In short, buy Office between March 5th (today) and September 30th, and install & activate it within this window.

Once Office 2010 comes out (Before October 31st) go to www.Office.com/techg and register before October 31st and you can download it for free using your proof of purchase. You can also then order the software on a DVD (but it will be chargeable).


May interest some people.

naah, i'll pass

Quote from bean0 :

http://www.openoffice.org/

+1

So basically you buy the old Office and in 6 months you'll get the new one for free? Not a big deal...

For me it's gonna be free anyway, but thanks

Quote from Bean0 :

http://www.openoffice.org/

Office > OpenOffice (for me at least).

Quote from NitroNitrous :

So basically you buy the old Office and in 6 months you'll get the new one for free? Not a big deal...

For me it's gonna be free anyway, but thanks

Yeah, but the dates are all important. Same for the Windows 7 Upgrade.


Not a big deal for me either (I usually get mine free legally or pay a pittance for them) but still

Quote from Jakg :

Office > OpenOffice (for me at least).

Pah, that would be like saying "35 > 177 (for me at least)" - so not a sound mathematical argument :P

Even though I have to admit that Office 2007 was the last MS Office I used, thus I don't know how good the newer ones really are, OpenOffice is just such a joy to use (and free of charge) that I can't see myself changing anytime soon.

Already have 2010 since the beta. Lovely Office. I like it.

everyone at work (including me) hates office 2007, 2010 doesn't look any better.

I don't get what you can hate about 2007 and 2010... Unless they're like fanboys without even trying it out properly.

the new office bar is ugly and hard to navigate... i want my file,edit,etc menus back.

He is right. I also hate office 2007 but it doesn't really matter. It does its job.

Quote from Bose321 :

I don't get what you can hate about 2007 and 2010... Unless they're like fanboys without even trying it out properly.

What, are we having fanboynism with word processing programmes now?

I don't like 07 much, but then I don't like office as a whole, I do my documents in Adobe Illustrator.

Quote from bunder9999 :

the new office bar is ugly and hard to navigate... i want my file,edit,etc menus back.

I guess it's a matter of getting used to it but I don't like it either. That's why I still use Office 2003.

We use Office 2003 and 2007 at college, can get quite confusing when switching between the 2, although I spend the first semester on 2007 and I've gotten used to it, and 2003 is so damn confusing for me now 2010 looks a bit easier to use though

Quote from Kalev EST :

That's why I still use Office 2003.

I fully agree with you good sir!

Office 2003 is a very simple yet effective. Still best of the office products due to its easy-to-use interface.

2003 is good. 2007, if you get used to it, in my opinion, is better.

If you think 2003 is good, you'll like OpenOffice. But to me, 2003 is now a lot clunkier, and OO (which, lets face it, has largely ripped off 2003's design) feels the same.

Not that I have to pay for Office, but still (I get most of my Microsoft stuff free or almost free legally thank god).

Quote from bunder9999 :

the new office bar is ugly and hard to navigate... i want my file,edit,etc menus back.

IMHO these Ribbons are the best inventions since MS Office exists. It´s never been easier to control the whole Office Suite with Keyboard Shortcuts. The Ribbon bar is the only thing I´m missing in my Openoffice installation.

And many users at work started to love the Ribbons after working with it for a while. But you can never make something that appeals to all people

The only reason I use Office instead of OO.org is the coolest thing on earth the Paper Clip thingy!

Quote from Jakg :

Not a big deal for me either (I usually get mine free legally or pay a pittance for them) but still

and incase you missed it..

Quote from Jakg :

Not that I have to pay for Office, but still (I get most of my Microsoft stuff free or almost free legally thank god).

so what, you get microsoft products on the cheap. join the club. i think you're under the impression that everyone else is paying full price for products except you.
if you say "legally" only a few more times, people will also start to believe you

Quote from dadge :

so what, you get microsoft products on the cheap. join the club. i think you're under the impression that everyone else is paying full price for products except you.
if you say "legally" only a few more times, people will also start to believe you

Hey, if it makes him feel like he's important by bragging about getting MS products for free, let him be.

I get it free as well through work. I also get a discount on cell phone service, Dell computers, and can buy a new car for thousands under dealer cost from several manufacturers, but I don't mention it in every one of my posts. Perhaps I should?

actually I got office 2007 pro for about £40. Next to nothing compared to retail. Students can get massive discounts on software. And iirc PC world do some reward scheme for their staff (correct me if i am wrong Jakg) so he gets cheap stuff from there too.

Quote from Shotglass :

meh

At Uni we have to use LaTeX and the second I saw it I thought of you. Been meaning to drop it into a post somewhere to see if it's "up your street" but it seems you got there first.

LaTeX produces great documents... but it's a bitch to work with. It would be very easy (ok, not easy, but it would work well) to put the LaTeX engine with a Word-like GUI, but that would upset all those code monkeys out there who love having to wrap tags around everything they write...

ahem

anyway latex is a lot easier to use once you get to the point where you want to do automated caption numbering and stuff like that which is a complete mess in word
i cant think of anyone i know whos ever used tex for a prolonged amount of time and wanted to go back to word for anything