Subscribe to our SoftMaker Office 2008 for Free
SoftMaker Office 2008 is a small, but capable Office replacement, and is offered for free on the following page: http://www.loadandhelp.de/home-en.html
The package contains TextMaker (word processing), PlanMaker (spreadsheet), Presentations, and BasicMaker (macros for TextMaker and PlanMaker).
Moderators Comments
I've checked this user-submitted item and it is genuine. In fact downloading the file results in a small charitable donation at no cost to you; a nice gesture at this time of year.
This is an older version of the product, the current version is Softmaker Office 2010. This older version is documented as only for Win98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP but I have read web reports that it works on Vista. If this is true it may also work on Windows 7. (Addendum: A number of readers have since confirmed in the comments that it works with Vista, Windows 7 and 64 bit systems)
The download file size is a hefty 58.8MB though this could be considered small by the standards of MS Office and other office style suites such as Open Office.
To download the file you need to enter your name and email address. It's possible you may get promotional material sent to this address so be prudent about the account you use. However your serial number is also sent to this email address so you need use an account that you can access.
I installed the program on my standard Windows XP SP3 test machine. Avira, Prevx3, and Threatfire reported no threats and Comodo firewall reported no activities I regarded as suspicious. Based on this I'm prepared to say this program is 100% clean.
On installation the program places four icons in the system tray for the word processor, spreadsheet program, presentation program as well as a scripting program.
I only briefly tested the Word Processor and Spreadsheet program and they seemed to work very like their Office XP counterparts. They can read and write .doc files, .xls spreadsheets, Open Office.odt files and a limited number of other formats including RTF.
Overall this is a pretty decent freebie. No it's not got the extraordinary feature set of Office 2007 but it has just about everything normal users need. The only major component missing is a replacement for Outlook but there are plenty of other free alternatives you can use instead. See here: Best Free PIM Best Free Email Client
How does it compare to Open Office? Well Infoworld consider it to be better the Open Office V3.1. All I can say is it sure loads faster and that's a real plus.
Gizmo
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If you just want a reliable, fast, word processor,these products are largely complete overkill.
This one is very fast, and very FREE!
http://polyedit.com/free.html
This one is also good, but you need to download the patch;
http://majorgeeks.com/Crypt_Edit_d5345.html
This is also first class, and is compatible with many "standards";
http://www.filehippo.com/download_abiword/
As the previous poster said, the "Load and Help" deal has indeed expired. However at the moment, you can can still get it for free by going here: http://www.softmaker.de/weihnachten2009.htm That worked for me. Also you might try a different link posted below (not sure if it still works): http://www.softmaker.de/lh-down-en.htm
Still works ... thanks ... Jim in Memphis 2/25/10
You are awesome! It did indeed work it seems. Thanks!!
I see this offer's now expired. However, SoftMaker promises to run similar "Load and Help" charity initiatives in the future and invites you to sign up for information (I've got no reason to believe that they're spammers).
Personally, I've been very happy using the word processing program called TextMaker. It may not have quite as many features as Microsoft Word, but it doesn't have the annoyances either.
I've been using this for a couple of years. Wonderful suite, extremely light fast, better compatibility with MS formats than OpenOffice. (SMO 2010 also works with docx, which 2008 doesn't.) And great forum for support and feeback, mainly in German but with a good English section too.
From where can I download danish language pack?
Problem solved.
During install, you can choose "user defined", and then choose danish spell control.
It is a great program - faster than Office and Open Office. It has all the features I need.
Thank You Gizmo
For some reason the above link didn't work for me but I was able to download it from here:
http://www.softmaker.de/lh-down-en.htm
Also, after installing the program, you may also want to install the service pack:
http://www.softmaker.com/english/servold_en.htm
In addition, the user manuals are also available for download:
http://www.softmaker.com/english/service_en.htm
I'm not sure many people use it, but one major missing item is a Database program. It's usually one of the big four next to word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet.
Does SoftMaker have an integral address book - for snail mail? Or is there a separate addbook program to use with it?
This is a great application! I just reconstructed a budget spreadsheet using Plan Maker and it went smoothly. Must faster than OO 3.1 in loading and saving. Thanks for finding this!
Last time I looked, this was not a unified Office-type of program, but rather a collection of individual programs that perform their functions separately. In other words, they are not really integrated to where you can do something in one of them and then turn around and bring it up in one of the others. If they were to improve them so they actually worked together, I'd be interested.
Does that mean you're supporting OpenOffice. I haven't found it all that useful to have them be integrated into one program. I believe OpenOffice to be extremely slow for that reason. What things did you have in mind that would work "in one of them and then turn around and bring it up in one of the others"?
dear all
but this software has no place in our scheme of things - it is not free, unlike open office
yours
v.lakshminarayanan
palani
Lakshmi,
it truly "is offered for free". Had you actually gone there you'd find that temporarily they offer this free download and a free unlimited product key.
I am using it!
Downloaded and tested it on Ubuntu Linux. The SoftMaker and TextMaker in SoftMaker Office 2008 do not display some Unicode characters for me, whereas OfficeOffice 3.1 does well on the same system. The latter is still my choice.
I've had it for years and only snagged it originally because the price of MS Office is way to high for someone that just needs a decent word processor. I paid 10 bucks for mine and like it better than Open Office, which I've tried, compared and uninstalled. Nothing wrong with Open Office but like and am used to the more MS Office look and feel of Office 2008. Of course, because I allowed them to, I receive email from Ashampoo a lot because they make lots of different software but I like their newsletter and don't mind an honest sales pitch. Now they're offering me the 2010 version for another 10 bucks but I only need a word processor and it's not worth the hassle of changing what works fine for what I need. I also tried Abiword, I think that's what it's called and it too was OK but Ashampoo won out because of it familiarity. And it does everything.
Thanks, I liked their 2010 version.
Well well well, would you believe it, this is just perfect for me. I've been trying it out this evening and it opens everything I want it to open, it has more than enough features and tools for my needs, it's excellent. What a great offer. Gizmo's, thank you. OpenOffice, goodbye.
Well, "future upgrades at reduced prices" seems to say that the free status is limited. I'd rather stick with a truly free product, OpenOffice.
For what I need this is more than adequate and far less system hungry than Open Office. It opens in an instant and although I've only had time for a limited run through it seems highly capable as well. I didn't follow this through myself when it first hit the site having recently moved to x64 Windows 7 but I did install after reading the other comment and now I too confirm that it runs fine in this environment.
It sounds a very good program, but can you transfer workable programs from microsoft. I have some programs that will work only with XL, I was able to transfer them to open office to use. I am all for freebies if it saves the pennies
eric
You should know that SoftMaker are v. aggressive on the emails after you sign up. Product OK but probably not worth the aggravation
You can opt out of the Ashampoo email offers ya know. I put up with them because of the newsletter that comes with it because I've picked up useful info from it from time to time.
I recommend the use of SpamGourmet for times like this. You can set how many emails you would like to receive from a company and they are forwarded from the Spam Gourmet people to your regular address. When the limit you have set is reached, the spam stops. Period!
http://www.spamgourmet.com/
Personally,I have never been troubled by SoftMaker sending me emails apart from the one during registration.
Much lighter and faster than any of the open office suites
I can also confirm that it works on Vista.
It's much faster than Open Office. And I have confirmed it works on Windows 7 64-bit. At least haven't found any problem.
This software has a five star rating in cnet. I am wondering the similarity with Ashampoo office 2008 including the shortcut icons and menu if you right click on them. Any comments...
Ashampoo Office 2008 is what I have and as best I know it's the same product.
You are quite correct. I suspect Ashampoo may have licensed the product from Softmaker
Correct. I believe Ashampoo lacks a couple of features present in the original from Softmaker.
This sounds good. I'd try it but I'm beta testing MS Office 2010 now. But I may dl it just so a dontation is made. MS Office 2010 is free and in open beta till October 2010. I haven't had any problems at all with it yet either. Runs like the final product for me. www.office.com/beta/
#19- Thank you so much for above info. Great stuff.........
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