Anyone using Microsoft Office Online? Do you like it vs. Google Docs and Microsoft Desktop Office?

[HappyGrace]

Never owned a computer before that didn't have Microsoft Office; just got a new one so I'm looking for alternatives. I am NOT at all computer savvy. I googled around and saw there is Microsoft Office Online, and also Google Docs. I was SOOOOOO excited to see these are FREE!! Wow!! But is there a catch to it I'm missing? If you're using these, do you like them? Pros/cons vs/ Microsoft Office Desktop?

 

I'd also love to hear your thoughts on Microsoft Office Online vs. Google Docs-not familiar w/ either.

 

This is just for me and my (high school age) kids to use and none of us are computer savvy so we don't need anything fancy. We've never even used Excel. We use Word a lot but just to write reports. They *may* need something like PowerPoint sometimes.

 

Thanks for any help!

[Lanny]

DD uses the FREE version of Microsoft Office Online. Also, she has LibreOffice, a very complete and FREE Office Suite (Comparable to the complete version of Microsoft Office) installed on one or both of her laptops. I have LibreOffice installed on both of my laptops.

 

Before, she was using the last Desktop we purchased from Dell Latin America. That came with a limited version of Microsoft Office on it. My wife now has that Desktop and DD has the laptop my wife was using, which is more powerful.  I believe on (extremely rare) occasions, my DD will use the Desktop for a few minutes, because she has an Office file on it, but as I wrote, I believe that is extremely rare.

 

Later, I will ask her for any additional comments about what you asked about.

 

There is *no* need for you to purchase any Application Software of this type.  What I mentioned above is compatible with  Microsoft Office if you save your files in the appropriate Microsoft file extension.

[Guest]

We have Office OnLine as a family subscription.

My dh wishes we did not. He is fine with the Google products.

I use Word a lot. But it could be a much simpler word processor for what I need. I'm just used to it, so I prefer it.

My son likes the Google products just fine but for his work, he is a power user of PowerPoint and his company uses the Iffice products.

So we have a family license.

[HappyGrace]

Thanks for your responses!

Lanny-Do you prefer Office Online or Libre, and why? What are the pros/cons of each, would you say? Question about your last sentence ("What I mentioned above...""---1. is the "what I mentioned above" the Office Online or the Libre? I'm guessing the Libre, right? Because wouldn't Office Online automatically be compatible with Microsoft Office? (and if not, what do you mean by "appropriate MS file extension"?) Sorry-I'm super thick when it comes to computer lingo!

      Also, Lanny-do you know much about GoogleDocs to compare it to Office Online? Asking bcuz you sound knowledgeable about all this :)

 

Patty Joanna-when you say "family subscription", is that free? And yes, I'm kind of thinking we'll all like the Office ONline better than Google, just cuz it's what we're used to.

 

[Guest]

It's $95 a year for five machines; we use four of the subscriptions, but three of those are really underutilized.  BUT the price for getting the product for just the one user is not enough lower to make the rest of us not have Office, so I just bite the bullet and do it.  It costs me $95 and about an hour's griping from my dh every year.  

 

When I go to Mac, and when my son is out of the house, we will discontinue as the built-in Officey products on the Mac are suitable for me, and my dh likes Google fine.  :0)  Then my dh can spend his hour griping about maintaining both a Mac and a Windows machine.  :0)

 

And with the money I save, I can get a decent set of earplugs.  LOL

[Lanny]

I had used OpenOfficeOrg in the past. The project split off into 2 different projects.  I read up on both versions and went with LibreOffice. I don't remember why I selected LibreOffice, but I suspect it had to do with a more active team working on LibreOffice. The 2 Suites are extremely close, but not identical.  Either would be fine.

 

Regarding the file extension to be used, to make the file(s) you create with OpenOffice or LibreOffice compatible with Microsoft users.  For example, if you are creating a document you want to be compatible with Microsoft Word, you need to specify a .DOCX extension.  For Excel I think it would be .XLSX or something but I rarely open files with Excel and I don't create them.  DD has I believe, at least once, for TTUISD, created a file that was compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint, using LibreOffice and submitted that to her Instructor..

 

I think DD is done now, so I will try to ask her if she has any hints about using the Free version of Microsoft Office Online and yes, if you are using that, the file extension should be automatic and there should never be any possibility of compatibility problems.

 

Our family is done paying for Software if a Freeware Application is available that will do what we need to do and do it for us

properly.

 

I have little or no experience with Google Docs. I think my wife and DD have some experience with those and I will try to ask them for you.

 

[Lanny]

OP any of the free applications mentioned will work fine for you and your family. My DD said that the majority of the time she uses LibreOffice.  She had an issue with it on one of her laptops.  I suspect that was after it was updated. Something about a file. I forgot to ask her if that is on her Windows 8.1 laptop or her Windows 7 laptop.  DD said she did have an issue with the FREE Microsoft Online, but it had to do with her not being able to find how to do a "Page Separator" and she didn't want to waste more time, trying to find out if/how she could do that.

 

 I think DD has used Google Docs a little, without issues.

 

My wife has used Google Docs. She mentioned something about she'd used it to create a PowerPoint compatible thing and that you access it via your Google Drive.

 

Bottom line recommendation: Try one and if it doesn't do the job for you then try another one...

[HappyGrace]

Thank you both for the information! Very helpful indeed, and I appreciate it. I'm leaning toward OO since we're more familiar w/ it and no changing file extensions, etc.

 

Patty Joanna-I thought Office Online was FREE? Do you mean you pay for the Desktop Office subscription?

[Guest]

Thank you both for the information! Very helpful indeed, and I appreciate it. I'm leaning toward OO since we're more familiar w/ it and no changing file extensions, etc.

 

Patty Joanna-I thought Office Online was FREE? Do you mean you pay for the Desktop Office subscription?

Probably for the full-blown version that is not dependent on online access. Like I said, my son needs the POWER PowerPoint and probably Excel. When his company launched, they can take this on.

[Guest]

I wanted to add that you pay in one way or another. Google gives free software, but they information-gather and sell that info or use it to sell to advertisers. For the amount of data they gather, the free software is a complete win.

 

Microsoft (and others) charge for the software, and probably collect a lot of data from its use, but not for sale or to charge for more advertising.

 

It's part of the decision you make. Nothing is truly "free."

 

By the way, I live in Microsoft-AND Google-land and both are driving up my property value, so I have no skin in the game, either way.