This subscription based log in shit is really getting old.

Can I just get a version of SOME spreadsheet program that I can use and not sign into and not have to be connected online?

Windows 10, 64 bit.

'If' you're not tied to or require a Microsoft product, LibreOffice is free and includes a word processing program very much like MS Word and a spreadsheet program much like Excel. I installed them for my mom to get her around having to pay for programs she only uses maybe 20% of the capability of. She transitioned from MS Word and Excel and had no issues with the LibreOffice equivalents. And LibreOffice can open, save, and share Excel files, so for some people, I think its a great option.

I'm still hanging on to my Office 2007 shipped with a long gone PC. I refused to pay a subscription pricing for the few times I use either Word or Excel.

In reality I have little use for many of the features in later versions anyway.

I see a lot of standalone Office 2019 or 2021 suites on EbaY that claim to not require a subscription. Might tery one of those.

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
'If' you're not tied to or require a Microsoft product, LibreOffice is free and includes a word processing program very much like MS Word and a spreadsheet program much like Excel. I installed them for my mom to get her around having to pay for programs she only uses maybe 20% of the capability of. She transitioned from MS Word and Excel and had no issues with the LibreOffice equivalents. And LibreOffice can open, save, and share Excel files, so for some people, I think its a great option.

This ... I have LibreOffice on a few of our computers, and even side-by-side with Microsoft Office. LibreOffice is very similar to Microsoft Office and the files are compatible between the two.

And LibreOffice is free.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: old dino,

Yes - LibreOffice is good, but if you still want Microsoft Office without the subscription crap, it's still available as a one-time (forever) purchase. You're looking for MS Office Home & Student 2021. It's available as a digital download with a key. Usually it retails for $150, but I've seen it recently as low as $99.

Another vote for liber office.

https://www.libreoffice.org/

The OpenOffice.org-based distributions (like LibreOffice, NeoOffice, et. al.) are solid, widely-used, and at least equal in quality and features to the MS suite. Not only can you download, install, and "own" it, you can do so without expending money. They also read and write MS-compatible file formats, and will read and repair .xls and .xlsx workbooks that Excel chokes on.

quote:

Microsoft Office Home & Student 2021. It's available as a digital download with a key

Except, how much do you trust MS to leave that option open for the indefinite future while continuing to provide OTA updates and security patches? Oops, my spreadsheet software suddenly stopped working, claims "license expired," what do I do now?

Microsoft still has a one time payment option. $149.99 Comes with Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...crosoft-365-products

I've used the "Word" and "Excel" substitutes in OpenOffice before and they worked just fine. I'm running Win7Pro.

flashguy

LibreOffice and OpenOffice.org are excellent products, and I've used them to put together textbooks and complex reports. I actually like Math a little better than Excel.

It's had some of the best people from Apache, IBM, Oracle, and Sun developing it for more than 30 years. Just for context, "OpenOffice.org originated as StarOffice, a proprietary office suite developed by German company Star Division from 1985 on. In August 1999, Star Division was acquired by Sun Microsystems for US$59.5 million, as it was supposedly cheaper than licensing Microsoft Office for 42,000 staff."

This is a true story. Same thing at my undergrad; our use of OpenOffice.org and Linux saved millions of dollars, kept old machines out of landfills, and got some good write-ups in LinuxWorld, PCWorld, and a few other trade journals.

About 20 years later, I still use it and still love it.

I have used both Excel and Libre Office.

There are very minor differences if you are planning on using VBA macros.

Not %100 compatible. I just save a version of each filetype once I change the macros.

quote:

Originally posted by TRIO:
I have used both Excel and Libre Office.

There are very minor differences if you are planning on using VBA macros.

Not %100 compatible. I just save a version of each filetype once I change the macros.

Absolutely correct.

It's a real concern if the documents will be used in an office environment.
I spent 15 years automating Excel and Word using VBA and it's flaky enough as is.

I just purchased this, cost me $105.

quote:

Originally posted by Jupiter:
Microsoft still has a one time payment option. $149.99 Comes with Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...crosoft-365-products

One more vote for LibreOffice. God Bless !!!

I have a year 2000 MS office suite that is still working fine on W10. Doesn't have a lot of the whiz-bang features of the current version but for basic spreadsheet work it is capable. Also have the Libre suite installed in case one day the old program decides to die. Legacy files will open on Libre. You probably can find an older version of office for sale on Ebay. If you go that route, just make sure the SN activation code is valid and transferable.

I wouldn't use a version of Office less than version 2013 for perpetual software.
You might get by with Office 2010 but certainly nothing earlier than this.
The latter versions just work so much better.
.02

quote:

Originally posted by Jupiter:

quote:

Originally posted by TRIO:
I have used both Excel and Libre Office.

There are very minor differences if you are planning on using VBA macros.

Not %100 compatible. I just save a version of each filetype once I change the macros.

Absolutely correct.

It's a real concern if the documents will be used in an office environment.

I can attest to this, with a caveat: My information is now five years out-of-date, as that's how long ago I retired.

If the OP doesn't need to swap docs, spreadsheets, etc. with MS Office users: LibreOffice will probably do everything he needs. FWIW, I regularly read MS-Office Word and Excel files with LibreOffice on my Linux boxen.

I have one-or-another version of MS-Office on the MS-Win7 Pro partition on my dual-boot laptop. I haven't had to use it since I retired, five years ago.


The rest of this is just me ranting about the misuse of "office suites."

Against my recommendations The Powers That Be decided that the way to do essentially anything and everything was with MS-Office docs and spreadsheets. This included things like test, qualification, and QC data and reports from the Production Dept.

Problem was: They didn't want to pay for MS-Office suites on every last MS-Win box in the place. Enter Open/Libre Office.

Yes: There were "issues." Particularly the newer the MS-Office suites some employees were using, the greater the number of gotchas between them and Open/Libre Office users. (And between them and users of older versions of MS-Office, in fact.)

Which, naturally, I cautioned them would happen. But noooo. Every time some manager got a shiny new MS-Win PC, they had to have the latest and greatest MS-Office suite.

quote:

Originally posted by Jupiter:
I spent 15 years automating Excel and Word using VBA and it's flaky enough as is.

That should have been what we call "A Clue"

When all you know how to use is a hammer: Everything is treated like a nail. (To torture an old aphorism.) Or, the way I used to put it: This is what happens when you use toys to try to do real work

Office suites have their places. Trying to use them as document management systems and databases ain't it.

I told 'em. Repeatedly. And told them what would happen when they went ahead and did it anyway. Sure enough: Everything I warned them about came to pass.

But, as with not wanting to pay for MS Office suites on every last MS-Win PC: They didn't want to invest in proper solutions.

One QC type had this "database" (that's what they called it) that was no more than Excel spreadsheets and MS Word docs in a network directory, with only guidelines on how cohesion was to be maintained. That was bad enough. Then, one day, the QC in-duh-vidual told me she needed me to open the network directory to read/write by anybody. "If I do that, this will happen."

She insisted. So I did as she demanded. Sure enough...

Then she complained when what I warned her would happen happened. I reminded her...

They were still wrestling with that one when I retired. By then I'd long passed the point of trying to stop people from shooting themselves in the foot with such nonsense.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

I can attest to this, with a caveat: My information is now five years out-of-date, as that's how long ago I retired.

I retired this past year and nothing much changed in five years.
As I'm sure you know, anytime Microsoft pushed a major update, you had to be on standby just in case they broke something.
Not fun if you're the one who wrote the automation software.

quote:

That should have been what we call "A Clue"

LOL... you got that right.

quote:

Originally posted by Jupiter:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
That should have been what we call "A Clue"

LOL... you got that right.

I should have made this clear: I wasn't pinging you for that. I'm fairly confident you were just doing what the PHB's wanted you to do--just as I was obliged to do the same.

My larger point was meant to be an indictment of how businesses don't invest the resources they should in proper solutions, rather than mis-purposing inadequate tools to hack things together to just get something that kinda sorta works most of the time.