Microsoft will release Office 2010 in the next few weeks. The upgrade price will likely cost around $130 for the home edition which includes Word, Excel and Powerpoint. The professional versions cost as much as $500 depending on what package you get. After almost fifteen years of using Microsoft Office and watching others use Microsoft Office, I can say without hesitation that it is a waste of hard earned money for most people, and don’t be pressured or swayed into purchasing it. Here’s why:
3 Reasons NOT to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2010
- You own an earlier version and barely scratch the surface of its capabilities and probably only use Word anyway. To view files created by newer versions, just download the Microsoft Viewers. The new version will gain you nothing more than a lighter wallet.
- The new versions require a steep learning curve…even for techies! Office 2007, three years later, continues to frustrate even the most seasoned Office experts.
- Evaluate your needs; if you use only the word processor, and you only write basic letters, minutes, lists, etc, the power in Microsoft Office is overkill as are the extra programs.
5 Alternatives to Microsoft Office 2010
- Same as the first one above…you already own a copy of a previous version. Newer isn’t always better.
- OpenOffice productivity suite offers an extremely capable (and in some cases more capable) group of products for free.
- Google Docs online document management and creation….also free.
- Zoho online document management and creation. Again free and very powerful!
- Microsoft Works comes pre-installed on most computers and includes enough power and features to satisfy most computer users…AND you can share those documents with other users if you save them properly (RTF for word processing, Excel 5.0 fore spreadsheets).
Related articles:
- Converting Microsoft Works to Microsoft Office – Notes
- Microsoft will offer Free Online Office Apps
- Choose how many recently opened files show in Microsoft Office
- Yet another feature yanked from the NEW Microsoft Office 2007
- Make Microsoft Office 2007 Play Nice – Video Tip
Leave a Reply
Loading ...
,
You should also have a look at SSuite Office for a free office suite. They have a whole range of office suites that are free for download.
Their software also doesn’t need to run on Java or .NET, like MS Office and so many open source office suites, so it makes their software very small, efficient, and easy to use.
You may try these links for more info:
http://www.ssuitesoft.com/index.htm
or
http://www.ssuitesoft.com/ssuiteexcalibur.htm
or
http://ssuite5element.webs.com/thefifthelement.htm
Here is one more. It is called Kingsoft Office 2010.
http://www.binarynow.com/products/kingsoft-office/
Has there been any improvement in MS Office 2010 Professional? I need to update from my “97″ version soon. I do prefer having the program on my computers, not in a “cloud”. (Customer privacy and copyright issues.)
I have tried Open Office and find it fairly unfriendly in that it is not as complete as MS Word Pro and it does not translate into MS Office applications (either Word or Excel) without lots of re-doing–I do not have time for re-doing.
Sue
Hello Sue. Thanks for writing. Office 2010 works just fine, but you will find it much different than your current version. You might be more comfortable with LibreOffice.org or OpenOffice.org as they are more like what you are used to, free, and completely compatible with your existing Microsoft documents and any documents you might receive from other users.