[Raynaadi]

Does anyone know if there's a way to get Microsoft Word for free? The only thing I can find are downloads to buy. My boyfriend just needs Word for school. It has to be Microsoft Word though, not that free spinoff out there (which is great and drives me nuts that he can't use it.) Any ideas? We can't afford to buy it.....

[PlanningtoLive]

Rayna, there was a similiar post not too long ago and I use it now......it's www.openoffice.org and is free, and like Word. I hope it works for you.

Mary Alice

[(JD)]

Hmmm sounds to me that maybe he is learning to be lazy? He not only won't use what is available, but has you out looking for it? I really like open office, and it opens things I receive in emails from others, that word doesn't open.

[Raynaadi]

No not being lazy......its a requirement of the school, because they are giving the students a free copy of some software thats only compatible with Microsoft Word and I just found out he has to have 2005 or 2007. He signed something saying he has it, which he does at work, but he didn't know I don't have it at home. He's not computer savvy, and thats why I'm looking for him. Open Office won't work, because of this program they're giving the students. I'm just trying to save him from spending $200 he (and I) don't have.

[(JD)]

Have you tried openoffice? I tell ya, it opens all sorts of weird programs. Maybe he could open it, work in it, and then save it back in the extension of the original program.

[Raynaadi]

It won't work. The school is giving them a free program that is compatible with Microsoft. It says right on the paper I read. Unfortunately he has to have it. Someone is putting out feelers for us. We'll get it straightened out.

[Raynaadi]

Here's why he has to have Word.

[Perna]

That's an APA paper formatter; I'd just find another one of those, there are inexpensive/free one's of those that are good, will do the same thing as the one his school's giving him.

http://www.scholarword.com/

His school should offer a student's inexpensive Word though; the least expensive one I found was $115; is that still too much?

I would back his truck up and have him use the excuse that he knows he has it at work and thought he had it at home, yada yada.

[Raynaadi]

Yeah I wish he had talked to me before all this. I could have told him I didn't have it lol. Its crazy that the school had him sign something saying he had it. Its like, what, are they in cahoots with Microsoft? Makes ya wonder.

[Perna]

It could be that the software that allegedly won't work with other stuff (it's just "text" academic at that if it's worrying about notes and stuff; it shouldn't be word processor dependent, none of the other ones are) made them sign it or some such combination like that.

It's not like one can make a bootleg copy of the Word software anymore either from another machine. Until I moved two years ago, I still had WordPerfect 4.2, 5-1/2" floppy disks, LOL.

[DocClyde]

Oh yeah, my schools the same way--they want Word, dunno if anything else works, though, it probably would.

Could you check things like ebay and that kind of thing to help defray costs? Is there a friend who could loan you their copy or something?

Maybe his school has a site license?

My school has a site license which means I pay something like $12 (or sometimes nothing at all) to get Microsoft Office (including Excel, Word, and Powerpoint). Basically, the school buys a site license (very expensive) which authorizes them to install a registered copy on however many hundred computers (or whatever). I guess you could find out by contacting the information technology support people at the school.

Otherwise... Maybe there is some financial assistance available through the school for required technology?

[Raynaadi]

Yeah I asked him about that. Since he signed something saying he has it, he's s.o.l. I'm gonna try some used computer type places and see if we can find it. Also got some friends looking for us. This is just so frustrating. He's gonna end up writing his paper at work this weekend because of this. When we could just d/l Open Office which is just as freakin good.

[SpazKatt]

Rayna,

I just pm'ed you

Open Office is adequate for some purposes, but not so adequate for other purposes.

Does his school have computers available in a computer laboratory and / or from the library?

When I was an undergrad lots of people didn't have computers so they used the provided ones...

SPSS wasn't available for installation on undergraduate student computers, either, so anyone doing psychology had to use the provided ones for that... And there is often a similar situation with other fields and programs.

[Raynaadi]

I think I've solved the problem at least for the next 60 days. I went ahead and downloaded the free trial for Microsoft.

Last night I had the idea of using OpenOffice for the first paper since he doesn't need to use APA formatting, so I was gonna get it, write something, post it here as an attachment and ask people with Word if they could open.

Must simpler to get the free trial of Office until he can get it for real. Another classmate doesn't have it, so they'll just split the cost and buy it together. It can be installed on up to 3 computers.

I went ahead and wrote a silly thing to test it, and I'll attach it here. If anyone's bored and has Word and wants to see if it opens, I'd appreciate it tee hee.

Ok nevermind. I tried attaching it but I kept getting an error saying the document I want to attach must have extension of .doc So I went and edited it to add .doc and it still wouldn't attach it. Its just a word document. Maybe its just something with PC. Hopefully it'll work on the forums he's supposed to attach it to.

[Perna]

I think you might have to "save as" the Open Source doc as a Word doc for it to do the extension and think it's a Word doc. Otherwise it's just an Open Source document. Unsophisticated software like PC that wants a Word doc has to be fooled into thinking it is one by "save as".

[Raynaadi]

Hmmm....I tried save as and selected word document. Who knows. Its on my desktop and I don't feel like getting off the couch at the moment tee hee.

[Perna]

I had Open Source so I could read Powerpoint before I found there's a free Powerpoint viewer :-) I wasn't in the mood to put the whole Powerpoint program on my machine in addition to Office. I finished that class though so deleted off Open Source also or I'd try to see what the problem is.

[Raynaadi]

What is Open Source? I think I'm confused.

The trial version of Microsoft Works isn't a full version.
For example, it has TRIAL VERSION across every page that you write...
And you can't print what you have written in the trial version.

Pooling the cost is a good idea. I'd still be surprised if he was unable to get it off the university site license... But that being said pooling it is one way of getting it for sure.

An alternative might be to try and pick up a second hand copy of an earlier version (especially since 2008 is out now)

[Raynaadi]

He's splitting it with a classmate and the trial version is working fine for now *big sigh of relief* I got the full version, it just expires after 60 days, but its the full version. No weird trial stuff.

[Perna]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
Raynaadi said:
What is Open Source? I think I'm confused.

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">
LOL, no, it's me. Open Office is open source software (meaning anyone can get the code and add to it or change it to their liking).

[LMo]

I think you can buy a student version directly from Microsoft very inexpensively

[AAAAA]

You should be able to get Office Student and teacher edition for about $100 at Walmart. I have a zillion copies, but nothing more current than Word 2003.

My daughter is in college and has to use 2007 there, and she swears... alot. Seems the new version isn't so easy to use.