Computer question

[Dieseltech]

I get E-mail info I need to copy sometimes, the Ne... .pdf info I can copy easily. The Ne... .docx info I can't as I don't have or want the Microsoft 99 buck yearly upgrade. Being computer illiterate, is there a way that I can copy the docx info easily? Thanks in advance.

 

[Janicholson]

I get E-mail info I need to copy sometimes, the Ne... .pdf info I can copy easily. The Ne... .docx info I can't as I don't have or want the Microsoft 99 buck yearly upgrade. Being computer illiterate, is there a way that I can copy the docx info easily? Thanks in advance.

I use a suite of programs from Open Office. It is free and accepts many Word documents (and can save new documents in older word formats). Free is a good deal, and it works. Jim

 

[Doc 2]

I agree with Apache Open Office. It's free and works well with Microsoft Office documents. Brian

 

[Uniballer]

LibreOffice seems to be a bit more up-to-date; it is a fork from OpenOffice.

 

[zuhnc]

LibreOffice is the latest freeware! Works with practically any format MS uses.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Like Uniballer said, LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice. Both have similar capabilities and both are free. Most major Linux distributions have switched from OpenOffice to LibreOffice.

 

[jniolon]

if you google around you can find vendors that sell older copies of major software packages...like "older microsoft software packages for sale "
Some as low as 15 bucks. I'm using word 2007 and it does everything I need to do.
john

 

[jimg.allentown]

Some sofware publishers have priced themselves out of business. Like WordPerfect, Lotus, and Novell. Their products, while "top of the line" in their day basically faded away once their market was saturated. Ordinary computer users were simply not willing to pay over $750 for a word processor program or to follow Novell's strict policies at very high prices.
MicroSoft finally figured out a way to insure a steady income from their products from the suckers that signed up for it. Enter the Cloud. The Cloud is just somebody else's computer!!! But, now you can pay a subscription charge to access your own documents. Just like if you were to put money into savings and the bank charged you for keeping your money instead of paying you interest.

 

[zuhnc]

Free is a lot better than buying something that is outdated and is NEVER updated. LibreOffice is updated constantly, as errors are found, and to add some new functionality (or bloat, as you prefer!).

My MIL used to use WordPerfect, but quit using it when they wanted regular subscription (paid) updates.

The "cloud" is, as pointed out, someone else's computer, and when the cloud dissipates or is inaccessable, whatever you have in there is gone, or not available to you, as well. Local storage with appropriate backups will mitigate losing that data.

 

[wp6529]

...Just like if you were to put money into savings and the bank charged you for keeping your money instead of paying you interest.

That's pretty much what they do these days. I ran across a bank statement of mine from the later 70s when I was a kid, 5% interest on my little savings account. Today it's 0.01% interest and $20/mo fees.

Today you can find a free, usually open source replacement for the majority of the software you might need with a few exceptions. Some examples:

Need Try
--------------------------------------------------------------------
MS Office Libre Office (free, open source)
Photoshop GIMP (free, open source)
Premiere Davinci Resolve (free standard version, proprietary)
CAD Inkscape may work if your needs are very limited, it's not adequate for my needs, I use TurboCAD
Email Thunderbird / K9, good for desktop and mobile

 

[Ohio88]

Every now and then I get an offer to buy office one time fee of 59 dollars. Bought one a number of years ago and it still works. Also found them on ebay. When you down load it you login to Microsoft for the license. It solves the doc issue.

 

[1948CaseVAI]

Free is a lot better than buying something that is outdated and is NEVER updated. LibreOffice is updated constantly, as errors are found, and to add some new functionality (or bloat, as you prefer!).

My MIL used to use WordPerfect, but quit using it when they wanted regular subscription (paid) updates.

The "cloud" is, as pointed out, someone else's computer, and when the cloud dissipates or is inaccessable, whatever you have in there is gone, or not available to you, as well. Local storage with appropriate backups will mitigate losing that data.

You will not "lose" data on a reputable cloud such as Google Drive, OneDrive, etc. If Jose down the block hosts his homemeade "cloud" than you would be at risk, but not with a reputable one. Google Drive is dirt cheap - I think I pay 2.99 a month for 200 Gigs.

 

[jimg.allentown]

You will not "lose" data on a reputable cloud such as Google Drive, OneDrive, etc. If Jose down the block hosts his homemeade "cloud" than you would be at risk, but not with a reputable one. Google Drive is dirt cheap - I think I pay 2.99 a month for 200 Gigs.

I paid about $40 for a 3 TERRABYTE hard drive. Why would I want to pay somebody else to store my data?
Also, try not paying that $2.99 a month for a couple of months and see if your data will still be there. Another thing is that now the operator of the cloud has access to your data. That means that law enforcement can come in with a warrant and examine your data.
To each their own, but I see no need to pay a third party to store my data. I've been a computer hobbyist for over 40 years. So far, the data I have lost is negligible.

 

[Janicholson]

I paid about $40 for a 3 TERRABYTE hard drive. Why would I want to pay somebody else to store my data?
Also, try not paying that $2.99 a month for a couple of months and see if your data will still be there. Another thing is that now the operator of the cloud has access to your data. That means that law enforcement can come in with a warrant and examine your data.
To each their own, but I see no need to pay a third party to store my data. I've been a computer hobbyist for over 40 years. So far, the data I have lost is negligible.

Agree. I also use backup through USB drives. (three of them. Clouds either rain or move on. Kim