Using MS Office Home and Student in Business?

kerryked

okay here's the deal, i'm thinking of starting up a desktop publication business (wedding books, posters, flyers etc.) I just want to know is it okay to use the Microsoft Office Home and Student edition thats on my computer..or will i have to go and buy the business or professional suites?
Any help (or advice! :P) appreciated:)

kirving

Legally you're not supposed to, unless you're a student. The files aren't locked down or anything. The different versions of Office just include different programs. Business would include Outlook and Access, Student includes OneNote, etc, etc.(I have AutoCAD Student and files created in that can only be opened by the student version)

If you really wanted to be above board, you can download the 60 day trial of Office 2013.

kerryked

thanks for the quick reply, what i'm really looking for is publisher, i had downloaded the 60 day trial of that and ive seen some people I know who've managed to get fake security keys to get the software for free..obviously i know that's illegal. Maybe i'd be better off paying the 90euro or whatever for the standalone publisher program?

kirving

Pirateing software is a bad idea, and is stupid if you're running a business. The day you need it will be the day MS release a security update which invlidates it.

Publisher 2010 is €189, which is expensive for your average persion messing around with it. But in terms of running a business, it's reasonable I'd think.

pippip

If you are setting up a desktop publication business then stay away from the microsoft software......it is NOT professional design software for a number of reasons. The only reason you should need it is so you can open files customers send you and remove the data to your own software.

If you are serious look into adobe.....indesign for layout and photoshop and illustrator for images. You can download 1 month trial for free and can also sign up to a monthly subscription to all the adobe products for roughly 60euro a month ( 1year plan).

Some printers won't even accept artwork created in microsoft software. Colour issues are a huge problem. As a designer a huge part of your work will be graphics manipulation which cannot be done in microsoft software. You will also be constantly making slight adjustments to artworks which in micosoft programs generally results in everything changing position and taking an eternity to correct.

Also chances are if you get a customer who already has artwork from a previous designer then it will more than likely be adobe or Quark based. Look up any graphic design forum and you will not see a mention of microsoft products because nobody in the industry uses it for what you intend doing.

You will also never achieve the results adobe can create. It may not seem like it at first but once you pick up the basics of each adobe product it is a million times easier to work with than any of the microsoft products.

Best of luck.

thecommander

pippip wrote: »

If you are setting up a desktop publication business then stay away from the microsoft software......it is NOT professional design software for a number of reasons. The only reason you should need it is so you can open files customers send you and remove the data to your own software.

If you are serious look into adobe.....indesign for layout and photoshop and illustrator for images. You can download 1 month trial for free and can also sign up to a monthly subscription to all the adobe products for roughly 60euro a month ( 1year plan).

Some printers won't even accept artwork created in microsoft software. Colour issues are a huge problem. As a designer a huge part of your work will be graphics manipulation which cannot be done in microsoft software. You will also be constantly making slight adjustments to artworks which in micosoft programs generally results in everything changing position and taking an eternity to correct.

Also chances are if you get a customer who already has artwork from a previous designer then it will more than likely be adobe or Quark based. Look up any graphic design forum and you will not see a mention of microsoft products because nobody in the industry uses it for what you intend doing.

You will also never achieve the results adobe can create. It may not seem like it at first but once you pick up the basics of each adobe product it is a million times easier to work with than any of the microsoft products.

Best of luck.

100% agree with the above. Pointless using MS products to design professionally. Indesign is the way forward for page layout, and Photoshop for image editing. Probably should spend some time doing training either online or actual courses. Being a designer isn't something you just decide one day to do and be good at it.

Using MS Office Student edition if you're not a student is the same as downloading from a torrent site, licence doesn't cover either. Software is an investment in your business, the same as a desk or laptop is.

Gloomtastic!

If you can't afford to buy then look at Open Source software. (I always ask myself - who needs the money more, Bill Gates or myself?).

OpenOffice.org for all Office apps. Been using it for years on Mac and PC with no problems.

Scribus is an Open Source professional DTP application that is mirrored on what used to be PageMaker. It's quite slow and clunky but it will produce print ready PDFs - if you know what you're doing!!!!

There are loads of Open Source image manipulation apps out there but make sure you get one that can convert images to CMYK.

Axwell

Mod Note: No talk of illegal downloads, torrents etc etc.

Cant stress strongly enough that office is not for publishing or any design work. It doesnt do the job properly, its not the industry standard and to be honest if you arent aware of this it would suggest that you have decided to just give this a go without having the background or experience in it.

I would suggest you go do online tutorials and get yourself up to speed first on design and industry standards before trying to make a business out of it. Also join some design related forums and build up a portfolio of your own work - even if they are just mock ups you do as you learn. You can get free trials off the adobe website for illustrator, indesign and photoshop but there are also open source options out there to get you started.