Microsoft Word is a program used universally by people who need a word processor for their computer. If you have Works or Notepad, you have probably found you cannot share documents with other people because they are not compatible. Word can be expensive to purchase depending on your budget. Fortunately, there are a few ways to get around this problem.
1) Hence the title.. Get Microsoft Word Free, yes FREE!
In August 2009 A Texas judge ruled that Microsoft cannot sell one of its flagship products, Word, in the United States because of patent infringement. Fast forward to 2011 and the United States Supreme Court has rejected Microsoft’s appeal against a ruling that Microsoft Word infringed on patents owned by a tiny Canadian software maker. As a result, they’re not outwardly marketing getting Word for free but they did need to change how people can access it. Microsoft Office Starter is a new base productivity suite that replaces Microsoft Works gives home users who are buying preloaded PCs the ability to perform the most common and basic productivity tasks right out of the box. Office Starter consists of Microsoft Word Starter 2010 and Microsoft Excel Starter 2010 only, reduced functionality versions of Microsoft Word and Excel with advertising. Office Starter is available only as preloaded software on select new PCs with the option of upgrading to the full Office suites at any time. Office Starter is not trial software, it has a perpetual license that does not expire. If you just need to read a Word document, but not change or modify it in any way, then you have things really easy. Just download Microsoft Office Word (Excel and Powerpoint also have viewers for spreadsheets and powerpoints) Viewer for free, an official Microsoft product that does exactly what it promises – it lets you open and read Word documents, even if you don’t have the program installed As far as Microsoft actively marketing free products, try their anti malware, Microsoft Security essentials. I use it and we think you should too!
2) Tell Microsoft To Hit The Road!
What if you dont have a new preloaded PC? You dont NEED to spend over one hundred dollars for Microsoft Office to have a all-in-one productivity application much less a word processor program. There are reliable and just as effective alternatives for FREE! Yes FREE. Open Office is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software and is written using a very similiar graphical interface so there is a bit of a learning curve, but well worth it for anyone considering getting out from Bill Gates.
Another free alternative is Google Docs. Think of this as “Microsoft Office In The Clouds”. Google Docs is a web-based word processor, spreadsheet, slide show, form, and data storage service offered by Google. It allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating in real-time with other users. In other words Google Docs is Google’s “software as a service” office suite. Documents, spreadsheets, presentations can be created with Google Docs, imported through the web interface, or sent via email. Documents can be saved to a user’s local computer in a variety of formats. 1 GB of storage is included for free. Currently additional storage costs per year are: 20 GB-$5, 80 GB-$20, etc. up to 16 TB. I would say fo
r any small business, or anyone like a student or professional who’s always on the go / shares documents, this is well worth it. They even have a enterprise version called Google Apps for large corporations who can potentially save millions on license fees as the City of San Diego did not to long ago.
3) What Else Ya’Got?!
Open Office is an incredible alternative to Microsoft Office but for whatever reason, people dont care for it. In that case, check out LibreOffice. The Word alternative here, Text Document, is highly versatile and, as an added attraction, looks like older versions of Word, which is perfect for nostalgic types who have never been able to love the ribbon interface.
4) I Cant Live Without My Microsoft Word!!
If you’re addicted to the style of Microsoft Word but like the accessibility of Google Docs but dont have the money for Office365 (Microsoft’s new online office client), then you have to check out the Word app that comes as part of for free. OK, so you’ll need a Windows Live account to use it, but once you’re in, it’s like a pared-down version of the Office classic and has exactly the same layout of the desktop app, so you’ll feel at home almost immediately.
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