Originally Posted by Cabana

Hmm...looks like openoffice repackaged.

After the takeover of Sun Microsystems Oracle pulled all the free and open source stuff (including OpenOffice and free Solaris) for some reason. The result is that OpenOffice is indeed rebranded as LibreOffice and even worse Solaris 11 is now forked as Oracle continues development at the same time as an independent group of mainly ex Sun ppl continues work with the free version of the OS

Originally Posted by Ulster_Rifleman

After the takeover of Sun Microsystems Oracle pulled all the free and open source stuff (including OpenOffice and free Solaris) for some reason. The result is that OpenOffice is indeed rebranded as LibreOffice and even worse Solaris 11 is now forked as Oracle continues development at the same time as an independent group of mainly ex Sun ppl continues work with the free version of the OS

I've just been on the website and Open Office is STILL free to down load, they don't seem to have pulled anything? Where do you get your info?

I got my info from the horse's mouth (I worked at Sun and then Oracle as it later became before retirement) and what I said was indeed the case at the time of the takeover (April 2010 in the EU - the takeover completed earlier in the US). I have checked what you say and Open Office is indeed free to download again but I see that it is now part of the The Apache Software Foundation. I can only assume that Oracle decided to pass it on to Apache at a later date, perhaps because of complaints - who knows the reason. I see that Apache took it on in June of this year.

Anyway the good news is that it is still there and the bad news is that this is something else that has been forked.

Wikipedia says:

After acquiring Sun in 2010, Oracle Corporation stopped supporting commercial development and in June 2011 contributed the suite to the Apache Incubator to become a project of the Apache Software Foundation.

This is partly true - It was indeed pulled, if only for a while.

Originally Posted by EX_STAB

My company laptop has died and my personal one only has the Microsoft office "starter" package on it. Apparently the "full" package is already installed but needs a licence key. I can find no way of checking which version of Office 2010 is installed though (home, professional etc).

I need the full version of Excel as I use VBA and other features the basic one doesn't have.

What's the cheapest way of updating it?

Going direct to Microsoft I'm offered:

Home and Student (This has all the programs I need [i]assuming[i/] it is a full version of Excel.) £99.
Small business (Has some extra guff I don't need) £190
Professional (More guff I don't need plus Access) £300 (If I needed a database I don't think Access would be my starting point)

Excel to buy on its own is £110.

I can find product keys for less but how to tell if they are bogus? Here's one for example:
http://www.windows7validation.co.uk/...5&productid=10

Cheap but is it OK?

All help gratefully received.

MICROSOFT Office Home and Student 2010 at cheap prices | PC World

according to the product description page it has word excel and a few other bits so should cover your needs, the bonus being since its home and student you dont need to qualify for student licencing caveats, they also do a 3 pc licnce version for 85 quid if you need it for more than one home machine

MICROSOFT Office Home and Student 2010 at cheap prices | PC World

Has anyone got the internet link for DOBUS? he can get it there for 17 quid

If your in the Army you can get Office professional for £10 via the Intranet

Originally Posted by Artemis1

If your in the Army you can get Office professional for £10 via the Intranet

If you're in the army and your CoC allows you to use a computer. That's the snag. No DII login - no £10 software :/

Originally Posted by EX_STAB

If you're in the army and your CoC allows you to use a computer. That's the snag. No DII login - no £10 software :/

I didn't know you had to have DII log in.

Originally Posted by Artemis1

I didn't know you had to have DII log in.

you need an MOD email address which as far as I can tell requires a DII log in.

Originally Posted by EX_STAB

you need an MOD email address which as far as I can tell requires a DII log in.

for the sbl deal you require to setup the account via one of the accepted emails of which anyone in the public sector "can" have, the domains are all important along with the employee number (regimental or roll) so yes you need a login and email account for one of the various official networks of which DII is the primary type