NO NO NO, don't fall for it!!!

Get Open Source Office for FREE at [www.openoffice.org] and it works great. Since I have discovered it, I have uninstalled MS office on both computers at the house.

oncewascool

I'm curious to see whether they mean "0.5 course load" as a load of "0.5 course" or 0.5 of a standard "course load". I'm only taking one college class at the moment, so...

wjmorris3

It's not available if your institution is not in the US. Please mention this kind of 'details' in your posts.

(if lh is US only you can say it too)

White_Duke

My wife ordered a copy several months ago. It took awhile for the physical disk to arrive, but it did eventually. She had already installed from the download, and she hasn't had any problems with it. The line about the qualifications says that you have to provide proof of enrollment upon request from Microsoft. I've never heard of anyone being asked for it.(My wife is a student, so it didn't matter to me either way)

FreemanB

Let's hear it for e-mail for life. Go Red Foxes!

Zen Bliss

@reeflections: Hmmm...good catch. So then I guess it's more than just providing an .edu email address, you have to currently be a student, as well. No nookie for alumni.

Lambasted

So...what makes this so much better than Open Office? I still have yet to find something I need that wasn't available for free in OO. $60 is still $60 that I don't have.

NewPerfection

@K5Doom: It's pretty sweet too. I don't miss Word or Excel at all.

What is a man?

Along these lines, if you want some free software from MS, you might want to look for colleges that are part of the MS Academic Alliance. The community college that I work at has a program that if you are taking a class that uses Microsoft software, lets say a programming class, you get to install Visual Studio on your machine for free. Catch is that when you leave the college you are supposed to remove it. When I taught an OS class a few years ago, my students were able to get XP for free. This year my concepts students got Office 2007.

Not all colleges participate so you might want to contact the computer lab in the college you are looking at to verify it first.

Heck if you are going to learn might as well take advantage of the free stuff.

docbob

I looked at the website and noticed this:

"If you are unable to provide proof of enrollment, you will be required to pay the full retail price of Office Ultimate 2007 (approximate ERP $679USD)."

So, has anyone received a bill for $619 yet that isn't enrolled in classes?

reeflections

@kh0annguyen: You are paying for the key, not the packaging or manuals.

nizzy1115

91% off might be fair value.

I'm typing this as I wait for my simple Excel 03 spreadsheets to start responding again in Excel 07.

Biggest upgrade mistake MS has made in my adult lifetime (can't comment on Vista)

Ash78

It comes in a beat up envelope. You get the CD and JUST the CD... nothing more. The disc itself doesn't have the retail label. It's just the shiny surface with a generic text label.

kh0annguyen

0$ : [www.openoffice.org]

Cross-platform too... (mac, linux, windows, bsd, etc...)

K5Doom

confirmed: all you need is a .edu address. EyeHeartPie is right though, University's offer even better prices than this.

robmcbell

If I hadn't already bought this when I was a student at the University of Texas at Austin, I would be all over it. However, UT sold MS software for $8 per DVD. That means since MS Office 2007 was on 3 DVDs, so I payed $24.

EyeHeartPie

Any word on whether you can get Office '08 for Mac for the same price? Now *that* would be sweet.

Nash_Andrew

I ordered this over a month ago and it still hasn't shown up. Buyer beware.

JMH

I got mine a month or two ago. It's an awesome promotion I think. You have the choice of an immediate download or spring a few more bucks and get disks mailed to you (and still be able to download it). This price beats out the Student/Teacher Editions by a landslide.

There's also an affiliate program that you can get money back by referring others to get a copy, but I don't know the details or how much you'd get back (probably like a buck a person).

This is worth it for anyone with a .edu address (aka broke college students like me).

kazoni

I can get it for an even better price: free. (Torrents FTW!)

iEddie

I'm not trying to defend Microsoft here, they've given me enough problems through the years with their Xbox's and poor customer service. But The Consumerist shouldn't be encouraging people to get an .edu email address to scam Microsoft and this offer. It's morally wrong. The Consumerist doesn't have a leg to stand on when defending consumers when they get ripped off if The Consumerist staff is openly encouraging ripping off companies. Shame on you.

AmericaTheBrave

Open Office is recommended if you cannot afford to have office, but I don't think anyone is actually saying it's better! It's still got a long way to go to reach MS Office--Especially Access & Excel. I haven't used Office 2007 much yet (I got this deal for my laptop but my main PC still uses 2003) but I was pulling my hair out trying to get OO Calc to behave like Excel (2003) and it's just not there yet.

cisengineer

It is being offered in some places outside the US - I am studying for my MA with the Open University in the United Kingdom, and I took advantage of the offer to get Office 2007 Ultimate for £41 - ok with the dollar rate that is more expensive than in the US, but that's the case with most software, discounted or not.

suecsi

I'm still using Office 2000 because it works for me, plus I don't do much with it at home these days.

That being said, it's about frigging time M$ did something in regards to Office for students. My biggest gripe with the "Student and Teacher" edition was that it did not come with Access, and many courses in Office had a section on Access or other classes used it to introduce students to databases. It meant my options were to use it at the computer labs, find a used copy, or pay the $600+ for the "full" version of Office.

And before the OpenOffice fanboys get all over me, this was in 1997, and not even StarOffice existed.

theblackdog

My question is can you re-sell it (assuming you don't install it)?

I'd rather stick with OO but if I could sell this copy of Office for a hundred bucks or so it might be worth it.

Zundfolge

ordered my copy MONTHS ago, received my email with the download link and serial in minutes. This works great, students take advantage of this!

xxdesmus

I went for this deal 8 months ago, and never regretted it. Even better, the EULA states that you can install it on 2 computers; a portable and a non-portable computer simultaneously. So, you are paying $30 per install for the whole office suite, including OneNote, which completely rocks, and Access. In other words, if you are ever going to buy Office 2007 and have a .edu email, you would be a fool to pass this up.

And for clarification, I am not a Micro$oft fanboy, I used to use OpenOffice exclusively. But at $60 for two licenses, this beats the pants off of OOo in both functionality and value. Heck, when I have Ubuntu installed on my notebook I install a Windows virtual machine with Virtualbox just so I can still use OneNote and the rest of the suite.

allinthefamily

I've been running Office Uber Overlord Edition for a while now from this deal. Yes, this comes with everything. It's definitely worth the $60

note: you can use this on two computers legitimately. I have it on my desktop and my laptop.

fluxrad

I went with the British equivalent, which ended recently, and am very happy with it. Be aware you need are buying a download, not a DVD - you pay extra for the DVD.

amosharper

Before doing this, students might want to first check if their school offers the software for free. I know at my school, I can get Office, Windows, and a bunch of other stuff completely free just by showing my ID at the library.

Kyle Slattery

@mm_dominik: Two words "Product Key"

cisengineer

one word...torrents ;)

mm_dominik

I bought this a few months ago, and I bought the back-up discs as well. Well worth the price, no scam at all!!

rubberkeyhole

Oh, and as was just mentioned, OneNote rocks.

44 in a Row

For those wondering if it is a scam:

from whois.com

Registrant:
Microsoft Corporation
Domain Administrator
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
US
domains@microsoft.com
+1.4258828080 Fax: +1.4259367329

Domain Name: THEULTIMATESTEAL.COM
Registrar of Record: Corporate Domains, Inc.

Administrative Contact:
Microsoft Corporation
Domain Administrator
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
US
domains@microsoft.com
+1.4258828080 Fax: +1.4259367329
Technical Contact:
Microsoft Corporation
MSN Hostmaster
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
US
msnhst@microsoft.com
+1.4258828080 Fax: +1.4259367329

Domain servers in listed order:

NS2.MSFT.NET
NS4.MSFT.NET
NS1.MSFT.NET
NS3.MSFT.NET
NS5.MSFT.NET

Created on..............: 18-Feb-08
Expires on..............: 03-Jul-10
Record last updated on..: 25-Feb-08

Bamboo

I fail to see how The Consumerist themselves is encouraging people to do that. Now, Gins here at Lifehacker is.

It's because this was cross-posted over at Consumerist. That's why that comment was confused.

Personally, I'm going to take advantage of this. I have OpenOffice, and it's great for now, but there are some things it just can't do. OpenOffice Writer is fine, but their database can't compete with Access, I much prefer Outlook (not Outlook Express) to any free email/PIM client, and I've found Excel to be easier to work with than Spreadsheet. Plus, for some students that do writing requiring particular formatting -- people in law school, for example -- Word is often just easier to use.

44 in a Row

@davebarboza: I thought that they already were?

cisengineer

@abhiroop: By that definition you find the price of a new computer outrageous, since it is something you type text on.

Office Ultimate includes a large suite of applications, including Access, OneNote, and Outlook. Whether this is worth $700 is a personal choice, however it's far from a mere text editor.

davebarboza

If you happen to be pirating Office, you might want to get on this, as Microsoft might be applying Genuine Advantage to Office updates soon.

davebarboza

its 700??? For something to type text on! Wow!

abhiroop

I got ultimate several months ago; it came in a nice envelope and the CDs were printed up all pretty and whatnot.

No problems for me.

There are benefits to staying in school forever!

Ellie

@EyeHeartPie:

I wish I could have, but Office 2007 Pro (not Ultimate) is already $80.

We get some software in my department from MSDN-AA but it's mostly the collaboration software or Visual Studio 2k5.

kazoni

@iEddie: Sorry. Gina I meant. Stupid iPhone spell correction.

iEddie

@AmericaTheBrave: I fail to see how The Consumerist themselves is encouraging people to do that. Now, Gins here at Lifehacker is.

iEddie

Old news!

I actually found out about this from my college, unfortunately I had already bought the home and student edition 3 weeks earlier.

avantreese

@chrylis: Surely you're kidding with the Communist comment! Are we in grade school? Anyhow, Canadians can apparently take advantage of this offer, yes we're communists up here! You don't need an .edu address either. It's $64 CN, but I had an error trying to login. We'll see if this error clears up. Let me know if you're Canadian and you succeed.

philosopher_dog

I got my MS Ultimate for free , for letting them watch my PC for a month or whatever that thing was .. Most people sprung for free Vista ult . I already had it so i got the Office , Just installed it last week .. Its great , no complaints at all

jonthomasdesigns

This is a great deal. For $60 you get all of this:
• Access™ 2007
• Accounting Express 2007
• Excel® 2007
• Groove 2007
• InfoPath® 2007
• OneNote® 2007
• Outlook® 2007 with Business Contact Manager
• PowerPoint® 2007
• Publisher 2007
• Word 2007

I don't even know what half of that crap is, but it sounds great to me! I tried OpenOffice but just couldn't get used to the UI. This deal is worth the "risk" to me (safer than bittorrent at least!).

[www.theultimatesteal.com]

Featherstonehaugh

@NewPerfection: Because OpenOffice.org is communist. Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates have both said so, so it's reliable. Also, Microsoft Office is more secure because Microsoft won't share information on their file formats (even given all the recent fight over OOXML, the format isn't want Office uses). If you use OpenOffice.org, anybody could open your files with any competitor's software--do you really want that?

chrylis

This has been running in Australia for about 6 months now. Anyway, for about $70 AUD I got a serial and a downloaded exe. I used my Uni email address as confirmation of being a student. I didnt need to provide any other details.

cbiggins

I'm in the UK and got it a few months ago (the offer has finished now) The DVDs where the official ones in a card case (Not just a CD as someone mentioned)

Admittedly I use Ubuntu now, so Office isn't much help here :-P

Mrrix32

If you lie, cheat, and steal, you can get lots of great stuff on the cheap?

mrknowitall

This is a very good deal. There is also a British version and some other nationalities. Think ours has finished now though.

MarcLister

The NYT article has been updated as follows:

Microsoft says you have to carry at least a half-credit course load to get the deal. Microsoft's site says you have to pay the full price if they find out you are not.

Giolon

Actually, it seems this offer was also available in the UK - a quick look at Microsoft's Education website says "Unfortunately you've missed your chance to get the Ultimate Steal". You can leave your email if you want to be notified next time they offer this again. Bummer. Currently £482 at Amazon.co.uk, by the way.

Still, it's not like I really needed it, just might have been nice to try, currently using Office 2003.

mcv2

I've been using a...er..."test" version of Ultimate for a while now, and this is a great opportunity to show some love to MS. For all its monopolistic faults, Microsoft does build some pretty sweet software.

OX4

did this several months ago and MS still hasn't shown up at my door asking for a transcript. awesome deal! i'd never pay for MS Groove or anything beyond the standard 4 apps... not that i have used or even know what Groove is for.

lmb52

"Microsoft Office Ultimate, which retails for $680"

WOW, bring forth the man who spends a small fortune on Micro$oft crapware, and I shall gladly make him see the light...

[www.openoffice.org]
[www.zoho.com]

Wifesmacker

I ordered this student promotion before 2007 was officially released, I was told it would be shipped the day of the release. While I only had to pay $60, I had to pay another $15 to ship it. No big deal. When it shipped (6-8 weeks AFTER 2007 was officially released), it was incomplete, missing a disc, but a note was included that the disc would be shipped separately.

A week or two later I received an e-mail that the missing disc was in stock and would be shipped as soon as I paid the $15.00 S&H fee.

I was upset at paying shipping twice. I called and asked nicely, then jumped up and down, held my breath, the whole nine yards and got no where. End of story, got it at a discount after waiting and frustrations. YMMV.

Later,
Chrome...

Chrome

Windows only :(

wanderthirst

dvd? cd? Who cares! Do you get a license or not? I can reg a edu tomorrow for €10. Should I do so or not?

zarathustra

if you really aren't a student , the loophole of having an alumni email address doesn't make it ethical or right.

klumsy

@AtomicPlayboy: If you read the original article--its been updated: you must have at least 1/2 credit load, and if you are not enrolled, MS can charge you the difference.

balls187 upside yo head

Wow, I wouldn't use the NYT to wipe my own arse; what a sleezy article.

balls187 upside yo head

I pirated a copy of notepad.exe from a friend years ago. I run it from floppy (I have two floppy drives!)and see no reason to ever use Office.....

-thegrumpyadmin.com

thegrumpyadmin

Open Office sucks. I tried it, but for my purposes, it didn't work. I also had trouble getting it to load and not freeze up.

And for all you alumni out there, call your alma mater's bookstore and see if they can offer you a deal on software. Some do and some don't.

I have MS Office Ultimate and I would like to chime in with more praise for OneNote. It is a godsend. One of the best inventions ever!

thelushie

Since the topic is MS Office (and I imagine some other people are reading this on a mac, too), I was wondering how many other people shared this ire:

MS Office for Mac '08 is macro-less. No VB. Why!?!?

The last straw will be Gdocs getting macro support. Then I can get back to only using one app.

Cwicseolfor

So this is a full copy? Not Academic or Student?

Hmm.

Can you say.. eBay? :)

SMSDHubbard

Man, can't anything be posted here without a flood of insipid comments? The article is simply stating that MS is running a big discount on its flagship office suite targeted at students, and available to those with academic email. Nice. The response? "MS sucks! Office sucks! It's a scam! Get OpenOffice! Just pirate it!" What motivates people to offer these stupid, useless comments, and what utility they could possibly serve to anyone, is beyond me. Grow up.

AtomicPlayboy

@cisengineer: I didn't want to buy a new license for my laptop, so I downloaded Open Office and since most of my use is for word processing, I find it does the job for me as well as Word (I have Office 2000 and no desire to upgrade). OO may have ways to go, but the license is free and it does the job I require of it (light excel type use, no access or outlook (hate outlook)). I haven't tried OO's powerpoint equivalent either, but I don't have any present need for it.

unohoo

@robmcbell: I'd like to see one of those universities, mine wants almost full price for it.

loudambiance

Open Office = weaksauce
Office Ultimate 2007 FTW!

JamezHill

@zarathustra:

Yes, you get a license. The key will be in a confirmation email (that I printed out and put with my disks that I ordered).

kazoni

I got a similar deal in the UK from my mum working for the NHS. It was technically supposed to go to her, but hey, I paid for it.

I got the Office Enterprise, which came in a proper DVD Box, with a proper CD and it even had the Product Key sticker inside, for £15, so all I miss over Ultimate is Accounting Express 2008... and I don't even know what that is.

For the people saying open office is better, come on now. $40 for the best office suite, including 10 programs. You can't argue with that. Office 2007 really is leaps and bounds ahead of even the previous version. Definitely one of the best £15 I've ever spent.

Onouris

Canadians are out of luck. I got this email message: If the issue you are having is related to placing an order for the Ultimate Steal for Canada, we apologize but this program has ended for the school year. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. :(

philosopher_dog

I've been using this for quite some time with great success. I've been exceedingly happy with it. Should mention that I'm not running this on a 10 year old computer. That may help a bit.

One downside: I did order, and pay for, the CD copy, as well. Never came. I got the download toward the end of last year right after I ordered. Thankfully, I sagely decided to save the .EXE file in case I ever need to install it again. *phew*

davidfbecker

My school doesn't give out .edu addresses. Ours are .net addresses.

Thanks?

tptcat

Got Vista Ultimate for free for participating in a Microsoft Customer Feedback program - Vista install fails on my machine (blame Microsoft or blame nVidia, I don't really care which).

So even with getting Vista at a 100% discount my choice is to stick with XP.

durkzilla

for $75, I will buy anyone a copy of it. Just send an e-mail to matt.brown@sprint.blackberry.net. I am a student and will buy you as many as you want.

ucancalmematt

Meh, I was able to get this through my mom for $20. My mom works for the county, and when her office upgraded to Office 2007, she was able to get a cheap copy.

Just felt like bragging :p

Ninjeff

I got this a few months ago, it's excellent. Say whatever you want about MS but they do a great job with their Office products. The Ribbon is kind of confusing at first, but eventually you find that it is a lot better than using traditional menus.

Adam

Okay, can anyone verify what you physically get with this deal? Packaging, etc? I'm holding off on this until I know for certain what I'd be purchasing.

In the meantime, I may check my campus' bookstore.

edicius

@AtomicPlayboy:

"Man, can't anything be posted here without a flood of insipid comments?"

You're new to the internet aren't you? :p

Zundfolge

@edicius:

A downloadable file or you can pay some S&H and get disks.

The disks I got was a DVD with the "not valid without separate license from M$" junk on it, and then a second disk (not sure if it's a CD or DVD, it's stamped with a different label).

kazoni

I wouldn't mind having it, but my alma mater doesn't give out alumni email addresses as far as I can tell, and the community college where I'm currently taking classes doesn't give out email addresses, period.

Actually, though, Office 2000 is still working fine for me, so I'm not going to cry too hard about not getting the new version. I would mainly want it to experiment with on the Vista computer--doubt it'd run under Win2K which is what I use for real work.

infmom

I picked this up a couple months ago, chosing the installer download. I have it installed on both my desktop system and my convertible tablet. The installer download is 502MB,and includes the entire office suite. I thought the "Ultimate Steal" promotional title was pretty accurate, for the cost of a new game I got the whole office suite.

I like the changes MS has made since the 2003 version, the layout is much more logical once you are accustomed to it. I imagine there are many who refuse to try it because they are stubborn and hate change, but most people with an IQ above room temperature will find it pretty simple to figure out. My only bitch is that the "print to OneNote" feature doesn't work in Vista x64, WTF is with that Microsoft? I have been using Vista since the early public betas and my biggest app incompatibility is with a MS program - how ironic is that.

RoamingBison

Finally, A reasonably priced MS product!

And can we talk about why Microsoft Office Ultimate (or any Microsoft product) normally retails for anything even near $680?

gomakemeasandwich

Heh. Micro卍oft fanboys. I'll stick with my open-source althernative, thanks.

henrah

@gomakemeasandwich: I'm not entirely sure why Office Ultimate is even on the market at that price. Only the deranged "I'll spend my own money on a fancy laptop and the best Windows so I can work from home" workaholics are going to pick it up.

Anyway, I picked this up last year, mostly for Publisher (sick of making posters up in Powerpoint, it was such a cludge) and it does what it says on the tin. It's the normal retail one-PC-and-one-mobile-PC licence, which is handy.

Sockatume

@ucancalmematt: You can't buy more than one. The site says one order per email address.

gfrobe

Does it work internationally? I'm in the UK so I don't have a .edu, I've got a .ac.uk instead.

Twinnie

I got my copy for $20, but I bought it through a "take home" promo that Microsoft has going with my dad's company.

f0nd004u

US ONLY AGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN!

BryanC

My employer, a UK Building Society, has just posted a notice on our Intranet today, giving the same offer to all employees.

Johnjoe0110

@Sockatume:

Actually, I think "the deranged" was all you really had to say :)

gomakemeasandwich

Yes, you can get it in the UK. It's at the .co.uk address.

Sockatume

@Zundfolge: I was thinking the same thing. If I bought this, I would just sell it on eBay.

Joseph

@K5Doom:

I'm forced to use OpenOffice at work and I end up grinding my teeth whenever I have to use it.

It's nice, but not good enough. Give me '07 or '08 for the Mac anyday. It's a lot less aggravating.

Iczer2

@Zundfolge: You can resell it, depending on where you do it. I tried to sell some academic-licensed MS stuff (Win 98, Office 97) on Ebay and got a nastygram from MS and Ebay and they shut my auction down.

jswilson64

Still not worth it.

Superawesomerad

If you're not enrolled in courses this is not a deal, this is piracy or fraud. In other news, P2P and Google searches can get you Office for FREE!

dreamlayers

Microsoft is competing against openoffice with this promotion to get market share.

I would think the MS lawyers, accountants and marketing staff understand the implications of sending out and tracking thousands of emails to verify enrollment status. The ROI and PR would be rather poor.

Are steep discounts on the Zune next?

aeronaut

I used to work at a community college and you are right about the academic alliance program....people are supposed to remove the programs after they leave the school, but the flaw is there isn't a good way to enforce this or make it happen, so I let it slide.....@docbob:

jimmymac8088

Ultimate steal is for US only, but there are similar program under different names for other countries as well.
Italy: [office30elode.it]
France: [www.officepourlesetudiants.fr]
australia : [www.itsnotcheating.com.au]
Taiwan: [www.ultimatestudent.com.tw]

tizar

Try: [symphony.lotus.com]
This IBM software is FREE and its better than OpenOffice.
You wont miss Microsoft at all.

mx32

People, people, people. This is no scam, and certainly not the 'Ultimate Steal'. It is simply good marketing. By making sure that MSO is the office suite that you know how to use best before you are in a position of authority in a corporate setting, guess which one you will counsel your company to spend uber-bucks on? Exactly. By spending a few cents right now, they know that they will reap big money down the road. They know that people will 'take advantage' of their offer. In fact, I wouldn't doubt that they are hoping that they will. They are probably targeting all of those who went to college or university for the simple reason that those people are the ones who will rise highest in any corporation and will be the ones making the buying decisions.

So don't feel guilty about dusting off that ten year old .edu address; they are quite happy to have you do so. As for me, my needs are simply, so I will stick with OpenOffice and Gmail and not burden my system with yet another leviathan that I don't need or want.

DeadlyDad

Still 9% more than I'm willing to spend. Go OOo!

bswilson

Can you install this one more then one computer???

rick777

@henrah: Your swastika is just as cockeyed as you are.

infmom

well it works....and i think it's faster than office 2003 sweet

superbryant88

@Nash_Andrew: Nope =\ Had to buy it. Blah!

But, it does work!!! I paid extra to order the CD and to download right the software right away. The CD came about 2-3 weeks later w/ no tracking # or anything.

nikkirosety

Wow. I'm all for open source software, IF it is good. The people piping on about OpenOffice are doing so just to be different.

It's $60 for christ sake. Admittedly, mine for £15 was a much better deal, but a free program that is far inferior to save all of $60? That's no longer good sense, that's stupidity if you seriously consider using an office suite on a regular basis. And I said office SUITE, not a Word Processor.

I'd have bought this shortly after I found out about it were I living in America and didn't already have it, even at $60 and not £15.

Onouris

No Front Page, what a bummer.

If any of you are MIT alumna then you automatically have an email for life with an .edu suffix.

mlhm5

i have the ability to buy 1 more copy. Will sell it for $120 with free shipping or download. message me or e-mail me @ matt.brown@sprint.blackberry.net with any questions.

ucancalmematt

I'm not a big fan of office 2007... they changed a few too many things that makes it more difficult to navigate but it's still better than open office.

h0mi

This is for you hesitant people!!! http://www.microsoft.com/education/ultimatesteal.mspx It is on Microsoft's Website so this is legit. They say you must go to the ultimate steal website to get the promotion so it is legit!!!!

AmeryJemagee

Does anyone know if this is legal to do if my .edu email address if from high school, not college?

topspinserve

Comment on Get 91% Off Microsoft Office Ultimate One thing that puts MS Office above OpenOffice for me is EndNote. As a dissertation-stage graduate student, EndNote is the best bibliographic program out there, but it only works with MS Word or WordPerfect. Sure, Office has its issues and OpenOffice is free, but I can overlook that to use a program that lets me download citation info from the Library of Congress Catalogue, automatically formats a huge bibliography in every conceivable stylesheet, keeps track of and updates my footnotes (including Ibid's) as I type, and lets me organize my research notes in one neat little package. Also, Outlook rules. For that, I'll gladly shell out $60.

KurtSternwah

Anyone in the U.S. Military can get the enterprise edition, ordered through their services web site, for about $22, shipping included. You get the full EE DVD with license.

screen name goes here

Anyone still at secondary school, alot of schools also offer similar discounts on office and adobe software via rm's basement program.

bagano

@Zen Bliss: Wash U Bears!!!

Email forwarding for life!
And here, all I thought I'd ever get from that was spam.

PotKettleBlack

Do the Business Contact Manager and Account Express software come on the CDs? I skipped downloading them when I purchased and cannot find a way to download after the fact. I did purchase the CDs, and am still waiting for them to arrive.

tstammen

@JebediahSpringfield:

Well, in case anyone else did have that problem, here is what seems to have worked for me - go to the p2p part of the internets, grab a copy of ultimate (that does >not< include a key or keygen - no piracy involved) and use the product key that was emailed at the time of purchase.
They still have my money, but now I have activated, legitimate software.
Gosh, I feel so clever.

JebediahSpringfield

Has anybody else here had a problem with this? I have downloaded the installation file thrice and I get the same package failed to install error each time.
Somewhere else I found someone saying that downloading with IE7 did the trick for her, but for me, no dice.
I'm sad because they have my money and I have a useless 502 MB file.

JebediahSpringfield

I'm a high school student entering college next year; because I'm not yet enrolled in any courses, can I still take advantage of this offer? Thanks in advance!

L_Henry

Save even more...if you or family member is in the military.

Microsoft will send you office for the cost of shipping and handling. At times, it sucks to be in the military, but every now and again, something nice happens. This is one of those times...the only way to get to the link/page is through a military portal...here is a page that explains it all

[www.mytroops.com]

Chap Mike

ChapMike

Comment on Get 91% Off Microsoft Office Ultimate Unless you are a super power user, OpenOffice.org is the way to go! Free upgrades for life! And it keeps getting better all of the time. Misco$oft sucks students in with these deals and gets them with upgrade fees down the line.

NortonSnail

Comment on Get 91?0Off Microsoft Office Ultimate Gina, According to the Web page, this offer expired at the end of April, 2008. pete

WyndhamBabasaur