Held Hostage by Microsoft!!

8 years ago

For brevity I hope you will understand, perhaps others have had the same problem

After having much trouble, since the first of the year, with being required to log on to my PC with my Microsoft password ?? not remembered as I have had Windows 10 since it became available. ( changed MCST PW numerous times to try an remedy the situation) I finally spoke with a "person" the prob;em has occurred and will continue because I have and use Office Professional 10 and have not updated to the newest version of Office. ( In the past I did receive notifications that I needed to Upgrade Office, but I just ignored them- in the W 10 notification window)

For $99 I can upgrade and the problem will probably go away. ( until the next new issue of Office )

If I switch to Open Office or one of the other similar programs, will my documents transfer? Can I then uninstall Office? (The only part of office I use is Word)

(I guess I would still need my MSFT PW if I go to the MCST store- which I have never done.)

Any advice would be appreciated.

Pam

Featured Answer

azinoh

8 years ago

Do you share documents/spreadsheets with others? If no...install Libre Office and don't look back. If yes, then install Libre Office and set it to save files in the Microsoft format of your choice...and don't look back.

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Comments (9)

juneroses Z9a Cntrl Fl
8 years ago
Pam: Why don't you install OpenOffice or LibreOffice. Then open one of your Word documents and save in the Writer version of the new office suite you've installed. Close, and then reopen the "new" Writer document. Examine how it looks compared to the original Word doc, etc. I suspect you'll have a hard time finding a significant difference.

Perhaps try this over several days with the usual Word documents you use, opening them in Word, changing as necessary, and then saving in the Writer of your choice. This should reassure you that the new Writer will serve you well.

I don't have Word but when I've receive Word documents from others, I've never had a problem opening them in LibreOffice.

I did look at LibreOffice vs OpenOffice. Apparently Libre has more staff to devote to their programs and updates more often; the implication is that this results in better security.
2sweetpea thanked juneroses Z9a Cntrl Fl
Elmer J Fudd
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I'm currently using a legal copy of Microsoft Office 2007 on a one year old Lenovo PC with Win 10 and it works fine. I've encountered none of the issues the OP mentions but I don't use passwords on my PCs or on my files. On other PCs, I have Libre Office and so long as MS file formats are chosen, all files are mutually compatible.

Open Office WAS at one time a popular free open source office suite, active development for which ceased years ago (maybe 2010 or 2011?). Developed first by Sun, then transferred to Oracle, there was some political baggage that pretty much brought it down. LibreOffice began life as a development fork from Open Office and is the only one of the two that has a continuing active development effort and regular updates.

Neither program has a "staff". This is fully open source software. Development is done part time by volunteers around the globe who do so for the fun of the project alone.
2sweetpea thanked Elmer J Fudd
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jane__ny
8 years ago
I did the same as Elmer. I had the disk for Office 7 and installed it on my Win 10. Never had a problem, never get notifications to update to newest version. Mine is passworded and works without problems.

Jane
2sweetpea thanked jane__ny
acraftylady
8 years ago
- The office we had was very outdated on our Windows 7 computers. I didn't buy office when I got the new conputers and installed free office instead. Reviews said it was comparable to MS office. All his stuff so far opens fine. The word program seems just as good as word to me. We really only need word and I couldn't see spending the money on MS office just for that. Our Samsung tablets came with MS office but he prefers a regular computer. Mary
Mike C
8 years ago
Office 2016, legal, no problems, never required and update to a new office version. (May have performed updates, but nothing that ever lobotomized me.
Rachel Phillips
8 years ago
libre office or open office, are ok but many folks with office can't read the libre office or open office. thefore i would recommend for home use. for professional use just ask your dept for the license.
Elizabeth
8 years ago
Today, after the Spring update to Windows 10 ( Feature update version 1803 ), I checked my Microsoft Word and Libre Office and both run perfectly with documents in .doc format fully interchangeable.
tami_ohio
8 years ago
This might not be quite the same issue as the original poster has, but with the last Microsoft update I had a couple of weeks ago, it updated something that has changed every one of my Word documents to the newest version of Word, and I can not read any of them. I am running Win 10 and Office Home and Student .