As reluctant as I am to recommend buying anything from Microsoft (I used to work there and saw how the sausage was made), I agree with Bob and think buying MS Office 2013 would probably be your best bet, especially since you are unable to find your original Microsoft Office 2003 CD/DVD and you may need functionality that Google Docs and OpenOffice will not offer. (My only reluctance is your developing a dependency upon Outlook; one just has to hope that Microsoft will survive for 25 more years.) [FWIW, neither Noelle nor I use OpenOffice -- we use LibreOffice which is a bit more stable and has a few more features than OpenOffice. I have used Google Docs and the features there worked just fine for my purposes at the time.] Gail? Do you want me to buy this computer? Given that the deadline is April 2014 and you're not taking advantage of the x-mas sales, I don't think there is any particular rush. > From: Bob Van Buren <http://www.vbconsulting.com/~bobvb> > Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2013 00:30:21 +0000 > > Gail, > > Compare for yourself: > > http://www.techradar.com/us/news/software/applications/should-you-choose-office-google-or-openoffice--1152634 > > http://blog.bettercloud.com/google-docs-vs-microsoft-word/ > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Docs > http://m.geekzone.co.nz/News/Read?newsId=15580 > > I will renew my recommendation to spend the money for MS Office 2013. > > Bob Van Buren > Van Buren Consulting > > On Dec 3, 2013, at 3:41 PM, "Gail" <http://www.cox.net/~g3> wrote: > > > Hi Robert and Bob, > > > > On Robert's email to me of 12/3/13 at 6:36 AM he mentioned the > > possibility of using "Google Docs which he said was free and provided almost > > identical functionality but has a different interface than Microsoft's". Can > > you both please address that as to whether that would be a better option than > > Office 2013 Home & Business in order for me to have Word and Excel. If Google > > Docs would not be a better option for me, then I will go ahead and order > > through Robert the Windows 7 CPU at farmerinthedell with the Office 2013 Home & Business > > software program for his quoted total price of $481.98 (especially since when > > Don went on the website of Office 2013 Home & Business, the price quoted > > there was $220.00 instead of $130.00 as Robert quoted). Once I get all of > > this along with the Outlook 2013 for my email, I sure hope there will be > > available either good Help on the computer or better a manual of instructions > > that will come with all of this or a class that Bob can recommend in SB so > > that I will understand how to use all of this. > > > > Thanks for all the help and input from both of you so far. I look forward to > > your reply about Google Docs and then I will make an ordering decision. > > > > Gail > > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert" <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert> > > To: "Bob Van Buren" <http://www.vbconsulting.com/~bobvb>; "Gail" < > > http://www.cox.net/~g3> > > Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2013 11:33 AM > > Subject: RE: from Gail re: Windows 7 CPU > > > >> > From: Bob Van Buren <http://www.vbconsulting.com/~bobvb> > >> > Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2013 18:57:14 +0000 > >> > > >> > One thing to note: There is no Outlook Express like you are using now > >> > in Windows 7. Nor is there a functional equivalent that can address > >> > a POP3 e-mail account like your Cox.net mailbox. We will have to go > >> > through a multi-step conversion process and use Outlook 2013 for your > >> > e-mail. > >> > >> FWIW, Don uses Windows Live Mail as an Outlook Express replacement. > >> But, Outlook 2013 is obviously much nicer.