Include office with Windows XP

[SeaSky the Borderline Genus]

Office XP should be included with Windows XP

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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...-2a9e30db3ed8&dg=microsoft.public.office.misc

 

[Mary]

Office XP 2002 is no longer available and was not any way related to Windows
XP operating system. Most users don't need the complex Office Suite software
anyway.

 

[David R. Norton]

"SeaSky the Borderline Genus" <SeaSky the Borderline
(e-mail address removed)> wrote in message

Office XP should be included with Windows XP

Why? Are you willing to have an obsolete version of Office included with
Windows XP? Are you willing to add $200 or more to the price of XP so that
Office can be included?

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Then Windows XP would cost several hundred dollars more....

 

[Harlan Grove]

David R. Norton wrote...

"SeaSky the Borderline Genus" <SeaSky the Borderline

Why? Are you willing to have an obsolete version of Office included with
Windows XP? Are you willing to add $200 or more to the price of XP so that
Office can be included?

'Obsolete'? Not exactly in the sense that, say, Office XP is to Office
2003 as an ox cart is to a 2006 model year pickup truck. More like
Office XP (which came out more or less at the same time as Windows XP)
is to Office 2003 as a 2001 model year pickup is to a 2003 model year
pickup.

There are enough people still running Office 95 (much less more recent
but not current versions) to demonstrate the preposterousness of the
notion that Office 2003 (or 2004 on Macs) is necessary or even sensible
on a cost/benefit analysis (net of racketering, er, changes in
Microsoft licensing terms with respect to upgrades).

That said, you're right that it'd only make Windows more expensive.
However, what's to prevent Microsoft from bundling Windows and Office
(other than antitrust concerns) as an optional package?

 

[SeaSky the Borderline Genus]

Complex??? Office is Essential unless you only use your computer for gaming
or AOL. $200 is Pocket Change. I spend $200 when I go out to dinner.
Outdated??? I use office 2003. I still say it should be included with the
Operating system. Open Office is included with every Linux OS I have ever
tried.

 

[Harlan Grove]

SeaSky the Borderline Genus wrote...

Complex??? Office is Essential unless you only use your computer for gaming
or AOL. $200 is Pocket Change. I spend $200 when I go out to dinner.
Outdated??? I use office 2003. I still say it should be included with the
Operating system. Open Office is included with every Linux OS I have ever
tried.

And Random House would like to use your picture next to the definition
of oblivious.

If $200 is mere pocket change for you, then either you earned it, in
which case you should be intelligent enough to figure out how to buy OS
and software a la carte, or you inherrited it, in which case if you
can't even figure out how to buy software a la carte, $200 won't be
pocket change for long.

As for Linux, OpenOffice is inlcuded in general and desktop distros in
part because it's free, both in terms of open source and cost, and it's
distributed with other free software. It isn't bundled with
server-specific distros or lightweight distros (like Knoppix).

Office ain't free, and Microsoft has no intention of making it so. I
suspect the US government's Antitrust authorities might have unkind
feelings about Microsoft bundling Windows and Office.

Finally, it's possible to use even Windows PCs on shop floors, in
information kiosks, as cash registers, even in schools without needing
Office. Heck, if I had a Windows PC with MatLab, LaTex and a connection
to an Oracle dbms, I'd have more calculation, desktop publishing and
database capabilities than Office provides. I wouldn't have
presentation software, though (sad, sad, sad, such a great loss). You
could even install OpenOffice on a Windows PC.

 

[SeaSky the Borderline Genus]

Are you saying Linux is better than Windows?

 

[Harlan Grove]

SeaSky the Borderline Genus wrote...

Are you saying Linux is better than Windows?

Without a doubt Linux gives you more functionality legally for lots
less money than Microsoft provides. On an absolute basis, it's a harder
call. If I were an academic in science or engineering, fields in which
damn near all publishing is still done in TeX, Microsoft Office
wouldn't be worth the price. However, in the commercial setting in
which I'm currently employed, needing to work with other people who
only seem to know Office and a few in-house applications, Office is a
necessity and OpenOffice isn't adequate.

 

[David R. Norton MVP]

SeaSky the Borderline Genus

Complex??? Office is Essential unless you only use your computer for
gaming or AOL.

There are alternatives such as Open Office which is pretty much compatible
and free, there's Microsoft Works, an often over looked program that will
do what many folks need to do and costs much less, there's the possibility
of buying any of the needed office components individually for much less
than the cost of Office.

$200 is Pocket Change. I spend $200 when I go out to dinner.

You'll pardon me if I think you're exaggerating?

Outdated??? I use office 2003. I still say it should be included with
the Operating system.

You said Office XP in your original post and it IS outdated, the current
version of Office is Office 2003.

Open Office is included with every Linux OS I have ever tried.

Open Office is free, Microsoft Office is not.

 

[Beth Melton]

I have several pockets that could use some of your pocket change. <G>

"SeaSky the Borderline Genus"