[BlindTlk] I'm Having a Dilemma with Microsoft Office

[Humberto Avila]

Hello there fellow listers:

I am having a situation that needs serious contemplations of options. Maybe someone on this list on similar situation may help.

I am, or rather, was, a student in college. One of the many many perks of being at the university where I did my studies was that we get to enjoy free copies and version upgrades of Microsoft office apps through an office365 subscription set up through the school. I have since graduated last December 2018 and well, all of a sudden, they decide that I no longer am in their system, apparently.

Starting this weekend, as soon as I opened Outlook or any other office apps I kept getting this notice that I needed to either enter a license key or sign in. I signed in, but well, every time I opened outlook again and signed in, but over and over I got that same old message that my product was “deactivated” and kept seeing this text in the lines of, “You have chosen to convert your | 0 software.” Seeing the strangeness of this deal I went ahead to reinstall office apps on my laptop again, and there it was, I had no longer privileged access to office through my school / work account I used previously.

Having said this, how many of ya folks in here actually use Word, Excel or Outlook email app for personal usage? Would it be worth it to purchase an actual office365 subscription for my own use? Should I wait till I get a fulltime job (Which most likely I will have access to Office apps and such)?

I’m certainly aware there are other accessible apps that work well with screen readers like JAWS. I also certainly the professionalism and efficiency delivered through apps like Outlook, which I have been constantly (and subconciously) been using to manage my email and calendar for years.

At any rate, what are your thoughts on this? Should I start using and learning free alternatives like Thunderbird to do my emailing? Should I shell out the $69.99 or so just to get my Outlook up and running again? How many of you use this email program as their personal / default app on your PCS? When you need to write something, apart from using a smartphone or quick note-jotting like Notepad, would you actually prefer something like Word or Excel, as aposed to Google Docs or, say, OpenOffice?

Suggestions are welcome. And, thanks in advance. I hope this didn’t go too much off topic.

Humberto

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