Open Office

[lawson_jl]

I've had a fair number of people ask me to install Microsoft Office for them while I'm working on their computer. Some people have no clue it needs to be paid for and some people assume I have a copy and won't have a problem installing it for free for them. In any case no one wants to pay for a copy of Microsoft Office and I recommend Open Office. I explain it's free, works with all Microsoft Office documents, and frankly looks pretty much the same as Microsoft Office. This sell goes well and I install it for them and even explain Writer is Word and Calc is Excel, etc. In every case I've gotten a call a day or two later wanting me to come over and remove it. I walk them threw removing it instead of going over to remove it. And still about half the time they ask me to install Microsoft Office for free of course, they offer to pay me for my time but not the program. I am a ligitamite business person and I want to make money but won't sell or fix bootleg software, I will however unistall it for them. Has anyone else ran into this lately or is it just me?

 

[14049752]

I get that sometimes, too. Generally, my customers are students and can get a VERY inexpensive version of office through the school here, so I point them in that direction.
We'll occasionally get a person that wants us to install things like "XP Black Edition" or "Vista Complete" or nonsense like that, but they usually understand when I tell them that we will not install any pirated software.


Only one person has ever given us a major fight about installing Office for free.... She couldn't understand that her hard drive failed and that there was no way for me to access the drive, let alone get data or programs from it.... She said that another shop installed Office for her and demanded that I do the same. Of course, I offered to install any legal software that she provided, since she didn't want to pay for a new copy.... Several extremely angry phone calls later, after installing OpenOffice, she called (again extremely angry) to let me know that she took it somewhere else and they happily obliged.


Easily the single worst customer I've dealt with in several years.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

I've had a fair number of people ask me to install Microsoft Office for them while I'm working on their computer. Some people have no clue it needs to be paid for and some people assume I have a copy and won't have a problem installing it for free for them.

I am a ligitamite business person and I want to make money but won't sell or fix bootleg software, I will however unistall it for them. Has anyone else ran into this lately or is it just me?

I think we all get those. Either the customers don't understand software licensing or they are trying to get something for nothing. I ran into a situation about a year ago with a college student who had a completely failed HD. So I installed a new HD and installed the OS (10.4 at the time) with the exact install disks for that particular model of macbook. She called and/or came into the shop demanding that I install Microsoft Office back on her machine because it was on there before. I asked if she had the installer disks and of course she didn't and became very agitated even after explaining to her over the phone and in-person on why I just couldn't install the software. Although it seems like once a week I get inquiries like this, that particular situation stands out because she didn't want to take no for an answer.

 

[14049752]

She called and/or came into the shop demanding that I install Microsoft Office back on her machine because it was on there before. I asked if she had the installer disks and of course she didn't and became very agitated even after explaining to her over the phone and in-person on why I just couldn't install the software.

Heh...maybe we had the same customer?!

 

[rusty.nells]

Sure. I will install it for free...if I can convince Newegg or Best Buy to give me a free copy.

That would be my response, or something similar.

 

[atlanticjim]

I have had the same situation. On the last one the comp was fried but the HD recoverable. Could not find a valid license key for MS Office on the drive. I asked the client if Office was installed by a friend, when she said yes, I appologized for not being able to give her a bootleg copy and directed her to the retail store for a student edition of Office that has Word and Excel and Powerpoint and OneNote (Outlook express is enough for her and who uses Access anyway?.) $99 USD.

 

[Jory]

What is it about MS Office that turns people into lunatics? My worst customer ever was a Baptist preacher who swore up and down he was getting ripped off because his new laptop didn't come with Office already on it. According to him all new computers come with it so we must be trying to screw him over by selling a copy. When I proved he was wrong he turned irrational and started yelling, and tried everything to get me angry. He accused me of treating him like an idiot, called me incompetent, said I was a scam artist, etc, etc. When I refused to stoop to his level he just got even more angry.

I told him in the X number of years I've been doing this he was the rudest person I've ever dealt with, and that he should be ashamed of his behavior since he claimed to be a man of God. After I said that he gave me the "evil eye" so hard I thought one of his eyeballs was going to pop out of his head. After that I walked out before he could get another word in.

I heard from another contractor later on he does that to everyone. He makes a big fuss about something, and then demands a discount. That guy seemed to think he was pocketing the "discount" money. I guess it's a pretty ingenious way to embezzle money from a church.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

What is it about MS Office that turns people into lunatics?

I heard from another contractor later on he does that to everyone. He makes a big fuss about something, and then demands a discount. That guy seemed to think he was pocketing the "discount" money. I guess it's a pretty ingenious way to embezzle money from a church.

Its not just M$ Office that turns them into lunatics. Our shop has been in business for 25 years and we have a few select customers that come in and cause a big scene every few years. One comes to mind about a year and a half ago this older small business owner came in with a G4 tower that wouldn't boot. Turns out the system had 2 HDs installed and both were bad. After he received the diagnostic he refused to accept it. Told me how long he has been using Macs (20 years of using makes him an expert?). Then he proceeded to tell me that its impossible for 2 HDs to fail and if that is the case something else caused it. After I politely tried to tell him he doesn't know what hes talking about, he got even more angry, said he was just going to pick the machine up and slammed down the phone. Later on after looking him up in the database we realized he was the same customer from back in 2002 that came in back then and threw a tantrum then about another diag and demanded he would never come back.

So if your in business long enough these crazies come back full circle whether it be they've used their tactics with every other shop around and worn out their welcome or they just think enough time has passed and there won't be anyone to remember them from last time.

 

[PatrickB]

In every case I've gotten a call a day or two later wanting me to come over and remove it.

I cannot imagine any individual caring about the few differences between MS Office and OpenOffice. The only thing I have run into is when OpenOffice has not been configured to be the default program for all of the MS Office file types AND to save files as those defaults.

During installation, you are given the option of using OpenOffice as the default program to open MS Office files, but I believe you must configure the options for each part of the OpenOffice suite to make the Microsoft file type the default when saving a file. Otherwise, the customer ends up with saving in OpenOffice formats, which may confuse them and lower customer satisfaction.

-- Patrick B.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

I cannot imagine any individual caring about the few differences between MS Office and OpenOffice. The only thing I have run into is when OpenOffice has not been configured to be the default program for all of the MS Office file types AND to save files as those defaults.

During installation, you are given the option of using OpenOffice as the default program to open MS Office files, but I believe you must configure the options for each part of the OpenOffice suite to make the Microsoft file type the default when saving a file. Otherwise, the customer ends up with saving in OpenOffice formats, which may confuse them and lower customer satisfaction.

-- Patrick B.

I used Open Office a lot in the past. In runs good and does everything you need if its tweaked. There is what you mentioned during install as far as file formats are concerned and saving files. The only other issue I've seen with it is it can take forever to launch on older slower machines, but there is even a tweak for that. I haven't used in a while since the past years I've been predominantly Mac. It really launches horribly slow on Macs because X11 has to launch with it. Then when you quit you have to make sure to quit X11. Maybe there's tweaks for Mac also, but I've got Office so I don't bother.

 

[14049752]

OpenOffice on the Mac no longer requires X11. It runs a lot faster and is a much better product.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

OpenOffice on the Mac no longer requires X11. It runs a lot faster and is a much better product.

I was hoping they had made improvements. Its been forever since I messed with it, I'll have to give it another go. Thanks for the update!

 

[lawson_jl]

When I install Open Office for them I configure it to save in Microsoft Office formats and make it the default for all the typical file types. They don't have office isntalled, i.e. the reason for installing Open Office in the first place. It just seems that some people think if it's not Microsft Office it's not good enough. I've seen this on an occasion off and no, but lately it seems like i'm getting it once a week. I'm about ready to quiet installing open office.