Jackson

Software Disappointments

I just started my winter semester at JCC.  When living in TX and completing my degree at TCC, I purchased the full version of MS Office 2003 Professional for somewhere around $225 (discounted because I was a student).  I’ve stuck with it about as long as I can and have decided that I need to upgrade to Office 2007 (seems somewhat backwards to buy it in 2010 knowing that soon Microsoft will come out with a Windows 7 version).  However, the price is right and the updated interface is quite different and I don’t want to end up a fish out of water not knowing how to work with the software when I need it.

I had some money left from my loan and figured I’d buy Office Student edition (that is the demo version that came on our Gateway that we got for Christmas).  The student version has Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.  Well, JCC’s bookstore has been a complete chaotic mess since the beginning of classes on 1/11 but I thought I’d give it a try today.  What did I find?  They had no MSOffice Student in-store and the only thing they were selling was MSOffice Std for $140.  MS Office Std includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. I couldn’t believe it.  Do you know Follett’s online is selling MS Office Professional 2007 for $99? MS Office Pro has Excel, Access, Word, PowerPoint, Publisher and Outlook, but no OneNote which I really want.  What’s more, on ebay I can get a fully licensed copy of OneNote for $26 (shipping included).  So, I can get the whole enchilada, MS Office 2007 Pro and One Note for a total of about $136.

Click on the image for a comparison chart of what’s what.  I really think Microsoft has gone overboard on versions.  I think three would have been sufficient.

I’d like to know how the bookstore can get away with trying to charge so much more in-house.  It seems so backwards to me.  So, the plan is to buy what I have listed above from two different places and be happy with it.

I was also on the hunt for a large rolling backpack.  When I lived in TX, I had a really big black one that I could fit all of my binders and books into and go to campus for the entire day because everything fit into one pack.  Looking around lately I had found only rolling packs that were far too small.  I have four large binders, numerous text books, a laptop computer to shove into this backpack.  I decided to give Wally World a look and lo and behold I found a Jeep brand rolling backpack that is really big and roomy for $44 which is a pretty good price so that is what I’m going to get tomorrow along with order all of my software.

It pays to shop around and if at all possible, do not, I repeat, do not buy books at the bookstore if you can get them elsewhere, chances are you’ll save about 20-25% off the price.

Even more cool that the offer above, I went to the Microsoft website and found a deal called “the ultimate steal”.  I got a full-blown copy of MS Office 2007 Ultimate Edition (that can be loaded onto two computers) for $59.99.  What’s more, I requested the DVD back-up to be mailed at only at $13 additional cost.  Fabulous!

Oh, and they also offer MS Windows 7 Ultimate edition for $69.99 full-blown version although I couldn’t afford it this time around.