invent&lost said:
I reinstalled WINDOWS XP does it install office 2003 standard? can I
reinstall a trial and use my product key that i purchased, once it expired.
Probably not. That would defy the meaning of "expired". You either buy
the product or get a real "free Office" (or a cheaper Office) somewhere
else. Three products providing more or less full functionality, but with
some differences (this listing is *not* comprehensive):
As far as I know, no-one beats MS Office when it comes to ready made
templates, online help, and document "gadgets" (clipart, macros, etc.).
The interface is somewhat bloated to my taste, but even so it runs
smoothly, seemingly highly optimised. With most of the "helpful" options
turned off, I find it a very nice set of tools. Rather pricey for the
personal user if you want the "Professional" (for the "Access" database
tool).
If you need integrated collaboration functions or an office suite that
makes decent web pages, I believe Lotus SmartSuite is your tool (don't
take my word for it, though, as I haven't used it for a couple of
years). The price is considerably lower than a comparable MS suite. The
user interface has a load of functions readily at hand but takes a
little getting used to, and the bubble help is much more of a nuisance
than MS's (and highly configurable, I might add).
If you want an Office suite with all functions you'll need, a reasonably
familiar user interface and a low price, you have OpenOffice. It runs on
virtually any OS, opens and saves files for many formats (even
proprietary formats, like MS), and is free, not counting the time and
bandwidth you use to download it. On the downside it is a little slow
(most noticeable during startup) and not perfectly stable on Windows (I
have the occasional abort, but less than once a week, and the restoring
of aborted documents is very reliable.)
