Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2012

[J_L]

http://www.kingsoftstore.com/office-suite-free.html

This recently free product is much lighter than OpenOffice and its derivatives. The install, startup, and load speed difference is unbelievable. Almost like I'm using WordPad. I think editing documents is faster as well.
Being 68.3 MB download, it requires far less disk space as well, using 252 MB on my Program Files (full installation).
It has a tabbed interface, meaning you can open multiple files in one Window. That can be handy, and I really like it.
The only issues are 3 programs, and 1 spell checker, which you can customize. The first issue is minor, because the essential are there: Presentation, Spreadsheets, and Writer. None of the extras like Drawing, Databases, and Formulas. That helps slimming it down. The default dictionary seems to include both US and UK versions of the word as correct.

Overall, I think this software deserves a review, or at least hot find. I've already replaced LibreOffice on my Windows system.

[wdhpr]

Originally Posted by JL

Overall, I think this software deserves a review, or at least hot find. I've already replaced LibreOffice on my Windows system.

Thanks JL I'm going to give this software a try.

[J_L]

Your welcome. I forgot to mention it creates a scheduled task that runs every day by default. You can configure updates via Kingsoft Office Tools > Configuration Tools > Update Settings, and then disable it.

[MidnightCowboy]

Good post J_L I see what you mean about the speed!

I prefer this now to Softmaker by some way.

I just downloaded an English US .dic file, installed and changed it to default.

Means converting my .odt files before I can open them with Kingsoft but no big deal.

Others interested might want to watch out for attempted net connections if they like to block this kind of stuff. Mine tried three times.
Kerio.jpg

[deya]

Really glad you started this thread, J_L because I've been using this, on and off, for over a week now. It's a very good office suite and I too prefer it to Softmaker, but I have my doubts as to whether this is really freeware, as in, free for ever. I've installed it on a virtual machine several times now, no problems with using it, but I kept searching around for good reviews etc, and all I really found was a thread at Wilders. Questions were raised there about 'free' or 'trial' - which were my concerns also.

Long story short, I put the clock on the PC forward one year to Sept 2012 and then opened the program, it then asks for a license key and goes into 'viewer mode' only. You can open and read your saved documents but you can't edit them, or use the program to create anything else. I've done this a few times, same result. Locked out.

The page on the link you provided clearly states 'freeware' but each time I wind the clock forward I get the same result. Re boot in virtual and install the program again, and it works fine. So I'm curious, and also a little sceptical about this.

I agree with everything posted so far, it is a very good program, absolutely ideal in fact, I really want to use it and if it does turn out that this really is freeware then I'll install and use it in a heartbeat. Softpedia also list it as freeware ... but I'm still not convinced. WinPatrol free detects a new task, 'WpsUpdate Task' - 'wpsupdate.exe', which is 'Kingsoft Automatic Upgrade'. It's the 'upgrade' bit that caught my eye.

I'm so glad you posted this, I notice that someone from Kingsoft posts on here and would really appreciate it if that person would confirm if we can use this office suite for free after one year, or will we need to purchase an 'upgrade'.

Sorry to sound so negative, I'm not being negative, the office suite is very good, excellent features, the spell checker, everything. But I thought I'd just bring to people's attention that a purchase may be required after a year.

I hope we can get to the bottom of this on here, I trust the judgement of people on this forum, 100 percent, and know that some of you maybe have contacts with various software companies and can hopefully find the answer to the question I'm raising here. Is Kingsoft Office 2012 Free totally freeware, or is it just trialware?

As stated, I really hope it is freeware because I love the program.

Cheers.

deya

[deya]

Installed Kingsoft on another machine, not virtual, turned the clock forward one year and got the same thing, viewing mode only, request for a license key. Also downloaded the set up from Softpedia and installed it, same result. Perhaps I'm missing something here but, to me, this seems a bit too good to be true. I'll gladly stand being corrected, but as far as I can work out this is a one year trial and not freeware, as advertised on the Kingsoft site.

[MidnightCowboy]

Good observations deya. I've PM'd the guys from Kingsoft responding in the PC Doctor thread to see if someone will comment on this too.

[deya]

Thanks for that, MC. It would be nice to have some clarification from Kingsoft themselves.

[J_L]

Originally Posted by MidnightCowboy

I just downloaded an English US .dic file, installed and changed it to default.

Where did you get that? Is there a Canadian or at least UK version?

Originally Posted by deya

Installed Kingsoft on another machine, not virtual, turned the clock forward one year and got the same thing, viewing mode only, request for a license key. Also downloaded the set up from Softpedia and installed it, same result. Perhaps I'm missing something here but, to me, this seems a bit too good to be true. I'll gladly stand being corrected, but as far as I can work out this is a one year trial and not freeware, as advertised on the Kingsoft site.

Sounds worrying. Hopefully, the "trial" extends with updates, or something like that.

[deya]

Yes J_L, let's hope it does. I don't use MS Office so can't compare it to that, but I've used the other free office suites available and think that this Kingsoft one is better than any of the others. I'll keep using it and see what happens.