What is the best current version of MS Office to use? Locally on 1 computer.

[paradigmGT]

What is the best current version of MS Office to use? Locally on 1 computer.

It seems like Microsoft is really pushing the 365 version, which I believe is only cloud based.

I am looking more to run MS Office in a stand-alone mode on one computer, just like versions of old. What is the latest version I should go with?

Thanks

 

[Anvil Hammerer]

2010. 2013 broke a few spreadsheets of mine, and I won't go near 365.

 

[bruceb]

I can't speak for Office 2010 or Office 2013 or Office 365 .. Myself on an old XP Box I run Office XP Pro .. but for newer computers, that won't install. Now, you can get Office 2007 fairly cheap, compared to Office 2013 or Office 365 .. it will work fine for most home users, just be sure not to get the Home and Student version, if you want Microsoft Outlook.

 

[Charlie98]

They are discontinuing support on O'03, so it looks like my O'10 version is what I'll be sticking with until I get forced out of that. Like you, OP, I don't want anything cloud-based.

 

[Whisper2]

I agree with the others - pre 2013. I used 2003 Pro for years and bought 2010 Business late last year. 2010 came with a free upgrade to 2013. So I tried both. I like 2010 better primarily because it is the last traditional version.

2013 will not allow you to custom install, so you get all the app's whether you want them or not. 2013 has its own process of updating (does not use Microsoft Update) which updates in the background. The user can control only whether updating is "on" or "off". You receive zero information about the updates and cannot control which ones you get. The only information available is the Office version number. You can find out about the changes if you hunt them down on Microsoft's website.

All my comments relate to the retail versions (click-to-run). I believe the MSI Enterprise versions have more latitude but I could not secure one.

 

[Virgorising]

They are discontinuing support on O'03, so it looks like my O'10 version is what I'll be sticking with until I get forced out of that. Like you, OP, I don't want anything cloud-based.

Indeed.

 

[Virgorising]

I can't speak for Office 2010 or Office 2013 or Office 365 .. Myself on an old XP Box I run Office XP Pro .. but for newer computers, that won't install. Now, you can get Office 2007 fairly cheap, compared to Office 2013 or Office 365 .. it will work fine for most home users, just be sure not to get the Home and Student version, if you want Microsoft Outlook.

I only in last few days, upgraded to Office 2010 (did not want to), only because I learned here, Office 2007 has vulnerabilities I had not know about.

Given 2010 is much safer, I see no need at all for anything later.

 

[luv2liv]

using office 2003 on my personal machine. a blank word doc open almost instantaneously with SSD drive. plenty of this edition on ebay.
with office 2013 on my work machine, it takes an annoying 3 seconds. even with SSD.

does office 2013 make me more productive? no
can i write essays better? no
will my ppt persuade more clients? still no

 

[corkyg]

I have 4 computers. 3 have 2010 and one has 2007. Anything newer brings nothing to my party. Definitely no cloud use.

I rarely use any of them. Being a long time WordPerfect user, I have Corel Perfect Office X3 and X5. Those are my working tools.

 

[DeathReborn]

I use Office 2010 & Classic Menu for Office by Addintools (not free) across all my machines (except Win 8/8.1).

All the ease of use & familiarity of old Office, works a treat.

 

[crashtestdummy]

Huh. I guess I'm the only one that actually likes the new office. The most annoying thing is that it places my SkyDrive on a par with "Computer" for loading and saving files (SkyDrive is already a folder under my computer, so this is unnecessary and overvalues the SkyDrive). It adds an extra couple clicks to my usage. The other bit is that the default slide dimensions are now 16:9 instead of 4:3. While I understand the reasons for that, 16:9 isn't a great aspect ratio for explaining data. Other than that, though, it seems to run quite smoothly and a lot of the design features are nicer.

Edit: That said, none of the additions are deserving of the price of buying a new license, so if you have an old copy, just use that. If it weren't for proprietary format compatibility, I'd actually go for LibreOffice, but most of us are stuck using doc/xls/ppt files.

 

[FeuerFrei]

2010 is your last best hope. Supplies are dropping and prices increasing though.

2013 requires to you create a Microsoft account and you'll be logged in every time you use Office, allowing Microsoft to spy on whatever you're up to, so that's not an option. Office 365 makes you pay Microsoft in perpetuity, i.e. forever and ever, amen. If you cease monthly payments, your software is disabled. So that's not an option.

 

[GeekNick]

I still see nothing bad about the 2003 and 2007 Offices. They work, they do the job and that all I personally need. Some time ago, when .docx format was not that much popular but I had to open some of them, I've installed a plug-in which automatically converts docx into doc.

 

[bruceb]

Here is a comparison chart for Office 2013 ... best bet is to buy one of the better versions. Stay away from the Office 365 Home Premium

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/compare-microsoft-office-products-FX102898564.aspx

 

[mikeymikec]

Huh. I guess I'm the only one that actually likes the new office. The most annoying thing is that it places my SkyDrive on a par with "Computer" for loading and saving files

I don't know if you're aware, but you can tell MSO2k13 / 365 to save to your documents folder by default.

Btw - people keep saying Office 365 is "cloud based" - Microsoft have caused confusion as usual with their naming schemes, but here's how it breaks down AFAIK:

Microsoft Office 2013 -installed locally, single purchase, kind of like what we're used to (however, no transferable licences?).

Microsoft Office 365 - installed locally, yearly subscription. More options like a home user version that can be installed on up to 5 Windows devices.

office365.com, office web apps - cloud-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, as well as Outlook.com.

Examples:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/s...-2013-and-office-365-proplus-HA102785958.aspx
http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/p...102921529.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA102785958#Plans

Notice how Office 365 and 2013 have the same disk space requirements?

I really think MS should appoint a single person / department as having the sole responsibility for product naming conventions. Anyone who wants to name or rename an MS product has to go through them.

 

[Dahak]

2010 is your last best hope. Supplies are dropping and prices increasing though.

2013 requires to you create a Microsoft account and you'll be logged in every time you use Office,

For the standalone, Yes you need to create an account to do the activation but you do not need to be logged in all the time.

To be honest I am not sure about Office365 though.

 

[bruceb]

According to this, MS has changed the license terms, so you can transfer it to a new computer. Just open Office, and do a Deactivate, then Uninstall it. Put it on the new computer and Activate it as normal. In some cases, you may need to call in for an Activation Code. If needed, explain you are moving a retail copy to a new computer. The MS activation servers, should allow a change once every 90 days or so.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...w-to-transfer-office-2013-license-information

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/activate-office-2013-programs-HA102819770.aspx

 

[Mushkins]

I still see nothing bad about the 2003 and 2007 Offices. They work, they do the job and that all I personally need. Some time ago, when .docx format was not that much popular but I had to open some of them, I've installed a plug-in which automatically converts docx into doc.

Security issues: office can be exploited just like any other piece of software, and it is. I would not want to be running 2003 come April 1st when support gets cut.

Compatibility issues: at home you might just be typing kids book reports and 2003 is fine for that. In the workplace there are innumerable business softwares that integrate directly with office or have office plugins mandatory for certain functionality. If you're not using the right version for interoperability with your other software, you can't exactly do your job.

Features: later versions of office have plenty of new and improved features. Searching/Indexing is better, calendaring in outlook is better, the list goes on. Might not be important to you, but there's some good stuff in there.

 

[Virgorising]

2010. 2013 broke a few spreadsheets of mine, and I won't go near 365.

I ditto this.

 

[Virgorising]

Security issues: office can be exploited just like any other piece of software, and it is. I would not want to be running 2003 come April 1st when support gets cut.

Compatibility issues: at home you might just be typing kids book reports and 2003 is fine for that. In the workplace there are innumerable business softwares that integrate directly with office or have office plugins mandatory for certain functionality. If you're not using the right version for interoperability with your other software, you can't exactly do your job.

Features: later versions of office have plenty of new and improved features. Searching/Indexing is better, calendaring in outlook is better, the list goes on. Might not be important to you, but there's some good stuff in there.

U bet re security issues! I was happily running office 2007 until I learned right here, big vulnerability issues; I was living in a fool's paradise! I resented having to spend the money, but I right off upgraded to 2010.

Not much worse than not feeling as safe as we can be.