MS Works

[BFOJ]

Is there any downside to using MS Works rather than MS Office if you only plan on using the wordprocessing and spreadsheet features? Cost is a factor here, that's why I'm looking to go MS Works and perhaps recommend it to others on a tight budget. I want to ensure compatibility between Works and Office Word and Excel documents.

 

[TonyJollans]

I think the Word processor in Works is Word but with limited features available - I think anything created in Works can be opened in Word but I'm not sure about the other way round. As for spreadsheets I'm not even sure that Excel can open Works-produced ones.

Office is a de facto business standard. Works is OK for the home user who doesn't really want to do very much but has a very limited feature set and it would be a very tight budget indeed that didn't run to basic Office in a business environment, even if they never receive documents from anywhere else.

Enjoy,
Tony

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[EBGreen]

I think you would be better with Open Office if cost is the driving concern.

[red]"... isn't sanity really just a one trick pony anyway?! I mean, all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you are good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!" - The Tick[/red]

 

[Madawc]

My portable PC came with MS Works and I stick with it on that machine. I actually use WordPad for word processing: it comes free and does everything except fancy tables.

MS Word has a host of desktop-publishing functions, not worth paying for if you are never going to use them. It saves a lot of time at work, where I produce specification with complex numbering which Word will update automatically when I add something, and also spell-check with the ability to learn new words.

Likewise MS Office is splendid for scheduling meetings and finding a time when a group of busy people can meet. If that's not what you do, why pay for it?

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK)

 

[Bob44TheCat]

My two-pennyworth, from bitter experience: Works is just about adequate as a stand-alone word processor and spreadsheet, but has very limited functionality and is not really compatible with the Office applications.
Go for Office or Open Office.

Cheers,

Bob.

 

[Madawc]

Regarding compatability, you can almost always import stuff from older or cheaper software into fancy new products. Manufacturers have a strong incentive to make this function work, because it means extra sales.

The reverse is usually possible, and they have every reason to make it difficult-to-impossible. You can always export as an ASCII file.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK)

 

[Madawc]

Correction, The reverse is usually NOT possible.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK)

 

[BFOJ]

Thank all of you for your input. I think I'll buy a copy of MS Works and do the testing of compatibility with Office Word and Excel users before making any recommendation to others.

 

[Jimh149]

Spreadsheets that are created with Works can be saved in excell format as well as Works format and then opened by those who only have excell. You can even save them in Lotus format. I have Works and Office and the SS for me is easier to use in Works. For word processing I use Word. The Data base component of Works is also pretty simple to use if you don't need all the bells and whistles included on Office. For the price you can't go wrong.

 

[BFOJ]

Purchased MS Works, not too thrilled with the compatibility with MS Word and Excel. When opening MS Word or Excel documents, I lose macros, calculations, some font settings, no mail merge feature, etc. I also purchased Office Suite 2005 from 602software, better but the most noticeable thing was losing my larger font settings and the documents I printed were lacking in quality.

Another question, since MS Office 2003 won't run on Windows 98 machines, can anyone recommend a reliable source for a legal copy of MS Office 2000 or XP, especially at a reasonable price? Seems the local retail stores don't sell these older version of MS Office.

 

[jlockley]

Do NOT get it, unless you don't want to share anything with anybody and will never need really attractive documents.

There are many downsides to MS Works. It is above all cheap, but it lacks the funcionality of MS Office. The most important downside is compatability.

Aside from organisztional issues, one of the great boons of computers is connectivity and communication. You cannot communicate with a great deal of the world with MS works, at least not without causing them some annoyance.

MS Works documents need to be converted into absolutely anything else and do not alway convert true to format. Those receiving the documents need to download or install converters for them from disk or web site and have to set the format to open automatically in word. Or you can save the document in word or rich text (with the "save as" feature), but the format will not be quite right.

I say this as a recruiter who receives all kinds of documents (resumes), many of which produced in some dingbat b league program which only a few initiates can open.

With all due disrespect for Microsoft, there is a reason that MS Office with Word and Excel are the lingua franca of administrative computing and authoring. If the latest Office is too expensive, go on line and get a previous version for less. You can get word alone for about $50. I found either office or word for $15 here:

http://cheap.typepad.com/cheapster/2005/01/microsoft_word_.html

97 would be cheaper, but in all truth 2k is more stable and offers a lot of actually useful tools.

As a better alternative to works you might try the Word Perfect suite. Comes with some of the same communication issues as works, but it is a very sophisticated program. Google prices.

 

[BFOJ]

jlockley,

I'm real concerned about some of these cheap prices I see for MS products, unbelievable prices that I suspect are pirated software. Would like a source that sells legimate licensed copies recognized by Microsoft.

 

[EBGreen]

Was Open Office not a valid solution for some reason?

[red]"... isn't sanity really just a one trick pony anyway?! I mean, all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you are good and crazy, oooh, oooh, oooh, the sky is the limit!" - The Tick[/red]

 

[BFOJ]

Tom,

Haven't pursued checking into Open Office yet. Will it run already created Excel Macros, calculations, Word mail merge and the like?

 

[jlockley]

You can either buy oem, then, if you are upgrading or buying new (and if you are looking for a windows word processor, I assume you are buying new) or you can get a previous version. Even W97 is a better bet than works, although I'd miss a lot of 2000. Prices fall precipitously as new versions come out and stores with old ones in stock can't sell them.

If open source is compatable with Word, etc, then why not. I don't use it. Of couse, again, if you don't need what Word offers, you can also save all your works information as rtf for documents and csv for spread sheets.

 

[BobStubbs]

I agree with the suggestion of shopping for an older version of Office, e.g. Office 2000.

I use this at home, and have three licences.

All were purchased via e-Bay, after very careful checking of the vendor, and confirmation that the product was a genuine, unused, Microsoft original copy. I paid between 35 and 50 UK pounds for my copies - a big saving over 300 + for Office 2003!

There are some 'traders' who sell backup copies, cloned disks etc, but I think that if you check carefully, and avoid such rogue sellers, then this is a good way to get full Office functionality at low cost.

File transfer is then not an issue, since Word and Excel are file compatible across Office 97, 2000 and XP versions.

I hope that this is of some use.

Bob Stubbs

 

[KenWright]

Is this for home use? Do you have kids at school?

If so then check out the Student & Teacher version of Office (Same as Office Basic). The licence for this allows you to install and use it on up to 3 machines at your home. Price is circa £109

Can be purchased at many places including PC World.

Regards
Ken............





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[BFOJ]

Ken,

I am looking for something for my home PC, but I use it for a new home-based business as well as personal stuff. My two still-at-home daughters could qualify for the Education version as one is in college, the other in High School. But the part about recommending to others includes technical support I provide other individuals and one particular organization that has asked me to look into this. In their case I just (today)ordered MS Office XP for their computers that are running Windows 98. One might ask why not upgrade to Windows XP, but it's a budget issue.

 

[KenWright]

For your own position take a look at the S&T one anyway, the licencing is very liberal wrt what is acceptable as qualifying for that version.

Nothing wrong with office XP either, most users won't scratch the surface of what is available in that version let alone the next.

Regards
Ken..........

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