Microsoft venting

[Sunny]

Do you use MS Office (word) on your computer, and if so, have you ever tried to change your payment method? I just spent about a half hour in "customer service" hell with them. All I wanted to do is change my automatic payment from one credit card to another. My representative had such a thick foreign accent that I could barely understand her, though she was trying to be helpful.

Microsoft gives you the option of making this kind of change online. Good luck with that. I never even found a link to billing changes.

The problem here was that I apparently signed up a few years ago, using an email ID and password that I have literally never used, except maybe this one time. I don't remember why that one got into their system instead of my usual one. So they weren't able to find any information, since I don't know the password for that email account. She kept sending me codes that I had to read back to her to "verify" and still was not able to get into my account. I finally gave up.

She did say she made the change to the credit card, and it will be interesting to see if she removed the old credit card number, or if they will be billing me twice. In which case I'll have to get the credit card company to go after them.

What a production, just to make the simplest of changes. Which I'm not even sure got made. And they are supposed to be in the communication business!

 

[Grampa Don]

I use LibreOffice writer. It doesn't cost a cent and it does everything I need. It reads Word documents and seems to have most of the same features.

Don

 

[JaniceM]

I use LibreOffice writer. It doesn't cost a cent and it does everything I need. It reads Word documents and seems to have most of the same features.

Don

Same here- after my OpenOffice somehow stopped working.

Something I found, though: if you use a program other than MSWord, and client on the other end has MSWord, it does not turn out the same. I had this problem a few years ago- not only were page numbers scrambled, for some odd reason the word count was different.
Never could figure it out.

 

[Smiling Jane]

I have an old version of Word, 2010. Surprisingly, they update it from time to time, probably to resolve security issues.

I rarely use it because I far prefer WordPerfect, which seamlessly translates WP docs into Word when needed. Although I'm retired I do some technical writing and editing. WP lets me see what I'm doing, then I dump the doc into the required software.

 

[Capt Lightning]

I use OpenOffice. Works fine for me on both Windows and Linux.

 

[Sunny]

That's interesting Smiling Jane. I used Word Perfect years ago; I think it was the first word processing software I ever used. I didn't think it was around any more.

 

[Smiling Jane]

It's now sold directly by Corel, Sunny. You can also buy it at Amazon. They upgrade every year or so, but I only buy the upgrades when they include something I want or need.

I'm so old my first word processing software was Word Star, and that was after years of using Wang dedicated word processors.

 

[tnthomas]

What a production, just to make the simplest of changes. Which I'm not even sure got made. And they are supposed to be in the communication business!

Microsoft is in the getting-your-money business.

I use LibreOffice writer. It doesn't cost a cent and it does everything I need. It reads Word documents and seems to have most of the same features.

Don

Same here. Micro$oft will not ever get a nickel of my money....

 

[SeaBreeze]

I don't think I've ever paid for anything like that, on my newer Windows 10 computer I noticed there wasn't a Word program, so I just used WordPad instead. I don't use it for anything but a simple letter at times, so good enough for my needs.

 

[Camper6]

I have MS Office and Word. I don't understand what kind of payment you are talking about.

Its a program you buy and install. So what is the payment thing.

 

[Butterfly]

I have MS Office and Word. I don't understand what kind of payment you are talking about.

Its a program you buy and install. So what is the payment thing.

That's the way mine always worked, too. I don't understand what's being paid for, either. I've used Windows and Microsoft programs for years and years, and I've never paid a dime for anything except the initial programs on CDs. Same thing at work.

 

[SifuPhil]

Same here- after my OpenOffice somehow stopped working.

Something I found, though: if you use a program other than MSWord, and client on the other end has MSWord, it does not turn out the same. I had this problem a few years ago- not only were page numbers scrambled, for some odd reason the word count was different.
Never could figure it out.

Same here as well - I wouldn't pay for something I can get free, altough I DID make a donation to LibreOffice.

My understanding is that LibreOffice was initially an offshoot (a fork) of OpenOffice. OpenOffice began having unsolvable security programs and lost most of its programmers to LibreOffice.

As a writer I'm a bit touchy about my WP programs, and Libre seems to fill the bill.

Your problem with the MSWord conversions - are you sure you have LibreOffice set up properly to save your work in MSWord format? Also, sometimes a very old version of MSWord cannot read the .odt formats used in Libre. LibreOffice 5.1 has some improved features also, such as an improved capability with Microsoft's Open XML format.

 

[Sunny]

Butterfly, on my last computer I used Microsoft Works, which is similar to Word, but not as good. My new computer didn't come with Works, so I bought Word. I have the cheapest level of service, $6.99 a month, which I don't mind paying. The only problem is trying to communicate with them about anything.

 

[tnthomas]

Here's a little history on OpenOffice: was originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Sun Microsystems was purchased by Oracle in 2010.

Stories differ, but suffice to say, there was some internal conflict within the Oracle/Sun Microsystems organization:

Much of the team behind Openoffice.org, the free suite of office software, has jumped ship from Sun Microsystems and set up a new independent organisation.
Following the aqcuisition of Sun by Oracle, is seems that the coders behind the open source office suite lwere concerned that being swallowed up by the larger outfit would be detrimental to the software's future.
In a statement, the newly-created Document Foundation said that it was forking from the company which had sponsored it for ten years in order to "fulfil the promise of independence written in the original charter."
Oracle has been "invited to become a member of the new foundation" and is being urged to "donate the brand the community has grown during the last ten years".
If Oracle decides it doesn't want to play ball the foundation will carry on under the interim banner of LibreOffice.
Stopping just short of actually accusing Oracle of interfering with Openoffice.org's free and open nature, spokeswoman Sophie Gaultier said: "We believe that the Foundation is a key step for the evolution of the free office suite, as it liberates the development of the code and the evolution of the project from the constraints represented by the commercial interests of a single company."

LibreOffice is a very capable, full featured office suite, is straight-across compatible with Microsoft office generated documents. Worthy of donations, to keep quality software free.

 

[Granny B.]

OpenOffice here, too. I like it much better than my older MS Office 2007. And no way will I pay MS $$$ for their latest version of Office, and if not already, it will soon be available as a subscription "service," and the software won't even reside your computer, you will have to access it online.

 

[Denise1952]

I use LibreOffice writer. It doesn't cost a cent and it does everything I need. It reads Word documents and seems to have most of the same features.

Don

I do too Grampa Don, although I like Apache Open Office for my needs. Another thing I do before buying any software (progams or apps) is do a "search" for "free alternatives to MS Office Suites". I find 99% of the freeware is excellent. I have an free alternative for Photoshop for another example

 

[Grampa Don]

I do too Grampa Don, although I like Apache Open Office for my needs. Another thing I do before buying any software (progams or apps) is do a "search" for "free alternatives to MS Office Suites". I find 99% of the freeware is excellent. I have an free alternative for Photoshop for another example

It's really amazing how much good software is available free. I like FSViewer for editing photos. Gimp is supposed to be equivalent to Photoshop, but it's more than I need. The only software that I have paid for other than Windows which came with my computer is Microsoft Flight Simulator. And that I bought used on Ebay cheap.

Don