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Microsoft Phasing Out Office Starter Edition
nk497 writes "Microsoft has started phasing out its Office 2010 Starter edition, ahead of the arrival of Windows 8. Office Starter was included in the OEM pre-installation kit (OPK) of software sent to manufacturers, and included ad-supported versions of Word and Excel, but not Outlook or PowerPoint. That will be replaced with an Office 2010 Transition OPK, which will instead push users to download a trial of the Office suite and offer a link to buy the full version. The free Office Web Apps will also be available for users not wanting the full version."
They're just marketing tools. Nobody actually uses them.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Lost office sales must have convinced them to do this as a way to push people to cloud services, once they're on the cloud MS can find some way to wring cash out of them. I've seen a large number of people that just need Word and Excel use the Starter and never buy a full version, that can't be good for the earnings.
Every single person on slashdot knows that exists. And yet, no one cares.
Reading the headline I though that would mean one less piece of rubbish to remove from the system after buying it... it's a shame that isn't the case.
why not have works come back?
I have LibreOffice of course, but don't actually use it much. Word processing seems antiquated. I use text editors and browsers for my writing. Most of my writing is programs, documentation, posts, and emails, not letters. Good riddance to all those empty forms one is expected to know and follow in letter writing.
Spreadsheets are sometimes useful. But I often find programming languages more flexible for heavy duty calculation.
If I do a lecture, I work from notes and use a chalkboard or a whiteboard. One problem with a presentation is it's too static and linear. Fairly easy to skip stuff your audience already knows, but not so easy to whip up new slides on the spot for the other way around. A talk is constrained enough for a slide show, but that also makes them of limited value. Everyone has been in useless, boring meetings dominated by PowerPoint presentations.
What else do office suites do? 3rd rate database management, drawings, and...?
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
I don't see anything but "shitty replacement software for builtin thing" showing the AP you're currently connected to via CCX extensions (Intel, Broadcom), re-distributable WPA2 PSK profiles that are more immune to syphoning by regedit and a quick decrypt once applied (Intel), built-in multi-channel wifi survey and wifi interference measurements (Broadcom), inbuilt TDR for cable measurement and broken/crossed wire tests (Intel, Broadcom, Marvell and Realtek).
As for the shovelware? Yep. That definitely needs to go...
"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over." - Aneurin Bevan
If Microsoft doesn't want to cater to this audience, LibreOffice is more than happy to step up and provide a high-quality, powerful, free (and Free) office suite.
I've installed LibreOffice on dozens of machines, and many friends of mine now rely on it for opening a variety of files that MS-Office can't (or won't) open for them. It'd be great to hear from any OEMs who are considering installing it as a part of the base package on their machines.
coding is life
Computer Manufacturers do that because it pays them. They get money that drives the cost down of the computer so you get a better price I mean they get more money. If it bothers you that much it's called format it and do it yourself.
PS: just build the computer yourself you lazy ass, it isn't that hard. PPS: if you don't want to do that all you need is a license key, you can format it yourself and download the iso from something like this: http://lifehacker.com/5832896/download-windows7-isos-to-reinstall-without-restoring-your-system
My wife has been running open office on linux and macos for years. Recently when she needed a copy of microsoft office she reacted with incredulity when she found out that our son's laptop (which came with windows) doesn't have microsoft office.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
I'll say right off, I actually use Office Starter for my SOHO work. I know this post is gonna get voted down simply for that reason, regardless of how insightful or informative this post ends up being. But, as someone who has no need for PowerPoint or Outlook yet still requires absolute 100% Office compatibility for my work, Office Starter has met all of my needs. That right there is perhaps the biggest pro of Office Starter. Even though it might not have all the features of the full Office suite, it is still 100% across-the-board compatible. A Word document or Excel spreadsheet created in Office 2010 Professional will look pixel-to-pixel identical when opened in Office Starter, and vice-versa. Although LibreOffice and similar FOSS office suites are good programs in their own right, they simply are not absolutely 100% compatible with Office. As others have mentioned above, I too have recommended Office Starter to those who only need Word and Excel (Or even just Word), and haven't heard any complaints from them. I even found the actual installation files for it in the recovery partition on my new ThinkPad laptop, and have successfully used them to install Office Starter on my home-built Windows 7 desktop. So, when Microsoft does away with Office Starter, I'll still have a way to install it on any new computers I buy or build in the future. Yes, ads are annoying. But, at least Microsoft did something right with the ads in Office Starter, and made them unobtrusive. No rapid flashing, no popups, no ads with audio. They just sit there in the corner, slowly cycling, and are quite easy to tune out once you start focusing on your work. So, I can understand why some people dislike Office Starter...but I legitimately don't understand the mass hysteria about it being a bad program, and the "good riddance" attitude of most people in regards to the news of it being discontinued. I LIKE Office Starter. Yes, I could buy a full version of Office if I wanted to...but I don't NEED to. Office Starter meets all of my SOHO requirements. Thus, I'm part of the incredibly small minority of people who actually think it's dumb for them to get rid of Starter.
Have you heard of them?
coding is life
You 're not allowed to do commercial things with that. Why would I need office for home use? No, I'm not a student, so what exactly do you propose to do with it?
Send a letter to my sister congratulating her with her birthday? Put all my recipes in a spreadsheet (after all, it's a database, right?). Maybe make a presentation so I can convince my girlfriend it's better to watch sports on television tonight than Jersey Shore?
Keep in mind that many companies already have a license where it's legal for their employees to run full office at home and that many charities get a "free" license from MicroSoft so their volunteers can use it. There isn't a lot of situations left where you would actually have to buy a license if you really wanted to use MS Office and not be able to do so already, or use the Starter Edition, or Libre Office. Only there the "Home" license would be required.
Oh, now I see, you want to use full blown Outlook because you like the features (I despise it with a vengeance myself). Sorry, that's not in Office Home, you need to buy the full package for that
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
If it bothers you that much it's called format it and do it yourself
You lose your warranty on the software if you do that. Since it's an OEM version, MicroSoft doesn't support it, only provides updates and calls it Genuine, but you can't get a support contract on it or even call them for your "three free calls" or however much it is these days. If you buy a retail license or get a volume license as a company, then only do you get support, but only if you install that windows version. Mind you, if you decide to go that way, the hardware vendor won't support your driver problems, unless you get a separate support contract for that.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Now what was it about linux and support again?
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
I don't think there's a software warranty on a machine even with the factory load, is there?
IF you do it yourself then you are likely technical enough to fix most issues yourself. That's how it works for me. I fix all my issues...IF I ever have any, because I do it right the first time.
"That's right...I said it."
Made me download LibreOffice
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Honestly, how does it make HP any money to turn off the built-in Windows wifi manager on a new laptop and replace it with one that they've written themselves? Nobody pays them for it, and man-hours to code these things aren't free.
Why not pre-install LibreOffice and provide a link to download Microsoft Office just in case someone feels they still have to have it?
Roger
1) Open LO Writer.
2) Hit CTRL+ENTER 5 times (to add 5 pages to the document)
3) Success!
1) Open LO Writer.
2) Copy the text from https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum and paste it once or twice into your document.
Your document will now be about 3-6 pages long (assuming default fonts, etc..)
3) Use PgUp to go to the top of the document.
4) Press and hold SHIFT+PgDn until you have selected the entire document.
5) Success!
(I used LibreOffice 3.4.4 OOO340m1 (Build:402) on Ubuntu 11.10, but I expect these instructions will work on 3.5/3.6 on various Windows flavors as well)
If LibreOffice still isn't working properly for you, feel free to ask for help on the #libreoffice channel on Freenode or file a bug using the Bug Submission Assistant.
coding is life
Well, you do need two computers depending on the problem - the one you're fixing and the one you're googling with, but yeah, basically everything comes down to
1) Google to see if any one else has had this problem and what they did
2) Someone did, do that stuff.
For drivers, it's just a matter of
1) did you download a new version that broke something? find the old version and reinstall that
2) is there a new version that fixes your problem? download and install it.
3) wait for 2 to be true, or enough time passes that they're probably not going to put out another patch and buy new hardware.
I'm curious as to what additional support people think they're going to get from the basic support from an OEM or even Microsoft other than the having someone at a computer do the above over the phone and relay instructions to you. You're certainly not going to get online with one of the engineers to turn on debug features and step through your drivers or whatever over your $400 Best Buy Bargain. The best you can hope for is for your issue to be added to a bug reporting database, and enough other people having reported it that someone actually does correct it for the next driver release, in which case, you're back to step 3 again anyway.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
... LibreOffice changes it's name to something less awful than "LibreOffice" will downloads increase.
Part of the problem with many free alternatives to closed/commercial software lies in the name: Libre Office sounds like a bad knock-off and doesn't roll off the tongue as well as Open Office or even Star Office for that matter. Give it a better name and people may want to give it a try.
Fifty watts per channel, baby cakes.