Is anyone else annoyed, you spend all this money and it only comes with trial versions of Microsoft Office, rip off?

Is there anything that comes with full versions? It used to I know that.

I don't think Office has ever been offered in full versions for standard or entry level laptops.
You could get a full version of Microsoft Works at one time--that was a pretty decent office sweet.

Personally, I hate trial versions of anything loaded on a WIndows based system. Just give me bare bones, and let me decide what bloatware I want to install on top the the OS bloatware.

Removing trial software is annoying cause CLS Ids and other entries still remain in the registry, etc. etc.



And unless you absolutely need MS office, you can always use Open Office which is a really nice office package (though I admit on Mac or PC, nothing beats the MS office suit).
[Edited 9/8/09 19:56pm]

Yeah it is annoying.

the laptop i have now i got from dell. they have kind of an "a la carte" system where you can add what you want to your laptop, which i like because there's some stuff i just don't NEED and this way i didn't have to pay for what i won't use. BUT, one of my add-ons was MSWord, which made me very happy to not have to add on Excel and PowerPoint as a package deal, which I'd never use at home. i'm very happy with what i put together - you should check out the dell web site.

Anxiety said:

didn't dell have a few problems with their laptops a few years ago? Here is Australia there was a whole thing bout Dell having problems ( think it was them).

Imago said:


sorry I meant on desktops u did, not sure if they still do

Whenever I get a new computer I automatically reinstall windows just to get rid of all the bloated annoying software that comes pre installed.
[Edited 9/8/09 21:43pm]

lazycrockett said:

oh wow ok cool- never knew bout that stuff- laptop or desktop? thanks 4 the tip

Anxiety said:

we got office home edition which is just fine

missmad said:

It works for both and the great thing is it totally removes the programs where if you just uninstall some shit stays in the system.

lazycrockett said:

Ditto. Get rid of all the bloatware (MS Office/McAfee/Norton/Movies/Games trials) first and start from scratch with a truly fresh system. If you don't want to buy MS Office or an anti-virus, get something open source. I fortunately "acquired" a copy of Office 07, but if you can't get one there's always OpenOffice and Google Docs that work just as well and AVG for an anti-virus.

If you do choose to purchase Office, the Home and Student edition ($100) is cheaper than the regular and if you have a .edu email address you can take advantage of The Ultimate Steal and get Office Ultimate 07 for only $60.

missmad said:

really? i dunno. i just got my laptop last year and it's given me less hassle than any computer i've owned yet. maybe they have issues with their desktops? but i use a dell desktop at my job, and i never notice any special problems.

missmad said:

I've had my Dell for over 6 years without any problems. But Lawd their support SUCKS!!!

Anxiety said:

I think it was them, maybe not though oops, lol. Maybe, it was. Cools!

SCNDLS said:

very cool!!!! I'll keep that in mind!

technol21 said:

Umh, no. Unfortunately not.

As much as I despise Microsoft's attempts to dominate that end of software as well, having MS Office installed for work / study purposes continues to be pretty much mandatory. I really would not even want to even to explicate all the various types of conversion problems all the free alternatives will cause when trying to export files from one program to another. Of course what mainly causes this problem is just Microsoft's own deliberate attempt to keep MS Word documents causing trouble on ther programs (it happens with .rtf as well). They could correct it, but they won't.

So if you need to get something done in time, and for example need to export documents from one computer to another: Do NOT count on the free alternatives to do the job, because they will not be able to fulfill their promises of being compatible. The lengths will vary, the formatting will vary, the sizes of footnotes and everything else will vary. Reformatting that stuff will take a whole lot of time - and in some cases the documents won't load at all. Currently I have a 100-page paper on my own computer written with Abiword and Ooffice that I can't get printed anywhere else. I will have no other alternative anymore than to turn it into a plain .txt -file and reformat it with MS Word page by page. Now, stuff like that means in practical terms that you're always risking up blowing up deadlines etc.

If you ask me, the easiest of those programs to use would be Abiword but it's so buggy that I wouldn't recommend it for anyone for serious work (yet, I'm stupid enough myself to still continue to use it). My advise for anyone would be just to get MS Word on your computer and save the goddamn inevitable hassle that occurs every time if needed to export documents. Ooffice in particular fails to currently create even .rtf -documents that would be compatible in other programs (the paragraph formatting doesn't really work), which is quite an achievement as the format itself has been around for ages.
[Edited 9/10/09 2:17am]

whats more annoying is when you use all your pre-paid internet credit to download the "free" version, run out half way and dont get the product.



was cheaper to buy the real mccoy

prb said:

oh damn!!!!! sent a complaint at all?

Im starting to prefer open offce over the ms stuff

oldpurple said:

I've never heard of Open Office I'll look in2 it.

missmad said:

Yep

And here ya go. You're welcome.

http://www.openoffice.org/

missmad said:

no one to complain too

i didnt have enough credit, and i had accidentally clicked downlaod twice. I got halfway thru the second download when i ran out, and couldnt install the first one

but i did send a complaint to a store that had a very misleading/bordering on illegal promo. They upset my rugrat with it I got a satifactory outcome

Yeah my HP laptop came with trials. Thats just the name of the game these days unless you get a Dell.

TD3 said:

I had that before getting iWork. It's pretty amessing for a free software

TD3 said:

hahaha. thanks

prb said:

yay!!!!