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

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:

• Windows users should use SourceForge OxygenOffice.
• Mac users should use Planamesa Inc. NeoOffice, which is Snow Leopard compatible. NeoOffice posts a warning notice.
  

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.

• 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.
  

    Click here to see the Amazon.com Microsoft Office Resource Center for PC and Mac.
Lowest Prices updated hourly!