Does it make sense for me to buy Office 2010 today?

Hi there

Good luck with it -- I still think the VM idea is the best -- VM's are an excellent ay of testing software and using legacy hardware etc.

I've loads of quite expensive gear such as a VINYL record cutting machine -- only works on XP -- people still these days want me to make Vinyls for them -- actually the VINYL is making a bit of a comeback !!!!

I even last week cut a RAP recording on to a 10 inch 78 rpm disc for a friend -- we all thought it was quite amusing hearing a Rapper on a "Wind up Gramophone" !!!!

My XP VM is probably going to outlast my W7 and W8 machines too !!!!!

Cheers
jimbo

TVeblen said:

Got the box today. It's shrink wrapped, got the Certificate of Authenticity (with ribbon cut), a product key, and all docs.

The product key seems to be the most important part of what you got.
3 or 4 years ago my sister wanted Office 2010 for her Win7 laptop. I found a source - forget where - it was either a local computer outlet like MicroCenter, or Newegg or Tigerdirect. The offer was Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Student Family Pack - 3 allowed installations in one household, on sale for about $100. The box was shrink-wrapped with a Certificate of Authenticity, in a nice plastic box with a colorful optical disk inside, and of course that sticker with the product key. Knowing my sister the way I do, I photographed the packaging and copied the product key. I may have even made an ISO of the installation disc, but it's been so long I really don't remember doing that or where I might have stored it.
The only part of Office 2010 I had any use for was Microsoft OneNote 2010, and I already owned a family pack of just that program, with 3 allowed installations in one household. So I really didn't care to use one of my sister's installations, and she paid me for the whole thing anyway. I mailed her the disk, she installed it on her Lenovo laptop and happily used Word 2010, Excel 2010, Powerpoint 2010 & occasionally OneNote 2010.
Fast forward to this year.
Sis moved 1600 miles to be closer to all her relatives including me. The battery in her Lenovo died and is putting a crimp in her computing style. Sis misplaced the installation disc for Office 2010 during the move. I doubt she lost it, although she did lose her prize flute. I may have inadvertently donated the flute to Goodwill when I was helping her move out of her old place. Her daughter bought her a new Dell 11.6" Win 8.1 laptop with touch screen for a bargain price 10 days ago.
Sis really wants to install Office 2010 or 2013 in her new laptop, but doesn't want to pay anything more if at all possible. Remember she still theoretically has rights to 2 more installations of Office 2010.
I thought of this a few days, used search engines, mostly on Microsoft, until I found that it is still possible to download the installation file (about 990 MB) for Office 2010, from a Microsoft website -- if you have a valid product key. I used my own OneNote records, searched there for "Office 2010", and found my sister's key that I had recorded just in case.
As part of the software download process, I had to submit the key to Microsoft on its website. Then I was able to download the installation file. I put it on a flash drive, took it to my sister's place, and ran it on her machine. I was very soon asked for the installation a second time. Then Office 2010 was installed on sis's new machine & seems to be working fine. So now she has one more installation possibility left. :)

I think this was the download link I used:
https://www2.downloadoffice2010.micr...-US&ref=backup

"One of the reasons I didn't get 2013 is it doesn't have a 3 pk available."
Same here, Office 2010 was such a better deal for my sister. I was enrolled last year in college & was able to take advantage of the Office 2013 academic deal. Office 2013 by download for 2 computers for 4 years for $80. That was a good enough deal for me to sign up for. I'm about a year into my subscription & it's working well. Lately I have been receiving correspondence & documents from others using Microsoft Office Word. Having the Microsoftware is helpful to deal with that. Last summer I had to give a slide show talk, PowerPoint worked out best for that. The Office product I find most valuable is OneNote, there's no software quite as good as OneNote for what I use it for. I must 4 GB of OneNote notebooks scattered around my computer collection.

If you haven't installed yet and are considering buying Office 2010, consider using the Office 365 subscription. It allow for the install of a full office suite on up to 5 PCs and 5 mobile devices (iPad/iPhone) for $99/year currently. The purchase now also includes 1TB of online storage on Microsoft OneDrive and 60 minutes/month of calls using Skype. Hard to pass up, IMO