Are there any utilities like MS Excel

the thing is i'm using new laptop, but i'll be using it for a while (week or couple), so i don't want to spend a 500~ MS Office for a couple of weeks
(a month has already passed since i've download trial version).

is there any free software i could use instead of Excel?
Or can trial period be prolonged ?
Running Vista

Thanks in advance

 

Sorry, didn't read rules, thou agreed to obey them.
will bear in mind

 

Go to softwareoutlet.com and buy an OEM copy of Word Perfect Office X3 for a price less than 10% of MS Office. If that price is too high, buy WP Office 12, for even less. The suite contains Quattro Pro, which is virtually indistinguishable from Excel, and in fact, can produce Excel files.

 

From what you say, I'm with Steve on this one. Open Office is probably the way to go for you.

All in One - OpenOffice Suite

 

The Office License agreements provide for one fixed installation and one portable installation.

If you own a license for any Office version and it is not already installed on a laptop, you can install it on a laptop legitimately.

Open Office is known to cause issues...

 

I have been using Open Office (OO) for 2 or 3 years with no noted problems. I use it primarily for word processing (Writer) and spreadsheet (Calc) - I'm not a heavy duty user. I do have to be careful when I send files to others to save them as Microsoft Office or PDF files. Word can't directly open an Open Office generated document - but OO can open Microsoft Office documents directly.

I have used the presentation package (Impress) to prepare a Powerpoint type presentation. Because the machine I was to be using didn't have OO, I had to save the presentation in Microsoft Powerpoint format on a flash drive. I was able to make the presentation on the non-OO machine without a hitch.

I began using OO when the software for a HP All-In-One rendered my Microsoft Office (older version) almost unusable. Rather than spend a lot of time fixing the problem I started using Open Office and have had no problems that I have noted - except making envelopes for snail mail. I do use Word for Windows for that.

I also have a flash drive (U3) that has a flash drive version of OO (free also) on it that works fine - gives me portability that I didn't have with Microsoft Office. And no, I don't work for the OO group or have any ties to them - just appreciate their efforts.