Is Microsoft Office still worth buying in the age of Google Docs?

[Yozora]

At one time Microsoft Office was the major word processing and spreadsheet software suite to buy, however, more recently free software and online alternatives such as LibreOffice, Google Docs, and Zoho Docs, which include a lot of the same features as Office, have become increasingly popular to use. With Microsoft Office slowly shifting to a yearly subscription model with the introduction of Office 365, is there any reason left to buy or subscribe to it?

Why do you use or not use Microsoft Office, and why or why not? If you use an alternative, what are you using instead, and why did you choose that particular software or service?

 

[GigaGreg]

I don't think that it is worth it. For example my student license for MS Office still works, which I am happy for, but it shouldn't work as I have finished my college.

 

[admin]

I use Google Sheets for spreadsheets, datasets of large URLs, etc. The plug-ins and APIs from Google Analytics and Search Console are fantastic.

Excel, although an established business product feels clunky, slow and prone to freezes leading to data loss. I've fallen out of favouritism with Excel, I still use excel on a regular basis with my office 365 subscription which I may not renew when it expires.

 

[CHT]

I'm still using Office 2007, mainly to the fact that later versions start up slower than it. That in itself is a big no-no to me, considering the start up should only take up to 2 seconds tops.
Apart from that, office standalone versions are worth if you require their usage(like Access dbs).

 

[agentsky]

[No message]

 

[c0nvct]

[No message]

 

[Genesis]

I'm still using MS Office as I find Word and Excel quite creative, however if if Microsoft Office should disappear tomorrow I'd probably be OK with Google docs or Libre Office. One thing I know for sure is that MS Office is always a heavy user of computer system resources. I'll probably carry on with it regardless as I'm a bit set in my ways.

 

[Yozora]

[No message]

 

[Genesis]

Yeah, I use an old copy of Office 2003 with a compatibility pack that lets it view the latest Office file formats. I really dislike the "Ribbon" interface the more recent versions of Office have, and Office 2003 still works great on Windows 10, amazingly, so I don't have much reason to upgrade.

I'm really sorry I ditched my old copies of MS Office. I purchased those and would have been great to have them. I find that whoever is "upgrading" Word from the latest versions have ended up downgrading them. Like the merge function of the older versions of MS Office was much more efficient and user friendly. So how I get away with it in the ribbon version is to just use old merge files and edit them. Merging is fantastic for creating publications - I use Excel with Word's merging tool, and that's fast.

 

[Peter]

Fortunately I won't be around for the dystopia where Google's moto of "Don't be Evil" becomes "Be Evil"

I thought that had already happened. Personally I rank Google on the same level as Microsoft.

 

[ryutokeni]

not always but absolutely yes if you have to work mostly with the papers and reports

 

[rrroberts]

[No message]

 

[Genesis]

[No message]

 

[furukawa]

[No message]

 

[rockforlife]

I have an Office 365 account through my employer. Before that, I used OpenOffice and Libre Office.... I seldom use google docs, but I have suggested it to some people.

 

[mgra]

I am using the newest Microsoft Office 365. It's great! And many people around me are using the office suite, too. If choosing another office software, they won't be compatible with Microsoft Office.

 

[Genesis]

I am using the newest Microsoft Office 365. It's great! And many people around me are using the office suite, too. If choosing another office software, they won't be compatible with Microsoft Office.

If I may ask, how did you get hold of the newest Microsoft Office 365? And how do people around you get hold of the office suite as a rule?

 

[2tathagata]

office 2003 still runs on windows 10 and i hope it will run on newer versions of windows if they release one. In office 2003 I can do all of my work and have never faced a problem whatsoever. However when I need do have some docs on my phone, I have to use google docs, and it not really very much different from office. As we are talking about really simple tasks i.e creating documents, I don't really thing one will face a huge problem trying to shift from one program to another. So yes, i would recommend using google docs instead of buying office 2010 or 2013.

 

[shubhangtiwari]

I feel google docs is sufficient for all the tasks.

 

[nicovank]

Microsoft Office is just better made all around to me.
Google docs always felt slow, and I don't like the direct connection to Google Drive.

I just like having a desktop app for rich text editing.