Microsoft is the standard for things when it comes to things like operating systems or office productivity suites, so I took it upon myself to get a copy of Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate.

Now, normally this software runs anywhere from mid-$600's to the low-$400's, but Microsoft decided to be generous (most likely for some penetration into the college-age market) and offer it up for the low, low price of $60. The software is offered up to students as part of their "The Ultimate Steal" program and requires that you have a valid school e-mail address.

I've been a proponent of OpenOffice.org because it's a free Office-compatible suite of programs; before I used it I relied on pirated copies of Office 2003 for my word processing and spreadsheet needs. I figured this offer was as good a time as any to get my own legitimate copy of Office, so I caved and bought a license. Now I don't have to worry about anyone knocking on my door and hauling my ass to court!

I should mention that for most people, OpenOffice is more than enough, and the price can't be beat. One of the main reasons I decided to buy Office 2007 was because it comes with Outlook; nothing in the OO line of software offers a program I can synchronize my Pocket PC to, so I was dependent on my copy of Outlook 2003 to keep my device and computer synchronized.

$60 isn't a bad price for over $400 worth of software, but a heads-up, if you want a physical copy of the program on a DVD it'll cost you an additional $20; I went ahead and added on to my order because I like having hard copies of the good software!

In other news, my right knee experiences sharp pangs whenever I bike; this is bad news, especially since I'm supposed to be preparing for a 40-mile up-hill bike ride on the weekend of Thanksgiving! I'm going to the health clinic tomorrow to have someone take a look at it, and with any luck it'll be something that can be fixed without much downtime. Here's hoping!