
How
do
you
get Microsoft Office
for
free for Macs and PCs?
By Jim Gordon
Co-author of Office 2008 for Mac All-in-One For Dummies
Strategy #1: (For Microsoft Windows users)
Install Office 2010 beta for Windows
You can
download genuine, not pirated for free from this URL:
http://officebeta.microsoft.com/
The beta will work until the end of October 2010. Microsoft
hopes you
will like it so much you'll buy the program in June 2010 when the suite
is
released to the market. I've been using this beta and found it to be
stable and a big improvement over all previous versions of Microsoft
Office for Windows. If you're new to using a beta, read the Microsoft
Office
2010
beta
FAQ. Even though I like Office 2010 for Windows, I still
prefer Microsoft Office for Mac because it has features I use
constantly (Project Gallery, Project Center, Toolbox, Elements Gallery,
Spotlight, Toolbars and menus) not available in Windows Office.
Strategy
#1:
(For
Macintosh
users)
Install Office 2008 30-day free trial for Macintosh
Mac users
can download and install the 30-day free trial from Microsoft's web site
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/Office2008/trial-download.mspx
Strategy #2:
Get genuine Microsoft Office from your employer, school, college, or
university
Many organizations expect
their members to be able to collaborate and work in a smooth,
compatible environment with Microsoft Office. To accomplish this, many
organizations
provide Microsoft Office to employees or students for free or
a nominal fee to cover distribution costs. Be sure to check with your
IT department or school to find out whether your organization offers
this program. Of course if you work
for
Microsoft, you get a free copy, LOL.
Strategy #3:
Use free office software from other companies
Be realistic. These are free alternatives to Microsoft
Office. None of them have the complete feature set of Microsoft Office.
All of them have compatibility problems with Microsoft products to
various degrees, especially if you use charts, multimedia or add-ins.
All of them can open, edit, and save word processing, spreadhseet and
presentation files. Each program has an interface that is different
from Microsoft Office. None of the free alternatives are "just as good"
if that means having every feature of Microsoft
Office. They don't. If they did, people and organizations wouldn't
shell out the money to Microsoft for their products. Are any of the
free alternatives bad? No. But none of these alternative products is
identical to Microsoft Office. They all work on both Macs and PCs
except for Bean. Here are some popular alternatives to
Microsoft Office:
Lotus Smyphony
Lotus
Symphony is made by IBM. Symphony is available for Mac OSX and
Windows.
Click
here for the Symphony download site.
Google Docs
One of several on-line web browser based Office alternatives is Google Docs.
Its
claim
to
fame
is
easy
document
sharing.
Charts
in
Excel
don't
fare
well
at
all
with
Google
Docs
as
of
this
writing
(April,
2010).
ThinkFree
Another Microsoft Office alternative is ThinkFree.
ZoHo
Yet another Microsoft Office alternative is ZoHo.
Bean
Bean is a free,
light-weight word
processor for Mac OS X.
OpenOffice
OpenOffice was made by Sun Microsystems, which was rescued by Oracle.
I recommend that the general public should install either of the
following two
enhanced versions instead of the stripped down versions from
OpenOffice.org:
Strategy #4
Ask for Microsoft Office for your birthday or a holiday, such as
Christmas.
Hey, you
never know!
The
not-free
option
is
that you
can
buy
Microsoft
Office
discounted prices
Granted,
this is not a free option. Maybe you might want to actually purchase
Microsoft Office for Windows or Mac. If you plan to purchase, be sure
to be aware of the Home and Student version,
which is less than $150 and seems to go on sale often. The Amazon.com
Microsoft
Office
Resource
Center
has
all
versions
of
Microsoft
Office
for
both
Macs
and
PCs,
including
Home
and
Student
versions
at
very
reasonable
prices.
There's
a
table
on
the
Resource
Center
page
that
explains
which applications are included with
the various Microsoft Office packages.
Be sure to check the lower right panel in
the Amazon resource center for deals that are updated hourly.
Beware
- Don't pay for OpenOffice. It's free. You can
volunteer to help make OpenOffice, OxygenOffice and NeoOffice,
but donations are not
required. NeoOffice does charge for their newest build, but the free
build is fine if you don't want to pay.
- Don't pay for a "Microsoft Office Compatible" suite that's
really just
OpenOffice. The word "compatible" is the tip-off along with a price
that's too good to be true. Don't get stuck paying for OpenOffice
thinking you're buying Microsoft Office.
- Don't buy an OEM version of Microsoft Office. OEM stands for
"Original
Equipment Manufacturer" and is sold to computer companies like Dell and
Gateway so that they can include Microsoft Office bundled with their
hardware. OEM installers are not intended for ordinary new installs of
Microsoft Office. An OEM bundle will probably not work on your computer
unless your PC came with Microsoft Office factory installed and you
have the original product ID code. If you lost or never got your
product code or Microsoft Office install media, contact the seller or
PC manufacturer. PCs are not always sold with Microsoft Office included.
- Don't buy an "upgrade" package unless you
already have the required older version. Sometimes the full version is
on sale for less than the upgrade price. It can pay to compare prices.