Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   StevieD
   Member

   Guys, Softmaker are giving away full licenced versions of their Office 2008 software which is a great M/S compatible suite. Also for each download of the program they are giving money to charity. A win - win all round. Details are at Load And Help

   Posted 14 years ago #
2. 

   Terri218
   Member

   I have really old versions of Microsoft Word and Excel on my computer. Would my files open on this program?

   Posted 14 years ago #
3. 

   Delilah
   Member

   I'm not familiar with Softmaker, but I've been using OpenOffice for years. It's free all the time, and open source (you can modify it however you like, if you like). In my experience, the newer versions of OpenOffice have always opened older Word and Excel files with no problem, keeping the formatting just fine.

   Make sure you get the .ORG site, as there is also a .com site with a very bad WOT reputation.

   http://www.openoffice.org

   Posted 14 years ago #
4. 

   notblocklox
   retired

   Just read what they write:
   What SoftMaker Office 2008 includes

   I used it long ago and yes, it was compatible with MS Office; I think the download is not as big as the very voluminous Open Office.

   Posted 14 years ago #
5. 

   GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
   Blocked

   Interesting. It has an BASIC programmer that is used for macros. Easier than figuring out how Microsoft wants you to do it.

   Posted 14 years ago #
6. 

   hohowa
   Member

   hey, thanks so much.

   Posted 14 years ago #
7. 

   StevieD
   Member

   Graylox is right, Softmaker Office 2008 is only a 58mb download, much smaller than open office. I have been using Softmaker Office for five years now and it opens standard MS Office files fine.

   Posted 14 years ago #
8. 

   Archangel
   Member

   Thanks for the heads up on this StevieD software .

   Posted 14 years ago #
9. 

   GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
   Blocked

   Hey, they've got a Linux version now. If you're a Linux user and would like a free office suite, try it.

   Posted 14 years ago #
10. 

    Quantum Dragon
    Member

    Thanks StevieD!

    I already had the same version repackaged by Ashampoo but I did the download and installed it anyways to be able to augment the charity contribution.

    I even twitted about it to drive more people there.

    I checked the donation site with whois, SiteAdvisor (and other helpers) and it came back "Green" and registered to SoftMaker itself which gives me a good feeling for the company.

    I wish there were more companies like this!

    Other interesting fact are these ones (written on the donation page):

    1) Download the full version of SoftMaker Office 2008 for Windows or Linux for free and use it perpetually.

    2) You are entitled to free tech support (which is a plus considering giveaways normally come without) and to future upgrades at reduced prices.

    So I'm off to tell more Friends and Family about it!

    Thanks again StevieD

    P.S.: The linked site ( http://www.betterplace.org/ ) is also a green site and seems a good place to go if you want to contribute more on causes that are worth it.

    Posted 14 years ago #
11. 

    Bigun
    Member

    I purchased Ashampoo office 2008 a few months ago and have been using TextMaker 2008 instead of Microsoft Word most of the time. Suddenly the company Softmaker has appeared on my screen and I find that they too are distributing TextMaker 2008. Softmaker has the program available for no charge while there is a charge for Ashampoo's entry into the "Office suites" arena.

    It looks like this might be a situation of what came 1st the chicken or the egg. To me the importance would be support and which company might be responsible for the possible distribution of updates in the future. Paul, in the post above mine, also alludes to the fact that Ashampoo might be the developer of the office suite and then again Ashampoo may be the company responsible for program distribution.

    Posted 14 years ago #
12. 

    Quantum Dragon
    Member

    @ Bigun,

    SoftMaker are the conceptors/creators of this software.

    Ashampoo simply distributes their own branded version!

    Think of Ashampoo as a clearinghouse, they repackage (legally of course) programs from other companies insuring deeper impact for most of these smaller companies.

    Posted 14 years ago #
13. 

    Algen Joe
    Member

    Ashampoo is a redistributor (They buy software, renamed it, and sell it)
    Softmaker is the developer. There will be also on http://www.stern.de "Adventkalender 8.12.2009" a free Version.
    On the homepage of softmaker.de you can download and install the FREE DM-Datamaker99 (Datenbank) which is missing in the download Office Suite .

    Posted 14 years ago #
14. 

    Bigun
    Member

    Thanks for the information on Ashampoo fellows. I have been a little puzzled on how Ashampoo developes such a wide range software and how rapidly they update their programs. I have looked to Ashampoo a number of times when considering purchasing a program because Ashampoo
    prices are usually reasonable. I would love see them bring the prices for their drawing programs into line with the utility programs that they normally concentrate their efforts on.

    I have discovered a least one major problem area since I moved to the Ashampoo TextMaker wordprocessing office program. The program does not take dictation from Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 10 as well as it does from some other wordprocessing programs. TextMaker 2008 is less responsive to Dragon commands than is Microsoft Word 2000 or Microsoft Word 2002. On the other hand dictation into TextMaker can be made faster and done with fewer mistakes than Word 2000 or Word 2002.

    Are you aware of other developers that Ashampoo taps to bring products to the Ashampoo software line?

    Bigun

    Posted 14 years ago #
15. 

    StevieD
    Member

    Just to let everyone know, the offer ended new years eve and a total of 6089 euro's was donated to charity (10 euro cents per download)
    A win-win all round.

    Posted 14 years ago #

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