's an awful lot cheaper and only contains the basics (Word, Excel etc). Office 2008 is actually really nice once you get used to the new interface

Maybe they don't check student IDs in the UK or the US, but I was looking at the prices today and the normal version of Microsoft Word was $220, the upgrade version was $130 dollars, and the student/academic version was $110. I asked a clerk what the academic one was and he said it was for students and teachers and that you had to show a valid student ID to get it. I do still have my American college's student ID in my wallet, but I doubt they'd accept it unless it was a Japanese college's student ID (and I had to give that back to the college about 4-5 years ago).

The regular version of Microsoft Office 2007 was about $440 and the academic version was around $240 or so. So, while that is "awful cheaper" than $440, it's still insanely expensive.

I've been trying out that Open Office software so far and the only thing in the entire batch I need is Word (known as Writer in it), since I only use Excel and Powerpoint at work and never at home. And, so far Writer has proven to be very very close to the original Word. I could care less if the Excel and Powerpoint clones didn't work well, as long as the Word clone does.