Which version of Vista to get Word?

[Guest]

Hi

I'm considering buying a laptop with Vista - either Basic or Premium Home
Editions are available - but I can't find out if either version comes with MS
Office. I only really need Word but does anyone know if either version
provides this or more?

Thanks

Rich

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

Niether version does. No version of Windows contains Word, they never did.
That is a program that is part of the MS Office suite, though many
manufacturers used to bundle them together. Few do now, though many include
trial versions that you eventually must pay full price for.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'm considering buying a laptop with Vista - either Basic or Premium Home
Editions are available - but I can't find out if either version comes with MS
Office. I only really need Word but does anyone know if either version
provides this or more?

*No* version of Vista comes with Word, Office, or any other
significant application software. That's not only true of Vista; no
previous version of Windows has ever come with any of these either.

If your previous computer, running an older version of Windows, came
with Word or Office, it was because the vendor who sold it bundled it
as part of the package he sold you, not because that version of
Windows came with it. Some, but not all, vendors do the same with
Windows Vista.

 

[ray]

*No* version of Vista comes with Word, Office, or any other
significant application software. That's not only true of Vista; no
previous version of Windows has ever come with any of these either.

If your previous computer, running an older version of Windows, came
with Word or Office, it was because the vendor who sold it bundled it
as part of the package he sold you, not because that version of
Windows came with it. Some, but not all, vendors do the same with
Windows Vista.

MS Office is an additional cost item. But, you can probably meet your
needs with the free OpenOffice.org - it won't cost a penny to find out if
it works for you. OpenOffice imports and exports MS Office files, and in
many ways is a work-alike replacement.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

MS Office is an additional cost item. But, you can probably meet your
needs with the free OpenOffice.org - it won't cost a penny to find out if
it works for you. OpenOffice imports and exports MS Office files, and in
many ways is a work-alike replacement.

Thank you, but I have no need of OpenOffice, since I already have
copies of Microsoft Office 2007, and Corel WordPerfect Office X3.

In the future, please reply to the person who asked the question, not
to someone else who responded.

OpenOffice *is* a good alternative for many people, but not everyone.

 

[NotMe]

None do, nor ever have.
Unless the computer manufacturer 'bundles' MS Word or Office with the
computer, you have to buy it separately or use a third party program.
I like the software from http://www.openoffice.org and it is free, MS Office
isn't.

 

[Adam Albright]

Hi

I'm considering buying a laptop with Vista - either Basic or Premium Home
Editions are available - but I can't find out if either version comes with MS
Office. I only really need Word but does anyone know if either version
provides this or more?

Thanks

Rich

This comes up a lot. The reality is Windows NEVER came with Word. Some
box makers like Dell and Gateway have in the past included it along
with other software, but Microsoft never has. If you have only very
modest word processing needs you can always use Word Pad which is
included with all versions of Windows. In Vista it can be found by
clicking Start, All Programs, Accessories.

 

[ray]

Thank you, but I have no need of OpenOffice, since I already have
copies of Microsoft Office 2007, and Corel WordPerfect Office X3.

In the future, please reply to the person who asked the question, not
to someone else who responded.

OpenOffice *is* a good alternative for many people, but not everyone.

Agreed, I had intended to reply to Zed - sorry for any inconvenience.

 

[ray]

Hi

I'm considering buying a laptop with Vista - either Basic or Premium Home
Editions are available - but I can't find out if either version comes with MS
Office. I only really need Word but does anyone know if either version
provides this or more?

Thanks

Rich

I second the idea of trying OpenOffice.org - won't cost you a dime to find
out if it meets your needs - it probably will. OpenOffice imports and
exports MS Office files and is, in many ways, a work-alike for MS Office.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all the responses guys - much appreciated. My previous one was
indeed bundled from Dell, hence my confusion.

I'll give Openoffice a look, otherwise I'm looking at over £100 for a basic
Msoffice including Outlook, Excel and Word...ouch, no thanks!

Rich

 

[Adam Albright]

Thanks for all the responses guys - much appreciated. My previous one was
indeed bundled from Dell, hence my confusion.

I'll give Openoffice a look, otherwise I'm looking at over £100 for a basic
Msoffice including Outlook, Excel and Word...ouch, no thanks!

If you need some of the features of Word and Excel and don't like Open
source alternatives you could look around for a version of Office 97.
I've seen the pro version selling for as little as $10 on Amazon. Of
course I can't verify if or not you get a genuine CD or not. This is
before the activation crap, so there's no problem with that IF you get
a valid serial number which comes with the original packaging and is
inside the shrink wrap that's all that's needed to install.

I still use Office 97 and both Excel and Word seem to work fine in
Vista. I can't say how well every feature works since I no longer use
either that much, but their basic features seem to work as well as
they ever did running under Vista.

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Off...2028?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1186321477&sr=8-1

 

[Ian Betts]

Thanks for all the responses guys - much appreciated. My previous one was
indeed bundled from Dell, hence my confusion.

I'll give Openoffice a look, otherwise I'm looking at over £100 for a
basic
Msoffice including Outlook, Excel and Word...ouch, no thanks!

Rich

You can buy older versions of MS office on places like Amazon and eBay for
much less. These are just as good for general use as the newest. I use
Office 2000 cost me £30.

--
Ian

With patience there is aways a way.

Please Reply to Newsgroup so all can read.
Requests for assistance by email can not and will be deleted.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hi

I'm considering buying a laptop with Vista - either Basic or Premium Home
Editions are available - but I can't find out if either version comes with MS
Office. I only really need Word but does anyone know if either version
provides this or more?

Thanks

Rich

Neither the Microsoft Office application suite, nor any of its
individual component applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access,
Outlook, etc.), have _ever_ been "part" of *any* Windows operating
system. They are, and always have been, separate applications, that
must be purchased and installed separately.

For the budget-minded (who also don't need all of Word's specific
features), there's the free, open source OpenOffice:

http://www.openoffice.org/



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I second the idea of trying OpenOffice.org - won't cost you a dime to find
out if it meets your needs - it probably will. OpenOffice imports and
exports MS Office files and is, in many ways, a work-alike for MS Office.

Rich should note, however, that no "compatible" program is ever
completely compatible. For example, the more complex the formatting in
a word processing document, the less likely it is to be perfectly
compatible.

That isn't necessarily an important issue for everybody, but if Rich
will need to exchange documents with users of Word (or other Microsoft
Office products), he should be aware of this.

But Rich, by all means try it. There's no downside to trying.

 

[huwyngr]

From what I've seen if it comes with Office on it then it will be a
trial installation that you have to pay to keep in use.

I've just bought from Office Depot a c500t Compaq Presario 15.4"
Notebook with INTEL processor and that has a trial version of OFFICE
BUT it appears to have a full version of MS Works 8 on it and that
might have WORD -- it does on the Works Suite which has WORD 2002/XP.

However when I just tried to check this on the MS website I see that
Works 9 is now replacing Works 8 and it looks as if it does only have
the Works Word Processor.

However Works Suite 2006 is still available and the price is
ridiculous!

Check out BuyCheapSoftware:

http://www.buycheapsoftware.com/ms_products~subcategory~16.asp

whom I use regularly. You can get the DVD version for $55 and it
contains:

Description: Works and Word Suite 2006 DVD on one CD [sic] with COA
(1-Pack) Full oem/DSP Version. Includes, Works 8.5, Word 2002, Digital
Image 2006 Standard, Money 2006 Standard, Encarta 2006 Standard,
Streets & Trips 2006.

or you can get it on the 6 CDs I have for $55.

 

[ray]

Rich should note, however, that no "compatible" program is ever
completely compatible. For example, the more complex the formatting in
a word processing document, the less likely it is to be perfectly
compatible.

It's also true that 97% of users never use 95% of the functionality.

That isn't necessarily an important issue for everybody, but if Rich
will need to exchange documents with users of Word (or other Microsoft
Office products), he should be aware of this.

On the up side, it won't cost a farthing to check it out.

 

[DP]

Did your previous purchase include the Office installation disks? Do you
still have them?

That might work,though there's no guarantee.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

It's also true that 97% of users never use 95% of the functionality.

I'm not sure whether you have the percentages exactly right, but yes,
the point is correct. You might note that I essentially said much the
same thing in the nest sentence of my message, which you quoted below:

On the up side, it won't cost a farthing to check it out.

If you had bothered to read a single sentence farther in what I wrote
(which you quoted below) you might have noticed that I said exactly
the same thing.




You're replying to my message as if I was recommending against
OpenOffice, but in fact I was pointing out that it meets many people's
needs. However it does *not* meet everyone's needs.

 

[Ian Betts]

Did your previous purchase include the Office installation disks? Do you
still have them?

That might work,though there's no guarantee.

Of course they had the Office Suite has to come with the Ref number but that
is how they came if you buy carefully.




--
Ian

With patience there is always a way.

Please Reply to Newsgroup so all can read.
Requests for assistance by email can not and will be deleted.