As long as you're currently enrolled in school and have a valid, school-issued email address, you can get a 91% discount on Microsoft's Office Ultimate 2007 package. The retail price of $519.99 has been reduced to $59.95 for college students. This offer was originally slated to end on April 30th, 2008 but has since been extended.The Office Ultimate package is compatible with XP and Vista and includes: Word 2007, Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007, Outlook 2007, Publisher 2007, Accounting Express 2008, Access 2007, Groove 2007, OneNote 2007, and InfoPath 2007.
Eventhough this is a super-cheap deal on top-of-the-line software, let's acknowledge the fact that there are even cheaper alternatives. Challenging the dominance of Microsoft's products are free programs like Open Office. Their software performs most of the basic functions of Microsoft Office without the flashy interface. Open Office also works with your existing MS Office files (2003 and earlier).
Some say that Open Office is good enough for most purposes and that most people can get by with it while others say the advanced features and clean look of MS Office are worth every bit of the measly $60. I've used both and I'm leaning heavily towards the MS Office side. If you're already familiar with Office 2003 you may want to just take advantage of the deal and upgrade to the newer version. *Note: you're professors, co-workers, and friends might not have 2007 yet so you may want to use the newer Office's option of saving multiple versions of your work.
In an article on JoblessNCollege.com, I point out the alternatives and raise the question of whether Office Ultimate is worth paying for even at this rock-bottom price.
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