Should I buy Office?

[sasha_feather]

Via one of my LJ friends, I got a small consulting gig that involves doing some data analysis on Excel, which I can do on my own time, remotely. (By the way *thank you* to my LJ friend for this gig! Yay paid work!) I could go to the library, but using computers at the library is usually limited to one-hour slots. I could beg and borrow time on other computers, but I am in a different town than usual. Should I just buy Office? It seems like it might be a good investment at this point.

Comments

[random]

You might want to try OpenOffice, which is free and usually compatible with Excel unless you're doing something really complicated.

If you have to share a lot of files back and forth, it might not be the best call. If you just have to mostly do the analysis yourself, it might be worth looking at...

[j00j]

I agree with this comment. Also with the Spider Jerusalem icon.

[sasha_feather]

Thanks! I will do that.

[cofax7]

Get OpenOffice, which is free, and fully compatible with the MS products.

[sasha_feather]

Thank you! I will do that.

[jmtorres]

If openoffice doesn't work out, there's also googledocs?

[sasha_feather]

Good thought, thanks-- I see they have Google spreadsheets. God bless those people, seriously.

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

Have you tried OpenOffice? It's almost 100% compatible with MsOffice, and I find it easy to switch between the two. MsOffice is a worthwhile investment if you can't get it to work with OpenOffice, but OpenOffice is free, and worth a try.

[littlebutfierce]

Yeah, ditto the OpenOffice suggestion. I used it for spreadsheets when I was freelancing a year or so ago & no one seemed to have any problems w/it (& they were all using Windows & Office, blahblah).

[littlebutfierce]

Though to be fair the spreadsheets weren't v. complex.

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

I actually already have Open Office; it's reassuring to hear that you used it for freelancing. Maybe I'll just do that. I'm not sure yet how complex this work will be, but I suspect not very.

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

I already have that installed, so maybe I'll just do that! Thanks.

[lilaia.livejournal.com]

Can you use Google spreadsheets or is it too much data? Office 2007 is kind of ugly to work with but could be worth buying.

Yay consulting gig!

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

God bless Google docs and spreadsheets. Another good possibility. Although, there is no good internet at the farm either. It's like the 80s or something. :o

[lilaia.livejournal.com]

I believe they have way to use them offline now, but I have not tried it.

[mystickeeper.livejournal.com]

I supposedly have a disc with pirate Microsoft Office on it, BUT I CAN'T GET IT ON MY FREAKING COMPUTER. However, I know that i have used this disc before (I seem to have to re-install Windows on my laptop once a year). I have plans to call my brother-in-law and figure this shit out. If I do, I'll let you know.


Also, CONGRATULATIONS!

[anna-bird.livejournal.com]

Yaaar! Congratulations! (I'm following the pretty girl icon trend. :) Well, at least the PJ. )

I'd also agree with trying Open Office. If you do end up going with Office, maybe you can have a student/professor/scholarly type with a fake university ID buy it for you and get a cheaper edition?

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

If you buy Office, AND you declare this income on your taxes, there should be a way to declare the purchase as a business expense. It's been ages since I dealt with this, though, so I don't remember the details.