150 pennies that is

http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/5150/53/

7/31/2006 8:44:40 AM

Why would anyone pay $1.50 to beta test MSFT's crummy software? I always thought you were doing the company a favor by beta testing its software. Now you have to pay to do something that benefits them? I'll stick with OpenOffice.

7/31/2006 8:50:02 AM

yea wtf is that about? charging to test beta software..real fuckin smart.

7/31/2006 9:02:34 AM

Because, you noncomputing douchebags, its Beta2 and its pretty much near release. You're a bad nerd if you don't want to try the latest glitz and glamour.

7/31/2006 9:16:45 AM

anyone who wanted to actually beta test it got it when it came out months ago.

the 1.50 is for the noobs who only heard about it recently. Its very feature complete and i haven't noticed anything in the way of bugs. The folks downloading now are just looking for free software.

Quote :

"I'll stick with OpenOffice"

talk about shit software.

7/31/2006 9:24:08 AM

does it expire

7/31/2006 9:42:39 AM

Quote :

"yea wtf is that about? charging to test beta software..real fuckin smart."

Yeah, the price is ridiculously off-putting. I mean $1.50 to try out a piece of software that will be, at minimum, 100 times that price when fully released.

Got to pay the bandwidth bill somehow.

[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 9:56 AM. Reason : .]

7/31/2006 9:55:25 AM

How long does it work?

7/31/2006 10:00:38 AM

The EULA says it will run until Feb 1, 2007, which is probably right around when they plan to release the final version.

7/31/2006 10:07:00 AM

Quote :

"However, the unexpected popularity of the download delivery model may have sparked some thoughts at Redmond about making Office 2007 available as a download. If so, Microsoft would probably want to do a dry run including payment systems over the net. Currently users can only order the software from Microsoft on a CD. "

7/31/2006 10:45:05 AM

Quote :

"talk about shit software."

ITS FREE AND NON-MICROSOFT!! IT MUST SUCK!!

There is nothing I can do in MSFT Office, that I can't do in OpenOffice. The majority of the populus doesn't use most of the crap Word offers anyway. Why should I blow 300 hundred dollars on an Office Suite? That money would better spent upgrading hardware, like a new HD. fuck MSFT and their overpriced bloatware.

7/31/2006 10:59:35 AM

Quote :

"to offset the cost of its servers"

poor microsoft...they're losing so much money on their products that they have to make up the difference somewhere

7/31/2006 11:05:12 AM

Quote :

"There is nothing I can do in MSFT Office, that I can't do in OpenOffice. The majority of the populus doesn't use most of the crap Word offers anyway. Why should I blow 300 hundred dollars on an Office Suite? That money would better spent upgrading hardware, like a new HD. fuck MSFT and their overpriced bloatware."

open office is one of the worst pieces of software ever written. Its slow, its buggy, it suffers from tons of compatibility problems, and its just all around painful to use.

Being free does not make software good. Nor is it an excuse for poor performance.

The reason microsoft can charge $300 for office is because its good software. If open office were able to compete on software quality and performance, then microsoft would go out of business.

7/31/2006 11:10:55 AM

Quote :

"open office is one of the worst pieces of software ever written. Its slow, its buggy, it suffers from tons of compatibility problems, and its just all around painful to use."

Lies. I admit it is a bit slow, but with some tweaking it can open a word document almost as fast as MSFT Office can. As for buggy and compatibility problems, I've never experienced such things. I've opened documents made in OOo in MSFT Word without any problems. Never had it crash on me either.

Quote :

"Being free does not make software good. Nor is it an excuse for poor performance."

I agree, but like I said, it can be tweaked to be made almost as fast as MSFT Office.

Quote :

"The reason microsoft can charge $300 for office is because its good software."

No the reason they are able to charge so much is because human beings are creatures of habit and hate changing if they don't have to. People are used to MSFT Office and a free Office Suite like OOo is deemed "inferior" as it doesn't have MSFT's stamp of approval. Plus the virus/spyware plagued programs such as Kazaa have made people weary of free software on Windows.

[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 11:18 AM. Reason : ..]

7/31/2006 11:18:18 AM

openoffice is atrocious. Windows may have its fair share of problems (and more), but Office is worth every penny. Have you tried the new beta? As great as Office was before, 2007 is going to be even better. that said, i think it's silly to charge $1.50. i can kinda see why they might, but at the cost of another PR battle, i don't know if it's worth it. i guess the people complaining already hate microsoft so maybe they don't care

[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 11:54 AM. Reason : .]

7/31/2006 11:54:05 AM

at work they have the beta version

honestly i dont like it... it just looks uglier, and too complex...the design they've basically had since office 97 is better imho...later on today i'll give yall some screenshots of what i'm talking about

7/31/2006 12:03:39 PM

I have almost little to no use for an office suite, but Open Office seems fine for the (admittedly minor) things I need it for. Why the hate for it and what are the major differences between it and the real deal?

7/31/2006 12:05:22 PM

i didnt have a problem with open office til i was working on a project and it wouldnt load 2 of my things right

after that i was like "never again..."

albeit those were 2 things i dont often use(one with with powerpoint), but still...i figured why risk it when i can just use "the real deal"

7/31/2006 12:07:53 PM

Microsoft Word is the worst word processor out there. Fact.

7/31/2006 1:14:45 PM

Quote :

"Microsoft Word is the worst word processor out there. Fact."

Its not all that bad. Its good for what it does. But WAY overpriced. For 300 dollars, Word should be able to pull my thoughts from my mind and put them on the screen.

7/31/2006 1:20:57 PM

omg w0rd perfect ftw!!111!

7/31/2006 1:34:18 PM

word + the voice recognition software in vista is pretty fucking powerful.

I've been training it for the past month or so and its very capable.

7/31/2006 1:49:48 PM

Quote :

"I've been training it for the past month or so and its very capable."

you've been training on the beta? is the voice-to-text data able to be moved over? or are you just losing it all eventually?

7/31/2006 1:50:37 PM

Look

I used Open Office for well over a year despite both my knowledge roommates maintain that it was total shit.

I then tried a .doc I saved in open office for senior design and the formatting look like a birthing woman shat her fetus on it.

That was the last straw.

7/31/2006 1:54:05 PM

Quote :

"you've been training on the beta? is the voice-to-text data able to be moved over? or are you just losing it all eventually? "

I'm not sure. Thats a good question. If they were smart they'd put all that data in the my docs area so when I migrate I'll have it all saved.

Also, my beta copy doesn't expire, so if I want to run this shit for a while I can.


[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 2:06 PM. Reason : .]

7/31/2006 2:04:45 PM

you editted after i clicked reply

yeah it'd be nice - i'd be surprised if that was built in tho - i bet you have to google for a guy that figured out how

[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 2:07 PM. Reason : .]

7/31/2006 2:06:35 PM

ewwwwwwwwwww@open office.


PS: MS Ofice Rocks

7/31/2006 2:08:02 PM

Open office is fine for a lot of things. It's fine for english papers and basic lab reports. Formatting between openoffice and ms office can get a little hairy, but most of the time it won't go to weird on you. It's definately the best free office application and it's still better than some paid-for office suites like corel office.

Of course you wouldn't want to make something with complex formatting or lots of graphics in open office. I wouldn't trust it with my senior design project or a dissertation (although the restore/recovery feature in open office is currently more reliable than the one in office 2003.) By the same token though, I wouldn't trust a BETA software with anything that complex or important either. Beta software, no matter how "nearly complete" it is, is still admitedly buggy and not quite ready for prime time. With microsoft's track record for actual release software, I'd be espescially leary. 1.50 for the software still isn't that terrible though, and the cost probably only serves to prevent the beta from proliferating to the point of damaging sales of the final product.

7/31/2006 2:23:33 PM

The beta dies in Feb 2007.

7/31/2006 2:30:32 PM

http://www.abisource.com/

7/31/2006 2:39:40 PM

so is it worth it upgrading my Office 2003 installation with the beta? CanI revert back without losing anything?

Currently, I have the Beta running on my development environment in a VM, but I was thinking of starting to use it more regularly.

7/31/2006 2:47:36 PM

Quote :

"The beta dies in Feb 2007."

my free support ends when vista comes out.

my beta is a lot different than the one that was made freely available AFAIK.

7/31/2006 3:02:10 PM

Quote :

"Why would anyone pay $1.50 to beta test MSFT's crummy software? I always thought you were doing the company a favor by beta testing its software. Now you have to pay to do something that benefits them? I'll stick with OpenOffice."

You're a fucking retard. Apple charged a whole lot more for their OSX beta, and you couldn't even download it off the Internet.

Quote :

"my free support ends when vista comes out. my beta is a lot different than the one that was made freely available AFAIK."

Where did you get it from? AFAIK, beta support ends with Vista release simply because they're releasing them both at the same time...and I think I read that Vista was to be released around February for home users.

7/31/2006 3:19:09 PM

its actually brilliant - because it'll ensure that the people who download and use it will actually be interested in testing the product.

if you just offer a free download shitton of people will download it and never even install it or use it or report against it.

7/31/2006 3:24:14 PM

Quote :

"No the reason they are able to charge so much is because human beings are creatures of habit and hate changing if they don't have to."

This comment is especially dumb when it comes to word processors.

OpenOffice just blows ass.

7/31/2006 3:29:17 PM

Quote :

"if you just offer a free download shitton of people will download it and never even install it or use it or report against it."

i downloaded it today in case i want to try it (but probably won't) before it costs $$ to do so

7/31/2006 3:30:19 PM

[QUOTE]Where did you get it from? AFAIK, beta support ends with Vista release simply because they're releasing them both at the same time...and I think I read that Vista was to be released around February for home users.
[/QUOTE]

I'm part of a closed beta of vista.

7/31/2006 4:01:32 PM

well, there's no way that the beta would be supported even after Vista's/Office concurrent release.

Why would any software company do that?

[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 4:05 PM. Reason : .]

7/31/2006 4:05:35 PM

thats what excel looks like

7/31/2006 4:09:05 PM

Look, I'm only speaking from experience. I've never had any problems with OOo (formatting, compatibility, or otherwise) and everyone that I know who uses it has no problem with it either. Gargs, I'm not even going to bother responding to you, as its obvious your a MSFT shill and anything other than MSFT/Dell is worthless in your eyes.

Quote :

"OpenOffice just blows ass."

Maybe for you, but for alot of folks it works just fine.

7/31/2006 4:34:44 PM

word


excel

7/31/2006 4:42:42 PM

How is that any better than the 2003 versions of Excel/Word?

7/31/2006 4:46:07 PM

menus are gone - ribbons have replaced them

7/31/2006 4:47:28 PM

Aside from the new ribbon interface there are new doc formats and some minor new features.

Its just a new version of office. There no huge rush to go from 2003 to 2007.

7/31/2006 4:50:14 PM

^^^^ that does look kinda cool...no less efficient, anyway

[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 4:50 PM. Reason : arrows]

7/31/2006 4:50:27 PM

for common tasks its pretty quick.

After using it for a bit i haven't really found myself wanting the menu bar back. It seems to be pretty well orginized.

7/31/2006 5:01:22 PM

Quote :

"Gargs, I'm not even going to bother responding to you, as its obvious your a MSFT shill and anything other than MSFT/Dell is worthless in your eyes."

Funny as you're the exact opposite.

You two should fight!

7/31/2006 5:18:46 PM

^^^^

The new excel features I've seen have possibility at least. But yeah, there's almost never a huge imparative to upgrade office suites.

7/31/2006 6:23:55 PM

Quote :

"Open office is fine for a lot of things. It's fine for english papers and basic lab reports. Formatting between openoffice and ms office can get a little hairy, but most of the time it won't go to weird on you. It's definately the best free office application and it's still better than some paid-for office suites like corel office."

People tend to forget that the office suites encompass a hell of a lot more than word processing.

I use OpenOffice just because I'm too broke/cheap to pay for Office, but I have to admit that the interface is pretty shitty. All of our lectures in 1st/2nd year were Powerpoint slide sets, and the OpenOffice version of that is a total pain in the ass to use.

7/31/2006 6:41:17 PM

I used Open Office to do my Master's papers, made Powerpoint presentations and was able to export all sorts of documents to PDF, including my documents and curriculum vitae that got me into my PhD program.

So you can say I'm a fan.

7/31/2006 6:45:55 PM