Poll: Why do you use Microsoft Office?

[Zelmo3]

Considering the alternatives available and the price premium just for the Microsoft name, I'm wondering why so many people use this office suite.

For people concerned with full compatibility with the established Microsoft market, there are two adequate office suites that are much less expensive:
Open Office is free software with a very good word processor, spreadsheet, presentation creater, HTML editor, and drawing program. It's cross-platform and has become the accepted standard on Unix-type systems.
602PC Suite has a very nice looking word processor and spreadsheet as well as a photo editor and photo organizer. It's free for private use on up to three computers, and $59.95 to buy for business use.
If you don't need to save files as Microsoft Office formats, I think WordPerfect Office is more feature-rich and user friendly than anything else. It costs less than half of the comparable Microsoft suite.

AnandTech seems to be the place for computer users who know what they're doing, so I want to get a feel for what you're doing. Vote for the situiation that best applies to you and post comments as appropriate.

 

[Zelmo3]

For my own part, I used MS Office at work for a few years because that's all they had installed. I can't answer for why my employer insisted on using MS Office.
I have it on my home computer this semester for my Computer Essentials class, which only deals with MS Office and requires that homework be e-mailed to the instructor as an attachment.

 

[igowerf]

Because everyone else uses MS Office and OpenOffice doesn't handle MS Office files perfectly.

 

[Schadenfroh]

i need to share stuff between school and home, i know how to use office xp the best and so those are the two reasons i use it, money is not a big of a deal since thru my school, office xp is a very good price. I see no reason for anyone to use anything but MS office or Open Office, i mean lotus and wordperfect crap are all on its way out and open office is freeware

 

[Megatomic]

I use it because I REALLY like it. I have Star Office 6 and OO1.1 downloaded but after trying them I don't like them near as much as I do MS Office.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Got it through school for extremely cheap. That wasn't an option up there so I put voted I got it for free.

 

[Looney]

You have all those options, but you didn't have BECAUSE I LIKE IT THE BEST. Talk about leading the question. Lame.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Hardcore
You have all those options, but you didn't have BECAUSE I LIKE IT THE BEST. Talk about leading the question. Lame.

I agree. I do like it the best, and the fact that I got it for $15 through my university just made it better.

 

[Lonyo]

I think it's better than OO, haven't tried StarOffice, but of the ones I have tried (can;t remember all their names), it's the best and (I find) easiest to use.
Plus it's all set up how I like. It does have its issues and it is quite crap in some ways, but so are all the other programs, so it's the best of what there is.

 

[rh71]

Because it's the easiest to acquire/install/use as far as compatibility.

 

[NapalmKing]

I use it for the sole reason that the spellchecker and thesaurus are better to my needs ? I?m a writer ? and including easy of use, then all the other options.

 

[zodder]

Familiarity.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I get it "free" with a $2,000-a-year MSDN Universal subscription so I might as well use it.

 

[Pocatello]

Because it's the best.

 

[Nothinman]

Because I need Outlook for work. Whenever I have a chance I use vim, AbiWord, Gnumeric, etc instead.

 

[imported_Ziggy]

Its the best, can be expensive though

 

[Swanny]

I'm in the MS Partners program. So I pay a once-per-year fee and then get stuff like Office free.

 

[randumb]

Compatibility. It's just nice to know that the formats will work for sure.

 

[Zee]

It's the best

 

[PrincessGuard]

I used Office 97 up until last year when I switched to OpenOffice. Didn't feel like spending hundreds of dollars on a new version of Office and I haven't gotten a document OO can't handle.

 

[sd]

free

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: PrincessGuard
I used Office 97 up until last year when I switched to OpenOffice. Didn't feel like spending hundreds of dollars on a new version of Office and I haven't gotten a document OO can't handle.

It's just a matter of time.

 

[corkyg]

I don't - I use Corel WordPerfect Office Suite 11. I hate M$ Word!

 

[BFG10K]

You left out the option "it's the best Office suite around".

 

[Dman877]

<---- uses office xp beta .