Which Office is best for Students?
In this article we will be going over which Office package would be the best option for Students…
There are a few options when talking about Office Packages, the most well known one being Microsoft Office, but in particular this time the Home & Student Edition 2007.
In this package, you have access to the following pieces of software;
Microsoft Word 2007
Microsoft Excel 2007
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
Microsoft OneNote 2007
The next package is OpenOffice, a free package available from OpenOffice.org.
“OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing,spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more.
It is available in many languages and works on all common computers.”
– – (Quoted directly from the OpenOffice website)
The following programmes are available to you within in this package;
Writer 
Calc 
Impress 
Draw 
Base
And the final package we will be looking at is an completely online alternative, Google Docs.
The tools of the trade that Google Docs has on offer are;
Document
Presentation
Spreadsheet
Form
Well, that is three options available, Retail, Free & Online. So which one is best? Each product has its plus and minus points. Firstly, the pricing.
As Microsoft Office is a Retail package, you do have to purchase it. The great news is that Students are eligible for better pricing and there are some great deals around for the Home & Student versions.
OpenOffice is completely free and is “Open Source”. With this being Open Source, it means hundreds of people contribute to the package rather than just one company doing all of the work.
Google Docs is also completely free, the difference being is you do not need to install any software on your computer to use. It is all online and all information is stored on Google’s servers.
A quick comparison would be useful then;
|
Package Name |
Document Editor |
Spreadsheet Editor |
Presentation Editor |
Database Editor |
Graphics Editor |
Other |
|
Microsoft Office |
Microsoft Word 2007 |
Microsoft Excel 2007 |
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
OpenOffice |
Writer |
Calc |
Impress |
Base |
Draw |
N/A |
|
Google Docs |
Document |
Spreadsheet |
Presentation |
N/A |
N/A |
Form |
From that table it’s obvious that OpenOffice has an extra programme on offer. Quantity doesn’t always mean quality. Now we are going to have a closer look at each programme from each package. We are going to start with Microsoft Office.
Microsoft Office 2007 – Home & Student Edition
The second you click on the shortcut for your Microsoft Word software, you are instantly presented with a “Splash Screen”
to show you that the software is loading. You are then presented with a blank document with all of the tools you need to edit your new literary creation.
Clicking on your Excel icon, you are again presented with the splash screen to let you know the programme is loading.
When Excel opens, you are presented with the Blank Spreadsheet template.
Microsoft Excel has been used to create Spreadsheets and also the base for Databases for quite some time now.
Again, keeping the same theme on the Ribbon Bar throughout the different programmes keeps it simple to use, easy to understand and also increases your productivity by not having to scroll through menus looking for one option.
Microsoft PowerPoint is used to create powerful presentations with some great effects. This is an extremely useful tool for present your projects.
If you have access to a Graphics tablet, you are even able to product hand written annotations directly onto the screen.
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice Writer:
OpenOffice Writer is one of the most popular Open Source Word alternatives available. It has all of the same functions of Microsoft Word, is able to edit and save to Word format’s, like .doc / .docx for example.
The difference is, it doesn’t look quite as professional, and the menu’s aren’t quite as polished as in Word.
They have done a brilliant job at making sure all of the most popular functions are available to you straight away. The only let down with Writer, is that you must remember to save it as a “Word Document”, otherwise most people will have problems opening the default OpenOffice format in the Microsoft Packages.
OpenOffice Calc:
OpenOffice Calc is your Open Source Excel alternative. Again, the programme has been created to look very much the same and perform the same. The blank spreadsheet upon opening works the same with Lettering across the top and your numbered rows down the side.
You can even create the Charts from the data just like in the other programmes, format the cells and change the colours.
OpenOffice Impress
OpenOffice Impress is here in place of PowerPoint.
The layout of the software is very similar to PowerPoint, with your slides on the left, layout options on the right and formatting options above.
It is able to import information from Excel files and from it’s own Calc programme.
OpenOffice Draw:
OpenOffice Draw is the Microsoft Paint alternative which does not come with the Microsoft Office package, although it is already pre-installed on all Windows Machines. So is OpenOffice trying to catch up here?
Draw has gone a couple of steps further than Microsoft’s Paint. The ability to add multiple pages to your sketches is a brilliant idea, although people who would require this level of editing would probably be using a more professional package such as Photoshop. (Keep an eye out for our Graphics Package Editorial).
In Draw you can also use Manipulation options, rotate your images and change dimensions, so all in all, much more powerful than its Paint rival.
OpenOffice Base:
The Microsoft Access Rival. Unfortunately you do not get the Access Database software in the Student Edition of Microsoft Office.
The fact that OpenOffice includes a Database creation software with the rest of their package is brilliant, even better considering it’s completely free of charge!
You can expect to see the usual database layout here, with a set of cells in the main view, much like Excel and Calc. But with a few more powerful tools, giving you the ability to create very intricate databases.
Google Docs
And finally, up for the quick review, is Google’s very own online service “Google Docs”. As this service is 100% online, there is no software to install, and you don’t have to launch the programmes. They are all available from the drop down box in the top left.
Document:
The Google Doc’s editor is very simple and plain in design, very much like most Google products. Clean, clear and simple to use.
Upon first glance of the editor, you notice the completely lack of options available to you straight away. The basic options are there such as text formatting and alignment, and a few more options can be found in the menus.
Not really much to work with, and we would suggest only using Google Docs as an ‘on the fly’ editor if you were not at your computer and had neither Office or OpenOffice installed.It does however come with a very handy “Share” options, which will allow you to share your docs with anyone in your group.
Presentation:
Again, this is very clean and clear and very simple to use. You could easily pick it up in a couple of minutes.
We were pleasantly surprised to see that the slide access was still down the left, and there are some brilliant options for creating some great presentations for your projects.
You don’t have access to some of the Gliding and fading effects as with Microsoft PowerPoint and OpenOffice Impress, but all in all a very useful tool if you need to create a quick and simple presentation.
Spreadsheet:
Keeping with the Google Style, clean, clear and easy to use. Straight away you can tell that this is a great alternative to the other two spreadsheet programmes on offer. Google have not cut back on the functionality of this one.
You still have the ability to add multiple sheets, do complex cell sums and link data from sheet to sheet. Works exactly the same as the other two.
Form:
The last piece of the Google Docs arsenal is Form.
Something both previous packages have completely overlooked, is the ability to create and edit Forms.
This is a brilliant addition to the Google Docs tools.
With plenty of theme options to choose from, you can have the entire group filling out questionnaires that have been easy to put together and look great in no time at all, and it won’t cost you a penny!
Well, that is all 3 Programmes with a short overview with each product they have to offer to students. But which is the best one for students? With each having the plus and minus points, it’s obvious why it’s so hard to choose.
Microsoft Office 2007 – Home & Student: Brilliantly put together, well rounded, good looking package that is stuffed full of features. It’s a retail package, which means once you have paid for it, it’s yours. You have the disc in case you have to re-install the software. Microsoft have been doing this for years, and it is obvious to see they are know what they are doing.
OpenOffice.org: Open office has some brilliant features, it doesn’t look as nice, and hides its options away within menu’s rather than displaying them on an easy to see Ribbon Menu such as Microsoft Office with colourful icons.
But you can’t expect everything for a package that is completely free. For what it’s worth, OpenOffice is a number 1 competitor to Microsoft Office.
Google Docs: Really useful if you are on the train or bus back to University, or maybe on your way home. As long as you have an Internet Connection. Which isn’t always available on public transport unless you are in business class. Doesn’t have quite as many features but is very easy to use, very quick to load and gain, completely free of charge. We would not recommend using Google Docs as your primary package for creating and editing your work.
Our Verdict
If you are on a very tight budget, then we would recommend using OpenOffice, it’s completely free although you do have to download it from their site.
If you can afford to go with Microsoft Office 2007 then that would be perfect. It looks good, it’s easy to learn and use, It is THE standard for most people and would save you the trouble of making sure you saved your Dissertation in the correct format. You wouldn’t want to loose marks because the tutor couldn’t read your work would you?
Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 is used as a digital notebook that provides a simple way to keep track of your notes and information for your classes. The software uses a great search utility so you can find the notes you need for your lesson, when you need them.
One Response to “Which Office is best for Students?”
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