Hello, can some kind soul answer a question for me. I have been using MS Word 2010 for years and now considering if I should upgrade to Word 2016 standalone. (I have no need for all that full Office crap, just a good word processor)
Aside from offering two prices for the apparently the same thing, $129 and $79, Microsoft are masters at never giving a straight answer. They say their standalone MS Word 2016 Home and Student, is not for ‘commercial’ use. How silly is that if you are a published writer.
Also, some reviews are saying it won’t take add-ons, well I use Grammarly, does that mean it won’t work?
A bit lost here, anyone have some advice?
Thanks, Helen
( I have a Win 10 system )
I would not bother with the upgrade. They went from menus to a "ribbon" of commands between these two versions I think, but the functionality didn't change much, it's mostly cosmetic. They are saying that there's no more support for Word 2010 after 2020, but when is the last time you had to upgrade Word, or call for support? If you are happy with Word 2010, I say stick with it.
@AuntieHelen : I'm with Verbal on this - unless you HAVE to upgrade, don't. I have Word 2016 (wish I had been given a choice - it came with my laptop.) and Grammarly works fine.
"I expect nothing. I fear no one. I am free." Nikos Kazantzakis
I'd still use Word 2003 if I could. Seriously, that was the last time they updated it for usability and functionality without feeling the need to do so for commercial purposes just to be seen to be making "improvements". The style manager worked perfectly in 2003 and the menus were (mostly) laid out logically and were a breeze to use as long as you had them in expanded view all the time.
I've been using Word 2016 at the behest of the company at which I work for 18 months now and I still maintain the ribbon is a usability nightmare. And the style manager - something I use every day - is a pain to work with.
Stick with what you know if you can; it's faster for productivity.
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As to the original question, there's nothing compelling in Word 2016 over Word 2010 as far as being a writer. In fact, I don't think Word 2016 is a measurable improvement over Word 2003 for just bashing out a story. It's great in a corporate environment where you're doing collaborative work with a team and that sort of thing, but I would argue that any word processor made since the advent of DOS is probably good enough for just writing a story. That's why I'm looking at OpenOffice and LibreOffice. MS Office seems to be overkill for most of what I do outside of work.
As a 40+ year veteran of the IT world, I can tell you that seeing the evolution of all the word processing tools have been about the same. I use MS Office 365 but run all my docs through as a Word 97-2003 format. You can choose to revert to the older styles in Office when you set it up. I agree that the newer versions tend to work well for office environments where there are teams working on something.
When I write stories I write them in Word saved as 2003 and then run it through the Grammarly filters for mistakes and suggestions then back into word for the Read Aloud function to hear the flow and catch any missing mistakes in pronunciation. It seems to help a great deal.
The free Open Office or Libre will do the same for typing and saving as a word doc but not sure how well Grammarly works with it or if the Read Aloud is as good.
Just my thoughts.
WOW - Thank you all for some beautiful on-target responses. I shall keep using my Word 2010 and to hell with the upgrade. I need a stable work-horse product, and from all of your remarks - I already have it. ! THANK YOU ALL
Hi,
I would go with the latest version of Libre Office. You can download and install it on WIN10 with no problem. It is designed to work on Linux, Windows or a Mac.
