Do You Need Office 2010?

Is it Worth Paying for Office-Like Apps?. I had some dissenters to my recent post that posited that you needn't be paying Microsoft several hundred dollars for Office 2010. In addition to the free, open source competitors, I cited Google docs, and Zoho, as examples of web-based apps that work just fine. I suppose that some Office master users who use Outlook for everything, and know the finer points of Word might be willing to pay an exorbitant sum for the software, However, as this post points out, Microsoft may be its own worst enemy, now that it is heading into the cloud. Will you be using Microsoft's free web apps? If, like me, you use WordPerfect for word processing, and read Word documents sent by others in Open Office, and use Google Calendar and Contacts, you won't be giving Microsoft any money. 

Comments

[Jan]

I'm a happy user of Word 2003, Excel 2003 and Access 2003. They can be had for cheap used. There's a free compatibility pack for 2007 documents. It does all I want, works wonderfully well under all OS's that I've tried, I have the same version at work and I hate Ribbon with a passion.

Definitely not planning to upgrade.

[charles jannace]

I was interested in the new cloud Office Live but I just paid $99 for the academic version of Office 2010. It includes Outlook. I figured that it was a worth a try for $99 but WordPerfect X4 is still the word processor of choice in my office.

[Wrong George]

I use Wordperfect for most things, but too often I have to collaborate with others outside my office that use Word. Open Office and Google Docs are worthless, which is why they are free. I will keep using what I have and won't upgrade until I get a new computer, and then probably get it included with that.

[John Federico]

I really like your blog, but I still don't think Zoho and Google docs have nearly the features that Word and WordPerfect have. The price of both Word & WP have been coming down. Office 2010 Home and Business can be bought for $170 off of Amazon (if you don't mind downloading the software, if you want discs it is $240, but it lets you install it on both your main computer and a laptop) and WP X5 Office can be purchased for around $150. WordPerfect X5, by itself, can be purchased for even less. WordPerfect X4 can be found for $60 or less.
Most legal processes end with a document, whether it is an entry, contract or some other instrument. Why wouldn't you want to pay for a tool that gives you superior formatting options?
Google docs is great for collaborating on a first draft, but you have to program it with CSS if you want to change the styles (and it seems to be limited to 7 styles). Both Word and WP have supported styles for years, they are easy to set up, and can drastically speed up drafting time and consistency (not to mention other features like macros, support for tables of authority, etc.). Microsoft introduced quick style sets with Word 2007 which makes it really easy to set up and change styles to match your drafting style.
I have no doubt that the web based word processors will eventually catch up, but I think it is still too early to rely on web based word processors for typing something like an appellate brief, trust or lengthy contract.

[Miriam Robeson]

While I am a die-hard WP fan, I, too, use Google Docs and Open Office when I have to interface with people who use lesser office suites (i.e. MS Office). However, WP is slipping in the compatibility department (I have issues with my X4 playing well with WIN 7 and Xerox printer). For now, I won't give up WP because, as stated in previous posts, there is absolutely nothing out there that comes close.

[Ron Burdge]

I won't be buying Office 10. I have used WP since back in the days of DOS and although I have Office 03 for Outlook email use (only) and PP and Word docs that I receive, and Open Office too (but hardly ever use it), I use both WP X4 and X3. I have two monitors and tend to use X4 on one while X3 is running on the other monitor, so I can easily see two docs at once and cut and paste with ease. While Google Docs looks very interesting, I suspect that it offers me the whole 3 ring circus when all I need is just the cotton candy stand.