I have a computer that doesn't have MS word on it, is there any downloadable version? If not, is there any good alternatives?
MS word
Miscellaneous Forums/General Discussion/MS word You have to pay for MS Word, which is part of the MS Office package, although you can download a 60-day trial of it from their site.
A free alternative is OpenOffice, which appeared to work fine for the most part when I tinkered with it on my laptop.
A free alternative is OpenOffice, which appeared to work fine for the most part when I tinkered with it on my laptop.
OpenOffice is quite fine (there's an older thread around here discussing the pros and cons of it versus MS Office).
If you don't want the rest of the office suite though (ie just word processing), you can have a go at AbiWord - another free open-source word processor (that is much acclaimed).
If you don't want the rest of the office suite though (ie just word processing), you can have a go at AbiWord - another free open-source word processor (that is much acclaimed).
I'd go with OpenOffice -- it can read/write Microsoft word documents as well, and is 100% free.
http://www.openoffice.org
http://www.openoffice.org
I don't think that it can read the latest Word document format.
I've been using OpenOffice for the last few years and I like it more then MS Word. The problems I have with MS Word is that the program always tries to think what you want to do. But it's always wrong. It randomly generates headlines which mess up your index, problems with the used font and fontsize and so on and so on.
So I'd say go with OpenOffice. It's better, and it's free.
So I'd say go with OpenOffice. It's better, and it's free.
Maybe you don't know how to use it correctly?
Anyway, Wordperfect is better than both Microsoft Word and OpenOffice Writer.
Anyway, Wordperfect is better than both Microsoft Word and OpenOffice Writer.
I use OO too, no complaints here.
I use OpenOffice, but really only because I don't like paying for something when I can get a functional equivalent for free.
I agree with JustLuke that WordPerfect is better than the both of them, but it's too expensive for people who just want basic functionality. Even at $100, the student edition is still too pricey for a word processor when OO does the job.
The only downside to OpenOffice is that its presentation application (Powerpoint clone) is absolutely terrible. One of the rare cases where I wished I'd had MS Office.
I agree with JustLuke that WordPerfect is better than the both of them, but it's too expensive for people who just want basic functionality. Even at $100, the student edition is still too pricey for a word processor when OO does the job.
The only downside to OpenOffice is that its presentation application (Powerpoint clone) is absolutely terrible. One of the rare cases where I wished I'd had MS Office.
Maybe you don't know how to use it correctly?
Anyway, Wordperfect is better than both Microsoft Word and OpenOffice Writer.
Anyway, Wordperfect is better than both Microsoft Word and OpenOffice Writer.
Except wordperfect is a dead-end street at well, outside of a few very specialistic industries WordPerfect is long gone. Microsoft beat it up and took its lunch money.
Except wordperfect is a dead-end street at well, outside of a few very specialistic industries WordPerfect is long gone. Microsoft beat it up and took its lunch money.
Do you know how it did that, though? It wasn't because it was better, if you think that's the case. By offering free deals to OEM system creators for MS Works most likely and WordPad which is capable of handling old Doc files without problems.
Above that by simply providing something with excel and powerpoint thats unmatched so far.
Above that by simply providing something with excel and powerpoint thats unmatched so far.
Do you know how it did that, though? It wasn't because it was better, if you think that's the case
Under DOS, WP ruled. However, they underestimated Windows, and were late to the game there. On top of that, the initial initial windows releases blew. By the time they got their act together, MS already cornered the wordprocessor market under Windows. Partially due to being 'better' (initially), and partially through bundling deals to establish market share.
Except wordperfect is a dead-end street at well, outside of a few very specialistic industries WordPerfect is long gone. Microsoft beat it up and took its lunch money.
Microsoft sure did give Wordperfect a sound beating, but so what? Wordperfect remains superior to Word and it is still being developed and sold by Corel. And the fact that it is actively developed and sold clearly rubbishes your claims that the product is both a "dead end street" and "long gone".
As for it not being used by anything other than specialist industries, again, so what? I choose to use Wordperfect because I'm a student and a writer and it fits my needs better than any other wordprocessing package. Besides, using a wordprocessor is hardly rocket science - I can use any of them, Word, Wordperfect, or Office Writer as the situation dictates.
Sorry but I strongly disagree, as someone who had to spend a lot of time using word processors and teaching other people to use them at that time and Word 6 was massively better than Word Perfect 5 for most people. Word Perfect was still stuck with a "DOSSY" interface and relied on shortcut keys and had no visual ques.
What really sold Word 6 was that it was proper, easy to use WYSISWG for the masses and it worked. There was no conspiracy theory, smoking gun, or grassy knoll, just one product that the large majority prefered and found easier to use. Word Perfect appealed mostly to people that had been using it for some time. Microsoft came up with a winning formula and then consolidated their position with Office 97, which provided the temaplate for Office applications for the next 10 years.
There's no need to fictionalise or fetishise these things.
Darkheart
What really sold Word 6 was that it was proper, easy to use WYSISWG for the masses and it worked. There was no conspiracy theory, smoking gun, or grassy knoll, just one product that the large majority prefered and found easier to use. Word Perfect appealed mostly to people that had been using it for some time. Microsoft came up with a winning formula and then consolidated their position with Office 97, which provided the temaplate for Office applications for the next 10 years.
There's no need to fictionalise or fetishise these things.
Darkheart
I don't know about ancient versions of Wordperfect such as the one you mention. The latest version is 13 and I've only used the product since version 10. The latest version of Microsoft Word is pretty neat but feature for feature, Wordperfect is still superior.
For example, the grammar checker in Word is just plain broken; it always had a poor track record for flagging grammatical mistakes, but in the latest version, consistently under certain circumstances, it fails to even initialise. The feature was still inferior to Wordperfect's equivalent in previous versions of Word, and scientific linguistic and grammatical tests prove this to be true.
Wordperfect has always been more solid on the fundamentals. Word masks its weaknesses with fancy ribbons and fantastic marketing. But, still, Word is a decent application and I'd definitely choose it over OpenOffice, Abeword or any of the other free alternatives. OpenOffice is like Blender - "good" and "free" are not the same qualities.
By the way, who's fictionalising or fetishising things? I'm only offered a subjective opinion.
For example, the grammar checker in Word is just plain broken; it always had a poor track record for flagging grammatical mistakes, but in the latest version, consistently under certain circumstances, it fails to even initialise. The feature was still inferior to Wordperfect's equivalent in previous versions of Word, and scientific linguistic and grammatical tests prove this to be true.
Wordperfect has always been more solid on the fundamentals. Word masks its weaknesses with fancy ribbons and fantastic marketing. But, still, Word is a decent application and I'd definitely choose it over OpenOffice, Abeword or any of the other free alternatives. OpenOffice is like Blender - "good" and "free" are not the same qualities.
By the way, who's fictionalising or fetishising things? I'm only offered a subjective opinion.
Sorry Justluke my comments aren't really directed at you, more people slurring Microsoft and spouting the tedious old "Microsoft=Big Bad Bully" lazyness with no evidence. The 94-97 period is the most significant period because from that point on Office became the defacto standard and it is almost impossible to imagine anything replacing it now. The amount of ball-dropping that went on by Novell from 1992-2000 is stunning. Obviously whatever works best for you is best for you.
Darkheart
Darkheart
Ah, ok. By the way, I agree with you about the unfortunate attitude that people hold towards Microsoft. Successful companies are easy targets, unfortunately.
Having said that, my dictatorial instincts force me to correct you on one thing: whatever works best for me is best for you! Oh, if only I had my own backward third world country to terrorise, my own utopia of brutal police beatings, propaganda and enforced Wordperfect usage - then I'd be happy.
Having said that, my dictatorial instincts force me to correct you on one thing: whatever works best for me is best for you! Oh, if only I had my own backward third world country to terrorise, my own utopia of brutal police beatings, propaganda and enforced Wordperfect usage - then I'd be happy.