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> Microsoft Word was never designed to be an ideal tool for creative writing... Word was designed to help office workers produce business documents And that's
by wfunction 13y ago
> Microsoft Word was never designed to be an ideal tool for creative writing... Word was designed to help office workers produce business documents
And that's why they released a "Home and Student Edition".
- kijin 13y agoHome Edition: "People are familiar with using Office at work, so they'll probably want to use Office as well when it's time to design that Garage Sale flyer." Student Edition: "Give them Office now at a discount, and they'll keep using (more expensive versions of) Office when they get a real job." Office is named Office for a reason. Its entire existence revolves around the typical 20th-century white-collar office. All other use cases are secondary.
- wfunction 13y agoInstead of being cynical, maybe consider the fact that students find it easier to type essays with Word than with other products, so Microsoft gave them a discount so they could afford it? Win-win. Just a thought.
- TheZenPsycho 13y agowhat other products?
- creatio 13y agolatex?
- el_muchacho 13y agoBetween Word and Wordperfect, the latter was the better product. But Word was easier to use for simple documents.
- dr_preston 13y agoI purchased the "Home and Student Edition" for my wife to use on her new MacBook Air. A few months ago she started writing short fiction, which we have since self-published on Kindle. We had to switch to Libre Office, though, because when I contacted Microsoft support and asked them about the "Non-Commercial use" restriction, they told me writing a novel counts as commercial activity.
- unsignedint 13y agoWhich it really confuses me as "Home" part. I can't think of so much case that full fledged WP useful in home context other than writing a letter maybe...
- scholia 13y agoIt's Home & Student, and a lot of students use it at home, as distinct from in the classroom. Also, it's not just WP. Plenty of people do stuff that benefits from using Office. They have hobbies or are members of local groups that produce fliers or newsletters (church, youth, etc). By the way, Windows includes a free word processor, WordPad, that does what most home users need without them having to buy Office. There are also free viewers for Office docs...
- tanzam75 13y agoHome and Business only costs $60 more than Home and Student. However, I don't think there's a way to upgrade if you buy Home & Student and then discover that you need to do commercial work with it. You have to buy a new license.
- jgamman 13y agoI'm sorry but what did you just say? you can't write something on MS Word home edition and sell it for cash? seriously, i had no idea you could restrict something so basic as a word processor - FFS that's absurd!
- scholia 13y agoIt's not absurd: it's a perfectly reasonable and entirely rational deal. Microsoft Office is commercial software costs roughly $300. If you want to use it for commercial purposes, you pay the price. However, there's a special deal where you get a Home & Student version for a third of the price, on condition that you don't use it for commercial purposes (ie as a replacement for the version you should be buying). A lot of commercial programs are available in cheap student versions or in free versions for home (non-commercial) use. This is standard industry practice. It's not a Microsoft thing.