I can't afford MS Office X, what are my options?

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
My 15-inch Powerbook 1.5Mhz needs a good word processor and there doesn't seem to be a way that I could ever afford the expense of Office v.X.



What are my other options for perhaps a reduced cost piece of software, used software, other manufacturers product, etc . . .



Thanks for the help.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    If you're willing to work under X11 you can use OpenOffice: http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/oo...downloads.html



    You'll find an article that has some hints for tweaking OO to work a bit nicer here: http://www.entropy.ch/software/macos...penoffice-mac/
  • Reply 2 of 21
    I'm too tired to google/link/etc, but your options include:



    Free: OpenOffice (as above), NeoOffice/J (the slightly experimental native java port of OpenOffice), and Abiword (still slightly experimental on OS X). If you're willing to use X Windows and install fink, Kword seems to work reasonably well as well.



    Cheap: Appleworks (office suite), Mellel, Nisus Writer Express, Mariner Write (word processors) (all but Appleworks have trial periods so you can work out whether they do it for you). I'd add Thinkfree Office, but I've yet to here a good thing about it?



    I use Mellel, but YMMV.
  • Reply 3 of 21
    Quote:

    Originally posted by jessearl

    My 15-inch Powerbook 1.5Mhz needs a good word processor and there doesn't seem to be a way that I could ever afford the expense of Office v.X.



    What are my other options for perhaps a reduced cost piece of software, used software, other manufacturers product, etc . . .



    Thanks for the help.




    Have you considered the Student/Teacher edition of Office 2004? It isn't super cheap, but it isn't too bad IMHO. AMazon.com has the Student/Teacher edition of Office 2004 for $129.99 plus there is a $20 rebate, making it $109.99. Free shipping.



    Amazon.com does not check to see if you are a student or teacher.
  • Reply 4 of 21
    ms word replacement, look at mariner write

    ms powerpoint replacement, look at apple's keynote

    ms excel replacement, look at mariner calc



    The first two I use myself in a business environment and with great success. In particular Keynote has caused some serious jaw-dropping :-) (just wait until I add some motion intro's to it )
  • Reply 5 of 21
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member
    Appleworks.



    $79 for the non-student.

    $39 for the student.



    Nick
  • Reply 6 of 21
    gongon Posts: 2,437member
    A lot of people like Abiword. OS X version is still a development release, but it might be usable. You certainly won't lose anything by trying. http://www.abisource.com/
  • Reply 7 of 21
    Hard to imagine that someone can afford a $2500 computer, then gets squeemish about buying a $150 or $400 piece of software.



    In any case... Almost anyone can qualify for the student edition.



    If not... Appleworks is totally adequate (despite the bad rap it gets from a lot of people) ... It isn't TOTALLY compatible with office docs, but it opens most things, and If you save them in .doc format, anyone with Office or Works can open them (meaning your Windows friends).
  • Reply 8 of 21
    ibook911ibook911 Posts: 607member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by KingOfSomewhereHot

    Hard to imagine that someone can afford a $2500 computer, then gets squeemish about buying a $150 or $400 piece of software.



    In any case... Almost anyone can qualify for the student edition.



    If not... Appleworks is totally adequate (despite the bad rap it gets from a lot of people) ... It isn't TOTALLY compatible with office docs, but it opens most things, and If you save them in .doc format, anyone with Office or Works can open them (meaning your Windows friends).




    Appleworks is very check on educational price, $39 I think. Still, $109 after rebate for Office 2004 Student/teacher at Amazon.com. I still think that is a bargain.
  • Reply 9 of 21
    gongon Posts: 2,437member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by KingOfSomewhereHot

    Hard to imagine that someone can afford a $2500 computer, then gets squeemish about buying a $150 or $400 piece of software.



    Your comment is silly. If I pay $2500 for something that is worth it, does it necessarily follow that I want to pay $150 for something else? For my personal use, Microsoft Office would not be worth $150. It would not even be worth $50, since there are free alternatives that do the job well enough. People are unique, and if you have a lot of money to throw around, feel free to do that, but don't scoff at others' value judgments.



    Also, many people truly cannot afford a $150 piece of software after buying a $2500 computer.
  • Reply 10 of 21
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by KingOfSomewhereHot

    Hard to imagine that someone can afford a $2500 computer, then gets squeemish about buying a $150 or $400 piece of software.



    In any case... Almost anyone can qualify for the student edition.



    If not... Appleworks is totally adequate (despite the bad rap it gets from a lot of people) ... It isn't TOTALLY compatible with office docs, but it opens most things, and If you save them in .doc format, anyone with Office or Works can open them (meaning your Windows friends).




    The problem is that for what Office does it can be difficult to justify its outrageous price.
  • Reply 11 of 21
    ikaika Posts: 52member
    I'm still waiting for my Mac to arrive, so I can't speak from experience, but based on pre-research, Mellel looks good.
  • Reply 12 of 21
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ika

    I'm still waiting for my Mac to arrive, so I can't speak from experience, but based on pre-research, Mellel looks good.



    I use Mellel and it does a great job. The biggest complaint I am aware of is its use of brushed aluminum for the interface. It doesn't bother me and works well regardless.
  • Reply 13 of 21
    ikaika Posts: 52member
    Related question:



    Is Keynote compatible enough to completely stand in place of Powerpoint? Some professors put their PP lectures online and I'll need to be able view them (preferably without buying Office).
  • Reply 14 of 21
    neutrino23neutrino23 Posts: 1,561member
    You can get an older version of Nisus Writer for free.



    http://www.nisus.com/free/Login_nw.php



    This is a great word processor. The only thing about the free version is that it only runs in Classic.
  • Reply 15 of 21
    zozo Posts: 3,117member
    i love Office 2004...



    Im sorry to say, its worth every damn penny.



    The projects feature is excellent. I'm tracking and coordinating things like never before. Wonderful integration, etc etc... And, despite using lots of different email programs, Entourage just tops them all.
  • Reply 16 of 21
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    TEXTEDIT OWNS YOUR ASS

    Seriously, it's really nice. Font browsing is easy, it launches in a second, and it can open Word .doc files.
  • Reply 17 of 21
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ika

    Related question:



    Is Keynote compatible enough to completely stand in place of Powerpoint? Some professors put their PP lectures online and I'll need to be able view them (preferably without buying Office).






    So far I have experienced no problems.
  • Reply 18 of 21
    I am going to second Placebo's recommendation of TextEdit. I have been relying on it entirely for some time now, and there is very little that I would want to go to Word for... if you get that fancy it is time to go to InDesign (I don't use co-operative or the versioning systems.. so those would be useful in some cases).



    My opinion is that people use Word because they think they have to... not because they actually do.
  • Reply 19 of 21
    gongon Posts: 2,437member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Karl Kuehn

    My opinion is that people use Word because they think they have to... not because they actually do.



    I'm not belittling the Word user population here, but for many, computer = PC = Windows and working = word processing = Word. It's not that they think they have to use Word. It's that they don't know about a single alternative.



    BTW, who remembers Windows Write? The word processing program Microsoft had in 3.11? Upon switching to 95, many of my friends copied their old Write into 95, because it had stuff like styles - which Microsoft carefully didn't put into Wordpad, apparently because Write had been too much competition for Word? Personally I find this hilarious
  • Reply 20 of 21
    jbljbl Posts: 555member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Placebo

    TEXTEDIT OWNS YOUR ASS

    Seriously, it's really nice. Font browsing is easy, it launches in a second, and it can open Word .doc files.




    I use TextEdit for most of my word processing now, but it has some serious limitations for even rather simple documents. I would really like to see styles, and I would like to be able to insert graphics without switching to rtfd (which no one else seems to be able to read).
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