Microsoft Office Student purchase advice?

The University my son's (JOshooter) attending has MS Office 2003 installed on their systems at school. He's living at home, therefore does his schoolwork at home on his system.

We have MS Office Pro 97 on two more home systems.

We are contemplating getting MS Office Student Teacher edition 2003 for home to be more capatible, preventing conversion problems.

MSO Student Teacher edition allows us to install it on 3 computers. Anyone know if MS Office 2003 Professional allows this?

MS Office 12 (2006 edition is due to be released June or July 2006). Unless we think he needs Access - I can't see the need to get the Professional version (though Access does/can come in handy).

I'm leaning towards the Student Teacher edition, but what about the full retail version vs. the OEM versions that are available on eBay?

What about Microsoft Works 8.0 (which is installed on our new systems at home - wouldn't that get us by without having to spend valuable flashlight money?
Help - thoughts & opinions please?! :thanks:

^^^ Way to NOT answer his question

To actually ANSWER your question: I have Office XP Pro (oem version) - the license agreement allows me to install it on a desktop and laptop system, as long as it's not being used at the same time on both systems.

The OEM versions that are being sold on EBAY are actually a violation of the OEM license agreement. An OEM version must be sold with a major piece of hardware (hard disk or motherboard).

THe student and teacher edition sounds like an excellent deal - you get word, excel, and powerpoint, so all the bases are covered. I'd say go for it.

Since was_jlh didn't bother to elaborate...

Open Office is an open source office suite trying to closely mimick the functionality of Microsoft office. You might want to check it out. At the very least you could use it until Office 12 comes out, and then you could get Office 12 so you're on the latest and greatest (Except I'm thinking Office 12 looks like it's going to be horrible to use).

Open Office won't be 100% compatible if your student does some of the most advanced things office offers, but for most situations it should be compatible, more compatible than Office 97 anyway

If you're on high speed internet can't hurt to give it a look, just takes some time to download. Might even be worth trying for awhile.


(That wasn't completely clear....Open Office tries to clone MS Office, and for most people it's a good enough clone that they never have any problems.)

Works comes only with Word, IIRC. It has a bunch of other software that won't help much in college).

Have your son check in with the main computer center on campus. At my university, we have a campus-wide agreement with MS. Under it, we (students, staff) are allowed to install and use MS software at home after buying the media. It's $12 for the full Office Pro, and the license is valid for as long as you are associated with the university. YMMV, though.

greenLED said:

Works comes only with Word, IIRC. It has a bunch of other software that won't help much in college).

Have your son check in with the main computer center on campus. At my university, we have a campus-wide agreement with MS. Under it, we (students, staff) are allowed to install and use MS software at home after buying the media. It's $12 for the full Office Pro, and the license is valid for as long as you are associated with the university. YMMV, though.

Click to expand...

Exactly what GreenLED said!
Some Universities have licence agreements w/MS. My old university had a program for students called something like - MSDNAA [MSDN Acedemic Alliance] Online Software System. The student could either order the CD [pay for the Media and shipping] or download the SW.
WinXP Pro was free, some apps, too. Other apps were at an incredible discount. [Just as long as the student is associated w/the university.]

So, do what GreenLED said, check with the Univ and see what's available.

Good Luck in your child's academic endeavors!!! [Hope this helps!]

Danno

Hope this helps!

Good info - (and if the university has a license agreement with MS - that would be GREAT info!!).

Looking at works it has the word processor, spreadsheet, and database - but not PowerPoint presentation software.

I've already got Open Office and will install it to take a look!!

I'm really hoping the university has this license agreement as talked about! Wel'll find out!

Thanks indeed!

Edit: bad news - university doesn't have that license agreement...:mecry:

I have MS Works that came installed on my computer with XP Home. The problem I have is that MS Word and Excel files aren't compatible with Works. This is a PITA when transferring files between work and home. For your son this might be a problem if he does any work on a school computer and has to bring it home or has to share a project with another classmate.

Thanks Alan...still on the "trail" - it's looking to remain 100% compatible, I'm going to have to go with the MS Student Teacher edition. I guess if he needs to use PowerPoint he can use the systems at the university.

Dang, hate I missed the whine fest.

Evan1492 ( or whatever ), way TO make an asinine post. It'll be cold below before I heed advice from you on how to post. :thumbsdow

Saaby, I didn't "bother to elaborate" because Sigman is a grown man who can follow a link and read the results without someone holding his hand, which apparently he was able to do.

Sigman, I hope you find what you need.

Thanks to all, now to go and find the least expensive MS Student/Teacher edition...

Anyone have any favorite vendors?

Sig,

Most college bookstores sell it at a huge discount, even without the license agreement above. Generally speaking, that is the only place you can get the student/teacher edition, and then only with the appropriate ID.

Eventually you WILL want Powerpoint! With 3 kids and a son in law in college, and another in High School, I bet mine has been used 30-40 times over the last 3 years. Teachers keep finding ways to increase the difficulty of assignments and kids keep coming up with ways to make them better!

My youngest two started doing Powerpoint presentations in junior high!!

Costco sells OFFICE at the best street price I've seen, even better than any online price I found.

Bill

Office Student & Teacher ed. does come with PowerPoint:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/editions/prodinfo/students/overview.mspx

Powerpoint...right!I meant Access!