Which Microsoft Office is better? Why paid Microsoft Office is better than free and which one to choose
Microsoft offers for sale two modern versions of its office suite: Office 2013 and Office 365. In addition, more early versions: Office 2007 and Office 2010. Which of these options is better?
Office 365 is a so-called cloud service; it requires a constant connection to the Internet to operate: it stores your documents there, downloads and installs updates from there. Due to the latter, Office 365 always has exactly the same functionality and the same interface as the current version of the “desktop” version of the package. The only difference is the license type. If you only need to pay once for Office 2013 and can use it for life, then for Office 365 you need to pay constantly: every month, every year. For that, having paid one Office license 365 you can use it for 5 different computers, and in the case of Office 2013, each computer must have its own license.
Which of these options is better depends on your preferences. If you like stability and independence, plan to use office programs alone for more than two years, then the “classic” version of Office 2013 is probably suitable for you. If mobility is more important to you, access to your documents from different computers, if you don’t mind that the “office” interface will suddenly change dramatically when a new version is released, if you are tempted by the opportunity to buy one license to give the opportunity to use the package to four more people, then your choice, of course, is Office 365.
But let's compare new version"office" with earlier ones. What's new in Microsoft Office 2013?
- Throughout the history of Office, Microsoft has consistently simplified the program interface. The latest development was no exception: its interface has become even simpler, reminiscent of Metro UI from Windows 8. If in Office 2010 there was a huge “header” with a bunch of icons at the top of the page, which occupied almost a third of the screen, now this “ "header" has become even larger, which made it possible to place icons more freely, increase the size of the inscriptions, and make using the programs even easier. At least the users touch screens They will appreciate that it is now much easier to get to the icons. And if your screen is too small and there is very little space left for a document, then you can always buy another one - Microsoft has also taken care of users with two monitors - see the paragraph about the new reading mode below.
- The new version is fully integrated with SkyDrive cloud storage. Now there is no need to store any documents on your personal computer - everything will be stored on the Internet. This will allow you not to worry about the safety of your files - Microsoft specialists will take care of this. Even if your computer crashes, nothing will happen to your files. Storing documents in the cloud will also allow you or your friends to access your documents from any computer, anywhere in the world. The exchange of documents will be greatly simplified. If earlier you would have had to suffer while sending a file by email, now it will be enough to find out the login the right person in SkyDrive, give him rights to required file and provide a link to this file to anyone in a convenient way. It is likely that the integration of such a popular package with cloud storage will also have a beneficial effect on global security: after all, if criminals begin to use Microsoft Office, then it will be much easier for law enforcement agencies to suppress their illegal activities. However, retrogrades still have the ability to copy documents from the cloud to their own computer.
- Finally, the ability to download only message headers in Outlook 2013 has been removed - haven't you always been annoyed by this feature, which is enabled by default, and you just couldn't find a settings item to disable it!? Now this is a thing of the past, now all letters are always downloaded in full, with all attachments, even if they are letters from spammers, and the attachments “weigh” several megabytes. With modern broadband Internet access, such trifles will still not be noticeable.
- If earlier Outlook used MAPI for synchronization, now it supports the Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) protocol. Of course, this will make the life of every ordinary user much easier.
- Finally, the support for working with competitors that has existed for many years has been implemented. PDF files. If previously, to export a document to PDF, you had to separately install special “printer programs”, now this feature is included in the package. Unlike its competitors, PDF files can not only be exported but also edited in Microsoft Office. Of course, we are talking only about the most simple files that do not use complex formatting. But this is already a huge progress, which will certainly be appreciated by users who bought Microsoft Office, but for some reason refused to purchase Adobe Acrobat.
- The ability to customize the style of the entire document has become even more convenient due to the fact that they are all now collected on the “Design” tab.
- And the new reading mode in Word has become a solution to a long-standing problem. If you have a widescreen mode, or even more so two monitors, then the document page usually takes up only part of your screen in the center. The new reading mode makes it much easier than before to display a document in several columns to occupy the entire surface of the desktop.
- Excel now has some great tools like Smart Fill, Suggested Charts, and Quick Analysis. Elements artificial intelligence penetrating deeper and deeper into our lives, making it easier and more convenient.
- Finally, we cannot but rejoice at the change of the company that developed the Russian spelling and grammar module for Microsoft. Now Word will no longer crash when checking the spelling of seemingly completely innocent phrases. Well, the numerous errors in the new spelling module are not errors at all, but just beginning support for the “Albanian” language, which Russians often write in today. As for citizens who do not support the reform of the education system. and those who stubbornly try to write according to outdated rules, then for them the spelling module is not really needed - they themselves are literate.
Summarizing the above, it can be noted that Microsoft Office has become even better, faster and more convenient. And when choosing between office suites, you can cast aside all doubts and pay Microsoft for a license for latest version Office.
Office is a suite of applications needed to perform various tasks. With its help you can work with texts and presentations, as well as perform various computing processes. Every user has at least sometimes encountered the need to work with Word or Excel. In this article we will tell you what Office is better for Windows 7. And to gain access to the full functionality of the office suite, you need to be on time.
Windows system 7 was released back in 2009, but it is still very popular all over the world. It combines a simple and intuitive design, high speed and innovative applications that install automatically. If you don’t know which Office for Windows 7 will be the most convenient and functional, then decide on its main tasks. For example, if you spend little time working in Excel or Power Point, then any office from Microsoft will suit you.
How to choose the right Office?
There are currently 4 distinct versions of Office available: 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016 releases. What are their differences, and which Microsoft Office is better for Windows 7?
- To perform everyday actions, the 2007 edition of the office will be enough for you. It contains all the necessary programs, has a user-friendly interface and copes well with simple tasks.
- Office 2010 has improved significantly over the previous version. It has undergone architectural changes and received an updated HTML editor and made the language settings more convenient. This office is suitable for schoolchildren and students, as well as employees of large corporations.
- In Office 2013, the interface has changed a lot: small buttons have been removed, animation has been added when switching between menu items, and touch control has become possible. Overall, Office 2013 is a combination of simplicity and quality, which is why it is still considered one of the best application packages for Windows 7.
- The latest Office 2016 will appeal to all fans of technical innovations. It added an effective search function, added a built-in online reference book, and changed the contrast of desktop themes. The office is optimized for touch control, therefore it will be convenient for creating design developments.
If you have decided which Office to install on Windows 7, then do not forget to buy the activation code in time in order to take advantage of its full functionality. You can purchase fresh keys directly on our El:Store software website. Immediately after payment we will send the code to your email.
If your tasks are not enough for the standard Notepad and its more advanced brother WordPad from the classic set of programs Microsoft Windows , then you need powerful office tools. Fortunately, in the digital world it is in abundance.
Is there free Microsoft Office?
Microsoft Office is a paid software. It includes a huge array of built-in services, features and tools. This is not an application in the classical sense. And the whole operating system for the office.
But The “office” can still be free. In alternative versions. There are many of them and are available for free download with similar capabilities:
Writer to replace Word,
Calc instead of Excel,
Impress instead of PowerPoint and so on.
Users often need such a program only once. But out of habit or on the advice of other people, they convince themselves that such a tool must necessarily be a full-scale professional “office” with “reserve” capabilities.
As a result, it is downloaded from torrents in order to hack it Microsoft Office « crack», « tablet», « activation", published license key
. And it doesn’t matter that during the call not even a third of its functionality will be revealed. This choice brings a lot of problems to the user.
What will happen if you choose to download a pirated version of Microsoft Office for free?
Option to download free pirated Microsoft Office is fraught with updating and security problems, due to which the package does not work properly and leads to a lot of trouble:
Word or Excel crashes while working;
Crashes appear and suggestions to run “Word in safe mode»;
Failures to start with errors “Working stopped Microsoft programs Word";
Gives errors when Microsoft installation Office ("error 1935" or "Unable to write value");
Absence Microsoft updates Office;
Failures when trying to install them (errors like: “Something went wrong - unfortunately, we have problems”).
With pirated Microsoft Office your computer will never be protected from viruses due to the absence of “hot fixes” in the free downloaded package - patches for security gaps that are released almost daily. The “office” structure is powerful enough to hack any computer, so attackers only dream of gaining access to it and collecting your personal data through Word or Excel.
In addition, you may incur administrative and even criminal liability:
For download pirated software ( Article 1252 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) - recovery by the copyright holder from 10 thousand to 5 million rubles of damage;
For usage pirated software for the purpose earnings(Article 7.12 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) - for individuals a fine of 1500-2000 rubles, for legal entities 30000-40000;
If you have also tried hack software activator or " crack» ( Article 273 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) - punishment in the form of imprisonment or restriction of freedom for up to 4 years, or a fine of up to 200,000 rubles.
Why is paid Microsoft Office better than free? Real benefits from the purchase
In a successful business environment, it is common to invest in profitable instruments. This is understood by both students engaged in large projects in qualified universities and professionals who will never throw money away. U Microsoft Office there are good reasons to consider it a good investment.
The main advantages of purchasing a paid office package Microsoft applications Office:
Internet-oriented with support for cloud services and remote data storage;
Providing additional Microsoft tools on favorable terms ( free packages for Skype, OneDrive and so on);
A complete security suite with all security updates and fixes for detected vulnerabilities;
Continuous improvement of the functionality of office suite applications;
User support directly from Microsoft in case of errors and operational problems.
Microsoft Office in 2017 (latest current version " Office 2016") can be used in several distribution options. Including subscription.
The main difference between Office 365 and Office 2016
First of all, subscribe to Microsoft Office 365 different from buying Office 2016 because it always offers the latest version of the office application package without the need to purchase additional updates.
How else is Microsoft Office 2016 different from Office 365?
Microsoft Office 365
Office 365 is a giant office software system with paid subscription for every month or for the whole year at once. You pay a certain amount (depending on the version of the package, which is discussed below) and get the most complete set of applications even when completely new versions are released Microsoft Office.
Here's what the ultimate Microsoft Office 365 suite offers:
Full Microsoft Office 2016 package (and subsequent newer versions too);
Inability to use outdated versions programs included in the package;
Installing Microsoft Office on 5 computers and 5 mobile devices(license check every month);
OneDrive cloud storage (formerly SkyDrive Pro - the service is constantly improving) with additional free file space of 1024 GB;
Additional 60 minutes of Skype calls.
Microsoft Office 2016
Office 2016 is a paid package of office applications that you buy once without a monthly or annual subscription. This method of use has a significant advantage over Office 365- you get the “office” once and for all. But there's also the downside of having to pay extra to upgrade to more advanced versions in the future.
What's included in Microsoft Office 2016:
New tools for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote;
Designed for one computer only;
Support for all security updates;
Access to cloud storage OneDrive;
The ability to contact Microsoft at any time for help in solving problems.
Which version of Microsoft Office should I buy for home use?
Office 365 for home.
Subscription: 3399 rubles for a year or 339 rubles per month
Windows/Mac
Most universal option with a full suite of applications, 1 TB of online storage on OneDrive and 60 minutes of Skype. Can be installed on 5 computers, 5 tablets and 5 phones - use the toolkit with friends, relatives or independently in different places.
Office 365 Personal.
Subscription: 2690 rubles for a year or 269 rubles per month
Windows/Mac
An ideal choice for those who actively work with documents on one computer and access files on OneDrive from one phone. There is also access to 1 TB of cloud service and 60 minutes of Skype.
Office 2016 for home and school.
One-time price: 5190 rubles
Windows/Mac
By paying once, you get current ones for 2017 Word versions, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and access to cloud services Microsoft. They can only be installed on one computer running Windows or macOS.
Which version of Microsoft Office should I buy for professional use?
Office 365 business.
Subscription: 520 rubles per month
Windows/Mac
You have the entire Office 2016 package at your disposal for 5 computers, 5 tablets and 5 phones. There is Access, but no email as part of the subscription. The choice for most business tasks supporting up to 300 users at a time.
Office 365 Business Premium.
Subscription: 790 rubles per month
Windows/Mac
In addition to the basic set Office applications 2016 is offered here e-mail with a box capacity of up to 50 GB, unlimited video conferencing, corporate social network, co-editing documents, Microsoft Teams chats. Installation on 5 computers, 5 tablets and 5 phones.
Office 365 Business Basic.
Subscription: 320 rubles per month
Windows/Mac
Basic functionality of Office 365 for enterprise tasks for 300 users in Office Online mode (without local installation on the computer). There's 50GB email and premium online tools, but no compatibility with tablets or phones.
Office 2016 for home and business.
One-time price: 18,890 rubles (electronic Windows version/Mac and boxed Mac)
One-time price: 17,400 rubles (boxed version of Windows)
Office 2016 Professional.
One-time price: 32,790 rubles
Windows only
All applications of the Office 2016 suite with local installation on one computer, including Outlook, Publisher, Access.
At the beginning of this year, sales of the Microsoft Office 2013 office suite started. It had an updated interface and new useful features and added integration with online storage SkyDrive, so you can now access your documents almost anywhere. Alas, prices for this popular and quite expensive office suite have now become even higher. Licensing conditions have also become stricter - now one license is intended only for one device, while, for example, in the case of Microsoft Office Home and Business 2010, according to the license, the installation of two copies of the program was provided - one on desktop computer, the second - on portable device(laptop). Of course, you can go the other way - get a so-called household license by subscribing to Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium for 2149 rub. per year, which at first glance is about four times cheaper. In this case, the application package can be installed on five computers simultaneously, including “some smartphones and tablets.” However, this is also not cheap for home users, because the subscription will have to be renewed annually, and not every user will like the idea of a “cloud” office.
Therefore, the task of choosing an alternative office solution for a home PC is quite relevant, especially since the potential majority of users in practice do not require such a powerful and multifunctional solution as Microsoft Office. Finding affordable or even free alternatives to Microsoft's expensive creation on the market today is not so difficult. Another question is whether they will suit you as a replacement for your usual office product. That is, will they be convenient to use, will they be functional enough from the point of view of the tasks being solved, and how well will they be compatible with Microsoft Office file formats, because MS Office, without a doubt, will continue to be actively used at the corporate level and in the overwhelming majority of cases it will be necessary deal with files created in its environment. Support for the Russian language is also desirable - both at the interface level and in terms of spell checking. Therefore, we will try to evaluate possible options similar alternative solutions taking into account the above aspects.
Free "office"
In addition to MS Office, the list of office products on the market includes many different solutions, which differ in the supported platform and the range of capabilities provided. Among them there are also free office products, the palm of which is quite for a long time belonged to the multi-platform office suite OpenOffice.org. Now the situation has changed - the OpenOffice.org solution has faded into the background, and it has been replaced by the LibreOffice suite of office applications, developed by the non-profit organization The Document Foundation as an offshoot of OpenOffice.org. Today this is perhaps the most complete free alternative to the Microsoft office solution. However, LibreOffice is quite heavy and slow. Therefore, users who are willing to sacrifice functionality (see table) in favor of compactness and more high performance, it is worth paying attention to the free editions of the SoftMaker Office and Kingsoft Office Pro packages, known on the market under the names SoftMaker FreeOffice and Kingsoft Office Suite Free.
LibreOffice 4.0.2
Developer: The Document Foundation
Websiteprograms: http://www.libreoffice.org/
Distribution size: 184 MB
Work under control: Windows (all versions); There are versions for Mac and Linux
Distribution method: freeware (http://www.libreoffice.org/download)
Price: for free
LibreOffice is an office suite created in 2010 based on the well-known office solution OpenOffice.org. This set Office Applications is an open source software product and can be considered as a serious competitor to Microsoft Office, as it offers the same wide functionality. Moreover, the package has Russian-language assemblies, which provide Russian-language user interface and spell checking, and has good compatibility with MS Office. True, this solution cannot boast of operating speed - opening and saving documents in LibreOffice (especially in spreadsheets and the presentation editor) takes much more time than in MS Office. But thanks to its powerful tools, LibreOffice is certainly one of the best free alternatives to MS Office today.
When you launch LibreOffice, the main window opens (Fig. 1) with icons for launching the applications included in the package - in particular, the Writer word processor (Fig. 2), Calc spreadsheets (Fig. 3) and the Impress presentation preparation system. The capabilities of the Writer text editor are impressive: support for table of contents and links, full formatting, automatic spell checking and autocorrection, the ability to include illustrations, etc. Thus, in the editor you can prepare documents with very complex designs - books, brochures, etc. Spreadsheets also include all the functionality necessary for work, including input tools complex formulas, creating a variety of charts and performing statistical analysis. Impress's capabilities allow you to create impressive multimedia presentations with various kinds animation and special effects. In addition, LibreOffice includes a database management program, Base, an editor for creating diagrams and sketches, Draw, and an editor mathematical formulas Math. Finally, this office suite includes one more useful tool- a module integrated into the application for creating PDF files, with which you can export created documents to PDF format(including in accordance with the ISO PDF/A standard).
Rice. 1. LibreOffice main window
Rice. 2. Word processor LibreOffice Writer
Rice. 3. LibreOffice Calc Spreadsheets
When you launch LibreOffice, a main menu opens with icons for launching specific applications: a word processor, spreadsheets, etc. The interface of each application is similar to the Microsoft Office interface, so you can start working in this solution literally immediately after installation. Documents open in different windows. Compatibility with Microsoft formats is implemented at a high level - MS files can be opened Office versions from 6.0 to 2010 and saving files in MS Office 97/2000/XP/2003 and MS Office 2007/2010 formats. However, the display of imported documents in some cases is not entirely correct. For example, we've noticed that Writer paginates DOC documents differently than Word and shifts text in callouts slightly vertically, while Calc can skew the chart type (depending on the type) and sometimes shifts chart labels.
SoftMaker FreeOffice 675
Developer: SoftMaker Software GmbH
Distribution size: 58.7 MB
Work under control: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8; there is a version for Linux
Distribution method: freeware (http://www.freeoffice.com/en/download); To use the product you must register and receive a free serial key
Price: for free
SoftMaker FreeOffice is a lightweight version of the commercial product SoftMaker Office 2012, offered on the market in two editions: the basic Standard and the extended Professional (the latter additionally includes " mail client"). The solution is compact, high-performance, minimum requirements to hardware resources and good support for MS Office formats. In addition, the product can work from any flash drive, which allows you to always have it at hand. necessary programs. SoftMaker FreeOffice has Russian-language localization and can be configured for automatic check spelling in Russian (you will need to download and install the Hunspell Russian dictionary). Possibilities free version SoftMaker FreeOffice (in comparison with SoftMaker Office), of course, is limited, and documents with complex design cannot be created in this office product. It is also impossible to save DOCX, XLSX and PPTX files in it (only reading files in these formats is available); Documents in DOC, XLS and PPT formats can be opened and saved without problems. However, the functionality of this solution is quite sufficient to perform most office tasks, facing home users, so this product is very promising for equipping a home PC.
SoftMaker FreeOffice includes three modules: the text editor TextMaker (Fig. 4), the spreadsheet PlanMaker (Fig. 5) and the program for creating presentations Presentations. TextMaker will help you prepare a variety of documents with highlighted paragraphs, lists, tables, text-flowing pictures, links, columnar text, and a table of contents using fills and borders. With PlanMaker, you can perform all the basic operations in tables, including calculations involving functions, using named references, analyzing data, illustrating calculations with graphs and charts, etc. The presentation creation program Presentations allows you to create easy-to-design presentations with a variety of transitions, animations, audio commentary and video. SoftMaker FreeOffice also includes the ability to export working documents to PDF format.
Rice. 4. Text editor TextMaker (SoftMaker FreeOffice)
Rice. 5. PlanMaker Spreadsheets (SoftMaker FreeOffice)
The application interfaces from the SoftMaker FreeOffice suite are very similar to the interfaces of the corresponding MS Office 2003 applications, so mastering the products requires a minimum of time. Thanks to broad support for all popular office formats, it is possible to open and save files in DOC, XLS and PPT formats for MS Office versions 6.0-2010 (including password protected ones), as well as OpenDocument, RTF, HTML and a number of others documents. For DOCX, XLSX and PPTX files, only opening is implemented. Display created in MS Office documents, as a rule, completely corresponds to the original ones, although exceptions are possible. For example, we noticed that TextMaker in some documents, when displayed, changes the borders of labels, flips text in callouts, and can resize OLE objects. In PlanMaker, we were faced with the inability to work with pivot tables created in MS Excel.
Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2012 (8.1.0.3385)
Developer: Kingsoft Software
Distribution size: 39.1 MB
Work under control: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8
Distribution method: freeware (http://www.kingsoftstore.com/download-office)
Price: for free
Kingsoft Office Suite Free is a free, stripped-down version of the commercial office suite Kingsoft Office Pro from Chinese developers, which is widely known in China under the name WPS Office. This software product has modest dimensions, high speed work and low demands on system resources (works without problems even on netbooks). The solution has more high level compatibility with MS Office (in comparison with the office suites discussed above), and it looks like an office product from Microsoft, and has impressive (albeit limited when compared with Kingsoft Office Pro) functionality. True, this office suite does not have a Russian-language interface, and spell checking in Russian is not up to the task. Nevertheless, the “office” from Chinese developers still looks attractive as an alternative to expensive commercial products for the home PC.
Kingsoft Office Suite Free includes: the Kingsoft Writer word processor (Fig. 6), Kingsoft Spreadsheets (Fig. 7) and the Kingsoft Presentation presentation creation program. The text editor is used to create professional-quality documents with styles, columnar text, colorful tables, charts, and even watermarks. Kingsoft Spreadsheets include all the necessary tools for processing, analysis and graphical representation data, and the Kingsoft Presentation solution can be successfully used to create effective presentations based on thematic templates. Kingsoft Office Suite Free also has a built-in PDF converter that allows you to convert office files (including Word documents, Excel and PowerPoint) to PDF files; If necessary, the generated PDF documents can be password protected from changes.
Rice. 6. Kingsoft Writer word processor
Rice. 7. Kingsoft Spreadsheets
The Kingsoft Office Suite Free office solution resembles Microsoft Office 2003 in appearance: the layout of panels, buttons and commands is copied almost one to one; The functionality is almost completely duplicated. The fundamental difference is only in the support of tabs at the application level, and this is good, because with tabs working with multiple documents becomes more convenient. Compatibility with Microsoft Office is almost 100% - you can open and edit MS Office documents (97/2000/2003/2007/2010) in DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX formats, as well as files in DOT, RTF, XLT formats, CSV, HTML, PPS, etc. True, saving in the new DOCX, XLSX and PPTX formats is not supported, which means you will have to save documents as DOC, XLS and PPT files, but for most users this makes no difference. And in this solution, in terms of compatibility, there may, of course, be some distortions when displaying documents created in MS Office, but after viewing a lot of materials (including very complex structures), we were only able to notice a slightly different distribution of text within paragraphs. This sometimes causes text to move on pages and within captions and callouts.
Office in the clouds
Thanks to the widespread use of the Internet, cloud technologies are becoming closer to us, and everything more various tasks, including working with office documents, are solved in the clouds. An example of this is the Google Docs and Zoho Docs services, which are real online offices with a traditional set of office software. With their help, you can create and edit documents in a word processor, work with spreadsheets and prepare presentations, however, provided you have access to the Internet (you will also need to create your account on the appropriate service).
Of course, the functionality of cloud office solutions turns out to be an order of magnitude lower than that of conventional desktop products (in particular, MS Office). But when working in an online office, you can easily exchange documents with other users and work with them on project materials in real time. Also, edit office documents You can go online from any computer connected to the Internet (including from a computer on which no office package is installed at all) - this is important for users working on different computers. It should also be noted that with a relatively small total volume of documents, you will not have to pay at all for using online services.
Google Docs
Developer: Google
Google Docs is a popular set of office web services, which is rightfully considered the best online solution of its kind. It's easy to use and relatively fast (allowing you to work even on slower connections if necessary), as well as impressive sharing capabilities and tight integration with other Google products. Russian-language support is provided at the interface level (you will need to select Russian in the settings), spell checking in Russian is possible, but not all errors are highlighted (apparently, the built-in dictionary does not include all terms). The level of compatibility with MS Office documents leaves much to be desired. The total amount provided for Google service Docs space is currently limited to 5 GB, additional space is paid for (25 GB - $2.49 per month, 100 GB - $4.99 per month).
Google Docs includes the text editor Google Document (Fig. 8), the spreadsheet processor Google Spreadsheets (Fig. 9) and the service for creating Google Presentations presentations. There is also a toolkit for preparing various diagrams, diagrams, drawings - Google Drawing and creating forms for surveys - Google Form. The formatting options for created documents are minimal, so the service is more suitable for preparing simple materials, spreadsheets and presentations. But the functionality intended for collaboration with documents, will allow you to organize private access with certain rights (editing or reading) to specific documents for selected users, which will ensure the ability to effectively coordinate materials during their preparation. All materials are placed in collections (Fig. 10) and can be created from scratch or downloaded ready-made in popular file formats.
Rice. 8. Google Document Text Editor
Rice. 9. Google Spreadsheets spreadsheet processor
Rice. 10. Organize documents on Google Docs
The interface of all applications included in Google Docs is very spartan and includes a minimum of tools and functions, but they are quite sufficient for preparing simple documents. Supports file export and import for most standard formats - including loading and editing MS Office documents in DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT and PPTX formats. Since last fall Google users Docs lost the ability to export documents to old MS Office 1997-2003 formats (DOC, XLS, PPT), and now export is only possible to DOCX, XLSX and PPTX formats (HTML, RTF, ODT, PDF, etc. formats, of course, are supported).
Compatibility with Microsoft Office for complex documents is not yet ideal - a variety of distortions are possible. For example, when opening imported DOC files, you can often see that the text on the pages is distributed differently, and the borders of the tables have disappeared, the contents of the inscriptions are missing or superimposed on other text, pictures torn between pages are also not uncommon, etc. In tables, the situation is the same - some of the formatting settings are discarded, charts often disappear, it is basically impossible to work with pivot tables created in Excel (and the very appearance of such tables may differ greatly from the original one), etc.
Zoho Docs
Developer: ZOHO Corp.
Zoho Docs is the largest office “in the clouds”, which offers two dozen office web services (it’s even possible to work online with databases and a calendar planner), however, many of the services are available only in commercial plans. The text editor and spreadsheets included in Zoho Docs are more functional than their counterparts in Google Docs, but the speed of working with documents in this online office is noticeably slower, and there are more often situations when the servers are unavailable. The interface of a number of office applications has been Russified, the ability to check spelling (including in Russian) has been implemented, but only in a text editor, and such a check is initiated manually. But compatibility with documents created in MS Office is better than in Google Docs. The amount of space provided on the Zoho Docs service and the number of workspaces depends on the selected plan. In case free plan Free is allocated 1 GB of space and you are allowed to create only one work area. Commercial tariffs Standard ($3 per month) and Premium ($5 per month) provide free 2 and 5 GB, and the number of workspaces can reach 10 and 50, respectively; It is possible to increase the provided space for files for an additional fee.
Among basic services Zoho Docs - text editor Zoho Writer (Fig. 11), spreadsheet processor Zoho Sheet (Fig. 12), presentation solution Zoho Show, as well as Zoho Notebook and calendar Zoho Calendar. The document formatting capabilities in Zoho Writer and Zoho Sheet are quite impressive (the same cannot be said about the presentation editor). However, it is still more convenient to create impressively designed complex documents using desktop software products, rather than connecting to online office services. The latter are more interesting to use for quick exchange of materials and when working together on a project - for example, in Zoho Docs you can directly open access (reading or editing) to a series of documents to several users working together within a specific project. It’s even more convenient to create your own thematic workspace for each project and open access to this area to a group of colleagues - as a result, all users of the group will have access to newly added documents automatically (that is, without any effort on your part). Documents and other materials are placed in the Zoho Docs environment into folders and workspaces (Fig. 13); the organization plan also provides the ability to assign tags to files, which may be useful for their quick search in the future.
Rice. 11. Text editor Zoho Writer
Rice. 12. Zoho Sheet spreadsheet processor
Rice. 13. Document management in Zoho Docs environment
The interface of the Zoho Docs office applications is designed in the style of MS Office 2007. The range of supported file formats is very wide: you can even download ZIP archives and then unpack them using Zoho Docs and import documents stored on the Google Docs service (however, it can also be distorted in during the import process). For documents in MS Office, support for DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPS, PPTS, PPSX formats is implemented - both import and export.
When importing MS Office documents, some formatting is lost, but the results are often better than when performing the same operation in Google Docs. True, the type of imported documents may be far from the original one. In complex documents created in Word, for example, they may disappear paragraph indentations, table of contents, figures, and all callouts and notes, although basic text formatting often remains unchanged. In turn, font types and sizes often change in spreadsheets, long text in cells it breaks off at the border (in Excel it is visible if the next cell is empty), diagrams and images disappear, etc.
Let's summarize the above. Today you can find a worthy alternative to Microsoft's office product. First of all, these are traditional desktop solutions in the MS Office style, which are well compatible with the formats of Microsoft office products and allow you to prepare materials that are very complex in design. In fact, you can prepare almost any document created in Word, Excel or PowerPoint in the considered alternative stationary applications (it is possible, however, that with less convenience). In addition, you can resort to the services of online offices - they have sufficient functionality for preparing simple documents, spreadsheets and presentations and are very convenient when you need to collaborate.
If you don't need all the power of MS Office products on home computer, then you can quite save money by limiting yourself to a free desktop office in the form of one of the ones we reviewed software products. As for online office services, in our opinion, it is more reasonable to use them for exchanging documents and quickly approving them in real time. If the materials used during collaboration do not have a complex design and there are no problems with the Internet, then this way of editing and commenting on documents while working on a project can be very convenient and effective. It’s a different matter when finalizing large, complexly structured and impressively designed documents previously created in the MS Office environment. You may be disappointed here, since in practice compatibility with Microsoft office formats in Office services is far from perfect, and editing large documents is slow.
Microsoft recently released a new version of its office software suite - Office 365 Home Premium. Now users have to choose between Office 365 and Office 2013.
Before delving into the topic, let's dwell on the features of the new “cloud” Office 365. You can install office applications on 5 PCs under Windows control 7, Windows 8 and Mac OS X. By the way, if you have Microsoft Office 2010 installed on your computer, you will still have to purchase a full license.
Differences between Microsoft Office 2013 and Office 365
Microsoft Office 2013, as in previous versions, is a suite of basic office programs including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. One license will allow you to install the office suite on only one Windows computer.
Microsoft Office 365 is a collection of the same programs, but here you have the ability to install Office on up to five devices. There is no need to enter keys for installation, since everything is tied to your Microsoft account. Also, with Office 365 you will receive an additional 20 GB of storage in the SkyDrive service.
Another benefit of Office 365 is that you can enjoy the full version of Microsoft Office on any Windows PC. This is useful in situations where you are working on someone else's computer. To use Microsoft Office, you must be logged in. account Microsoft and in a few minutes you will receive full version on the desired computer. Office programs is “cloud” and is installed on the computer not permanently, but as a web application.
The license for Microsoft Office 2013 is paid for once and is valid forever, that is, you can use it for the entire life of your computer. With Office 365, you do not receive a perpetual license and are required to pay for each year or each month of use (purchase an annual or monthly subscription).
Verdict
An annual subscription to Office 365 costs RUB 2,499, while Office 2013 costs RUB 3,499. (one-time license fee).
So, choosing between the two office versions should be easy. If you have several computers at home and each of them needs access to a full suite of programs, buy Office 365. By the way, new system You can try Office 365 free for a month. Office 2013 may be a more cost-effective option in the long run, but remember that it only installs on one computer.
