Microsoft Office

Forget Microsoft - go with OpenOffice (it handles all MS stuff)

Thanks for the suggestion. Does OpenOffice have the equivalent of Excel? That would include the capability of solving multiple linear equations by matrix inversion.

Yes, it is called 'Calc' ......... powerpoint is 'Impress' ........

Gosh, you are fast. I barely hit the submit button and your response was there. I guess I must be getting old and slow.

Maybe too fast .................. I didn't orginally get to your 'matrix inversion' point. I am not sure if Calc does that, however it does have all the 'usual' functions/formulas (SUM, IF, MEDIAN, .........)

Have a look here for what you want/need:

http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Category:Calc_Guide_%28Documentation%29

ahhhhhhh - but if you add the "CalcLink" extension to Mathematica you should be laughing

CalcLink Extension

Thanks, guest. I am going to have to consider this new information. Right now, I am going to bed. Thanks again!

Before you go - here is your answer:

http://www.openofficetips.com/blog/archives/2004/10/array_formulas.html

It's normally on the box. I hope you didn't throw it away.

This seems like a total ripoff.

Yup...that's the answer...
In MS's view it was obsolete and unsupported as soon as you bought it...In trying to make their products immune from being copied, it's virtually impossible to re-install 'em unless you...can find the original packaging...which is unlikely (especially if it was ready installed on the machine). Strange they can download fixes whoops I mean 'upgrades' of the OS to you, but can't help you on stuff like this.
But hey...you can't expect the richest man in the world to give a sh*t .
You have my sympathy, consider you ankles wubbed.
Del

(stuff that old should be in the public domain)

Well, duh, I found the 25 character product key. It is on a sticker on the side of the computer tower. When I entered the key into the installation program, a dialog box indicated it is not a valid Product Key.

I think I may take guest's advice and try OpenOffice instead.

You sure that the key is for Office and not for the operating system?

The key is for Windows XP Home Edition. So I guess that would be for the operating system, right? Which means I still do not have the Product Key for Office.

If original key is also not working, it is fault of Bill.

(Now go little illigal and install pirated versions,,,, should be available in Canada too.. I hope)

An interesting feature of OpenOffice is that you can generally read and edit all of your MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files from OpenOffice, but you can not access OpenOffice documents from MS Office.

I have found Calc to be inadequate, however- graphics are very, very slow, and I haven't figured out how to do some of the macros I have written in VBA for Excel in Calc. Also, Calc doesn't have an FFT...

If you want to look at some serious math, have a look at SciLAB or Octave- open source answers to MathCAD....

Actually the vista version does do ODT between crashes.

What about the database program ODB format? I've been playing with it, easier to use than access...

Google, product key finder. Its free, and it works.

Did you look in the desktop recycle bin???

Did you call Microsoft? You paid the program so you have the right to install the software any time you want on your personal computer... You lost the product key: that's a job for the MS's customers support. Anyway, to spoil rum with coke.... that's a shame!!!

call Microsoft......RAOFPMSL.
I tried that once...many years ago...don't suppose it's changed...they put you on hold sooo loooong eventually you go away and find the solution yourself.
It's quicker to rebuild the computer from scratch using only sand and wood...
Del

I do believe that there is software that will find the product key on your PC in the Registry....but don't ask me how......sorry.

Open Office is almost as good, not quite, but as its free, it does not matter! It does around 90% of MS Office.

If Del Cat is right, ba/el don't be never more a microsoft customer and download the free Open Office, then use macros to do everything you need that is not provided by Calc. Good luck

That deserves a GA from me at least, many thanks!

I tried LicenseCrawler and it worked very nicely...for everything but MSOffice. There seems to be no trace of the program left on the computer.

Well, it's either kudukdweller's suggestion then, or Open Office (which, in some respects is better than MS Office, in others - worse).

Dovey,

I used MS Support for loading Windows XP and MS Office XP Professional on a new hard drive in the same computer. No problem.

Jon

ba/ael,

Whenever I have to reload software and get the "product key" request I call Microsoft Support and answer a few questions and they give me a new key. Even having the old "product key" may not work after a few reloads of Windows.

Easy as pie.

Jon

You will find the product key on a yellow sticker on the back of the plastic CD case...

Baloney. It is not there.

Guest,

My Windows XP didn't come in a plastic case. I put it in one and transfered the codes.

My MS Office XP Professional came in a square plastic case and is a two disk set. The MS Office XP Step by step interactive training disk was separate.

My MS Office Professional Edition 2003 came in a case like those that DVD movies come in.

The product key labels are orange.

Sometimes the original packaging is separated from the disk during loading and then you are screwed.

Jon

My long term memory is not too good, so I cannot remember whether the Office trilogy came with the computer or I ordered it separately. In any case, I do not have the Product Key, I do not remember my password (if I ever had one) and my email address has changed since getting the program. Thus I cannot answer the questions required by Microsoft Support.

My options are:

1. Check out OpenOffice. The only problem is that, no matter how good it is, it will not be compatible with Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point which is what my associates are all using. This means we cannot easily exchange documents.

2. Purchase a copy of Office 2007, making sure to keep the product key, serial number and any other identifying features of the program to protect against future accidental erasures.

3. Continue to use WordPro. It is actually a pretty good word processor without many of the complications associated with Microsoft Word. The main item missing is the SpellCheck feature which occasionally catches mistakes in my text. Excel and Power Point will not be available, but I did not use them very much anyway.

I'm thinking it over.

Ba/ael,

Unfortunate.

If you registered the software it would not be difficult for them to find a link to you and your computer.

New computer loaded with the latest would be cool too.

Jon

Thanks Jon. And thanks to all the rest of the CR4 team who have made valuable suggestions.

Calc IS compatible with Microsoft BOTH directions

You just need to save your 'Calc' doc as a Word document ('95, ... etc) AND DO NOT save as an Open Doc (eg. odb, ...)

Well the file extensions I gave above are a little confusing .

but hopefully you get the point. Save the OpenOffice document as the appropriate Microsoft Office document and not as the 'open' file extension.

(When you click on 'Save As' make sure to click appropriate 'Save as type' - it will give you a little "error" compatibility warning but just do it anyway.)

Open office can read MS Office docs of all types and save in them as well......its well worth a tryout.

Also Sun does a patch for MS Office that allows it to read the native open office docs too.....

Thanks, Andy as well as "guest" who first proposed Open Office. I will certainly try that before purchasing Microsoft Office 2007. For the few times I use Excel and Power Point, it hardly seems worth investing in another program.

For the future:

Write the product key on the installation media with a permanent marker. Never use a label!

It will reduce the hassle.

Popfar

I have downloaded Open Office and it seems to be working very well. If there are problems with it in the future, I will post back here, but so far it seems to be every bit as good as Microsoft Office.

Here's a good resource for when the help file won't get you there..

Open Office community forum

Thank Garthh. I have bookmarked that page and will no doubt be accessing it from time to time.

Well since you like that here's a OO wiki

The real difference is the help file on the XP version is better than OO

on the other hand the help file on the vista version of Office sucks

In reference to your MS program. I too purchased the same program and I noticed that inside the plastic case there was a number on a brown sticker, and very subdued was the product key. You do have to look for it as I did.

Guest,

There is no brown sticker inside my plastic case, although I do see a slightly discolored rectangle about 3/4" x 1.5" which could be where a sticker had previously been applied. If so, it isn't there any more. All that is in the case is a 46 page book entitled "Discovering the Microsoft Office 2003 Editions" and the disc itself which carries the laughable message "Do not make illegal copies of this disc" imprinted on the surface.

For the time being, I am happy with Open Office and its price was right...i.e. free. Thanks for your concern. I do appreciate it.

ba/ael,

Open office downloads with Java. if you select it.

Jon

All that is in the case is a 46 page book entitled "Discovering the Microsoft Office 2003 Editions"

They should actually provide ""Discovering the Product key" book