Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Australian Students Can Get Office at 95% Off Retail

Posted by samzenpus on from the almost-free dept.

tora201 writes "Microsoft Australia is offering university students in that country Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Edition for just $75 Australian dollars, a 95% discount off the usual retail price. Alternatively students can buy a one year renewable license at just $25, or download a trial version that can be later activated. Eligibility is determined through a valid Australian university e-mail address with payment made via credit card."

18 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. But the sad thing is... by Max+Romantschuk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Dupe or not, the sad thing is there are lots of students clueless enough to think that they need MS Office when 99% of them can do all they need with OpenOffice.org.

    --
    .: Max Romantschuk :: http://max.romantschuk.fi/
    1. Re:But the sad thing is... by W2k · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But the interface of Office 2007 is vastly different from that of OpenOffice. Those students may eventually be employed by someone who uses Office 2007 internally within their organization, and wants new employees to be familiar with it without any training, mandating prior experience. In this sense, the students being allowed to buy Office 2007 for cheap is a Good Thing for them.

      Now, perhaps most companies running Office 2003/2007 could also have managed with OpenOffice, but that argument is not going to help a job-seeking student...

      --
      Quality, performance, value; you get only two, and you don't always get to pick.
    2. Re:But the sad thing is... by Max+Romantschuk · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But the interface of Office 2007 is vastly different from that of OpenOffice. Those students may eventually be employed by someone who uses Office 2007 internally within their organization, and wants new employees to be familiar with it without any training, mandating prior experience.

      The vast majority of Office users never really use more than a very limited subset of the available features. A univeristy level student should be able to pick those up in a span of a few days, if familiar with Office applications in general.

      If you're aiming for a job which requires serious Office involvement it's a good thing to learn MS Office. But for writing papers, etc. buying it makes little sense. Spend a few hours every now and then in the uni computer lab and practice with MS Office instead.
      --
      .: Max Romantschuk :: http://max.romantschuk.fi/
    3. Re:But the sad thing is... by pandrijeczko · · Score: 4, Insightful
      It could be argued that if your CV (or resume) is that difficult to fill with interesting information about yourself that you have to mention "MS Office experience", then you probably need to go and spend some time getting some better skills.

      I accept that more complex skills in MS Office like Excel programming, data merges, etc. are probably in demand by many employers - but for someone who just creates simple documents in MS Office, OpenOffice would probably take no more than a couple of hours to adjust to.

      --
      Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
    4. Re:But the sad thing is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If you, your employer or someone else you know is employing people so dense that they can not handle a simple transition from one application to another, it's time to rethink the hiring policy.

      Oh and you know it's funny, but I don't recall anyone wailing and gnashing their teeth because people who are already employed and using Microsoft Office 2003 will have to "learn" the new Microsoft Office 2007 user interface. Your argument seems to be that it is O.K for Microsoft Office 2007 not to look like Microsoft Office 2003, but it is not O.K for OpenOffice.org 2.1 not to look like Microsoft Office 2007. Que?

    5. Re:But the sad thing is... by W2k · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Lots of people have responded to my post same as you, "if you have to mention Office experience to fill your CV you suck", or "if your employer thinks you need retraining to switch Office versions they're daft", etc. That's beside the point. The point is that HR people will use "office 2007" as a search term when looking through the stack of digitized CV's they got in response for their latest job offering. HR people really are that clueless. And if you don't want to lie on your CV, it will serve you to be able to put "Office 2007" in there.

      Remember that I am talking about jobs that a student, in his last couple of years or just post graduation, might consider. NOT the most technically advanced positions, more like entry-level. In those, I've found, they only care about past positions.

      --
      Quality, performance, value; you get only two, and you don't always get to pick.
    6. Re:But the sad thing is... by shark72 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "It works okay. It's at least 5 years out of date; the track changes feature in Word 2002 is vastly superior to OO.org's, and it's very possible that even earlier versions were the same. There is an open enhancement request [openoffice.org] for OO.org to support one of the main differences if you want to vote for it."

      ... and that's the problem with a lot of FOSS in a nutshell. Another option is to do the damn coding myself, but if I can't or won't contribute back to OSS, then I must wait, because the fellow responsible for such a feature has a day job of his own, and that's what I should expect for free.

      If my time is worth $25AUS an hour, and it will take me three hours to modify OO to make it do what I want, or to spend time cajoling somebody in Finland to work on the feature that I need, then Office 07's $75 price starts looking good. I'll pick up and wave the holy sword of FOSS when it relates to something that's not so mission-critical.

      --
      Sitting in my day care, the art is decopainted.
  2. $1500 ? by Zork+the+Almighty · · Score: 4, Insightful

    95% off ? Does Microsoft actually sell any single license for Office to anyone at ~$1500 US ?

    --

    In Soviet America the banks rob you!
  3. That's what it should cost. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    $75 sounds like a very reasonable price. That's what it should have cost in the first place!

  4. If the ultimate edition... by dragonquest · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the Ultimate Edition is being given away so cheap to students, why the hell did they ever came up with the Student Edition minus the frills? Which notably, costs more than the discounted Ultimate Edition for students.

    --
    "Never try to tell everything you know. It may take too short a time."
  5. Re:The first one is free... by jez9999 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    and i say more companies should take a leaf for their book. ... and put a 2000% markup on their products? That's assuming it actually cost MS around $50/sale to develop, which I highly doubt. Seriously, how can anyone contemplate paying over $1000 for an OFFICE SUITE that's not even that much better than numerous other ones out there (Office 2003 included)?

    No, sorry, you're wrong. More companies should NOT take a leaf out of MS's ultra-profiteering monopolistic exploitative book. Just because they're selling it to you for a less ridiculous profit doesn't make them heroes.

    --
    == Jez ==
    Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
  6. Re:What about us? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And where is the discounted version for American students?

    I have to say I am surprised. Here in AU the uni bookshops and normal software shops have always been loaded with cheap "Academic" versions of major software. You just need a student ID to buy it, even off campus.

    I always assumed it was a way for the publisher to lock people in early. I am surprised they don't do it in the states.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  7. Re:The first one is free... by tomstdenis · · Score: 2, Insightful

    us poor university students...

    Use OSS tools. They're free, cost you poor poor students nothing.

    Besides academic papers should be done in TeX unless you're one of them polysci wannabe students, then just muddle your way through with notepad because you don't have anything useful to say anyways :-)

    Honestly, I hate comments like yours. OMG what can we do as poor students, oh thank you MSFT for saving us ... bullshit. Fedora Core + OpenOffice == free. Or Gentoo + whatever or *BSD + whatever or ...There are ways of getting most [if not all] the tools you'll need for free and libre from an OSS distribution. Just takes effort.

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  8. Limited installations by om3ga · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I thought I'd point out a few things that were mentioned on the article from a few days ago:

    - This ultimate edition thats available through this offer is limited to installation on one PC, vs installation on three PCs available to those who buy the student edition (around $249AU)
    - You don't get the CDs with the offer, but can download it, or get a disc from a participating university (I didn't check if it was just a burnt copy or a nicely labeled pressed disc). I'd pay $75 if OpenOffice came in such a fancy box!

    I was one button away from purchasing it, until I realized how unnecessary it is for me. I use OpenOffice for my university studies, it opens every word document and PowerPoint presentation thats given to us from the Lecturers. I'm not sure how it is for other things. But for those of you who think this is a good deal, please consider, or atleast try OpenOffice first!

  9. Re:The first one is free... by bmo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Honestly, I hate comments like yours. "

    The comments that are worse than that come from students pirating software saying that they're "sticking it to The Man." No, they're not sticking it to The Man. They're doing exactly what The Man wants, because....

    "As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade." - Bill Gates, about Chinese software piracy. Thing is, that quote is also applicable to students, just end the sentence with "and then we will collect after they graduate"

    This "we're letting you license Office Ultimate for $25AU/year" is a price just slightly above outright software piracy, and maybe even cheaper than buying a burned set of disks from the "dorm software dealer." Hook 'em while they're young.

    --
    BMO

  10. First one's always free by Grail · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And then when the discount "Office Ultimate" software decides to lock you out of your Office documents, you have to pay the full price plus the unlocking fee.

    Read the EULA. Understand about DRM, and Microsoft's plans for the future. ORCON is fine and dandy until you realise that the provider of the control mechanisms is the real owner of the document.

    This FUD brought to you by the number 51 and a Tin Foil Hat.

  11. Re:Reality check by Achromatic1978 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Huh? How do you extrapolate from "the ribbon interface is better for usability" (and I believe it is) to "Oh wow, hey, gotta pay MS another $1000 just to use said ribbon interface"? People upgrade to keep current and to have new things. Nowhere did the GP say, as you imply that a UI trick is worthy as the reason for an upgrade.

    that will evaporate when Microsoft dangles a new shiny.

    Nice ad hominem. I love the implication that your move away from Microsoft is some kind of intellectual philosophizing and of scholarly merit, and that someone who likes a product released by Microsoft is some immature child, dazzled by a new toy and "blind to the ways of the world".

    I know Exchange admins who would kill to escape Microsoft

    That's their problem. I know I wouldn't keep working at something I detest. Let alone say that it's someone else's fault. I know plenty of people who are happy administering Exchange (though personally I find its admin to be cumbersome and unintuitive).

    Frankly, your post reads like you just received your first month's check from Microsoft for astroturfing Slashdot.

    Why, because he has the unmitigated gall to have a differing opinion from you on the subject? I happen to think O2007 is a vast improvement in usability to O2003. The ribbon is far more contextual and I spend less time menu-hunting/surfing. HOWEVER, I will admit that there is a significant effort in becoming familiar with this new system. For some people, myself included, the usability of the product once this has been overcome is worth this initial expense. For you, it may not (above and beyond the fact that you imply you've never used it).

  12. Re:Reality check by alienmole · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why, because he has the unmitigated gall to have a differing opinion from you on the subject?
    No, because he claimed that he "hates Microsoft as much as the next guy here", and then went on to indulge in some fanboy drooling, concluding with some more material attempting to bolster his non-Microsoft cred. As I pointed out, he clearly doesn't "hate Microsoft as much as the next guy here", and if he had left out that comment and his attempt to be taken seriously as anything other than a Microsoft fan, I wouldn't have bothered to respond.