Is Microsoft Office worth paying for?

Online applications
The most popular online office software is Google Docs. It offers a word processor, presentation creator, spreadsheet and drawing programs and more, but they are limited compared to Open Office and Microsoft Office applications.

Zoho offers free and paid-for services – the free version offers only a certain amount of space.

It has a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation components and you can log into the service using your Google account.

It’s more powerful in some respects such as mail merging and it’s certainly more polished and better looking than Google Docs. It also uses something like the ribbon interface from new versions of Microsoft Office.

This year Microsoft is introducing its own free web office software, Office Web Apps. This will be free for anyone with a Windows Live account (which is also free).

Microsoft versions
The Office Starter edition mentioned earlier in this article will replace Microsoft Works, a collection of limited office programs. The main difference between Office Starter and the paid-for version is that adverts will be shown on the side of the screen while it’s running.

Most features in the paid-for editions are available in Starter, but it lacks the ability to work with macros, pivot tables, add-ins, tracked changes, equations and reference features. Otherwise you can do most things with the Starter editions of Word or Excel that you cannot with the paid-for editions.

If you buy a computer with the Starter edition installed and you find it is not enough for your needs, besides our free alternatives, the Office Home and Student edition (around £70) is the best step up. It includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint and the excellent note-taking tool Onenote, but lacks the Outlook email program. Powerpoint and Onenote are not included in the Starter edition.

Neither the Home and Student nor the Starter editions of Office are licensed for commercial projects. If you use the programs to make money, you will technically be in breach of your licence to use them.

It’s true that no-one will know, but if you want to be on the right side of the law, one of the free alternatives might be a better bet.

Our verdict
Whether or not to buy Office 2010 depends on your requirements but for most people one of the free alternatives will do the job well. Online applications may not be as polished, but they can be powerful, although you do need an always-on internet connection to use them effectively.

Open Office is less polished than Microsoft Office but its current version is powerful. Advanced users will find something lacking from each of the free alternatives. But the main thing lacking from all the free alternatives is the style that Microsoft is able to give its main program. And if you are used to using Microsoft Office at work, say, it could be well worth paying £70 to get the same tools for your home PC.

Baffled by jargon? See our free online Jargon Buster.