Microsoft tries to sell home Office users on subscription pricing
Microsoft has unveiled its first attempt to seduce consumers into paying subscription pricing for its Office 365 package. For $99.99 a year, buyers get the Office 365 Home Premium, which gives them a license to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access applications on five computers in the home. …
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Re: Microsoft copying Google YET AGAIN @eadon
This sounds a bit fishy, mate... Having been a contractor for yonks, (as I am sure many on this site have done) if your output for company x is worth anything to company x, then that output has to be the product of company x. Which it cannot be (in law, most places) if it was produced on software and equipment not belonging to company x. In short, you get hired to do a job. That job might require you to be capable (even an expert?) in a software package, but will not usually require you to use YOUR software to do THEIR job.
@croc - that's tosh
Watch TV adverts for a while.
Do you think every single company advertising on TV has a copy of Avid?
(Avid is the industry-standard video edit suite.)
I doubt any of them do - and even the TV Ad production companies don't, they usually hire them from studios (eg BBC Resources) as needed.
Go to a corporate shindig. Do they own the video projectors, screens, set, lighting and control hardware/software used?
Nope. They pay an events production company to provide the complete event, and they usually subcontract parts out - eg I can earn a fair wodge of cash by bringing myself, and hiring a fourth company's hardware and software.
So Company A is buying the output from Company B, who is buying my services, and I'm buying part of my services from Company C.
B is also buying services from a whole stack of other companies - one reason A didn't hire me directly.
This is normal in all creative industry.
Re: Microsoft copying Google YET AGAIN
Have you signed a contract somewhere that requires you to post at least once on every page of comments on every article that mentions Microsoft? Because it sure feels that way.
Re: Microsoft copying Google YET AGAIN @eadon @croc
Depends how it's done. If I'm contracting on-site then they customarily provide the kit and software but if I'm doing it at home (as I am currently) then necessarily I must provide for myself. Quite reasonably so because I am a business and they are buying a service.
> Which it cannot be (in law, most places) if it was produced on software and equipment not belonging to company x.
bollox
Re: Microsoft copying Google YET AGAIN @eadon @croc
My apologies, "bollox" might have been correct and concise but was neither helpful more polite. The issue of who owns the work is a matter of contract, explicit or implied, this usually boils down to: While you work for me, I own what you produce. The means of production, unless otherwise specified, are irrelevant.
Richard 12 gave some good examples.
@croc
... will not usually require you to use YOUR software to do THEIR job.
If you're doing the work on YOUR equipment you won't have a licence for THEIR software, so you have to use YOUR software to do the job, even if the job is THEIRS.
That may mean that YOU have to buy the same software that THEY use ... or it may not.
Ideally, the data would all be in some Open format, so it wouldn't matter.
Sources of annoyance.
It's a source of not inconsiderable annoyance to many at Microsoft that home users typically buy one version of Office
To judge by their attitude and behaviour, it's a source of not inconsiderable annoyance to MS (and many other large corporations) that they can't just legally take all our money for nothing at all and enserf us to boot.
And... MS crap is being taught to our kids!
Why the hell are schools teaching our kids the only proprietary-format-docs, EXPENSIVE, closed source office suit???
They should be teaching either Google Docs (free) or, better - Libre Office - free.
Our tax is going to Microsoft in order that they can lock in our kids. FFS!
>wanders away muttering<
Re: And... MS crap is being taught to our kids!
Because no one wants jobs in the few German councils and charities that use that sort of crappy software...
@AC 20:32GMT - Re: And... MS crap is being taught to our kids!
Really! Just pay me and I'll even work in Wordstar. Where did you get this nonsense where an employee dictates his employer's platforms and technologies ? Oh, it's called marketing you say ?
@Eadon
Well, we're now mixing up the topic (business use vs. private use) but yeah, I see where you're getting at.
Although I don't fully agree with you on this part, I do agree that the free variants (Libre- / Open Office) could easily cope in this scenario as well, featurewise that is.
But using the open source variants doesn't have to be less expensive perse. Because although the purchase price is 0 with the open source variants the maintenance costs are not. And if a school is already using a full Microsoft environment then obtaining and implementing updates for the Office environment would take no extra effort than performing maintenance for the underlying OS.
With the open source variants otoh school admins would have to improvise a little to keep that software up to date with the rest. For example; the update release cycle won't follow the Microsoft cycle perse, and sometimes issues are dire enough that an upgrade is required ASAP.
Obviously your milage may vary. I can think of plenty of situations where these arguments won't apply, but stating that open Libre / Open Office will always be less expensive in usage than MS Office, esp. for businesses, is IMO not true. There's more to be reckoned with than purchase price alone
Re: @Eadon
@shelluser - there are open source tools for dealing with management of open source systems.
https://schoolforge.net/education-software/school-management-software
Given the savings of switching to open source, and more importantly, the benefits of teaching children on open systems, not closed systems, this is worth considering. In general the TCO for open source systems is lower than for MS based systems.
If not, then Munich would not have saved 11 million Euros and counting.
Cheers
Re: And... MS crap is being taught to our kids!
Being an sysadmin at a medium sized school I have tried to argue this point to you before but you seem blind to realise it simply isnt possible in most environments. I am not going over the same arguments again.
It simply isnt cost effective to roll out an OO or LO environment to most schools. Feel free to lounge around edugeeks and receive the same answers. Ive said this once and i'll say it again. Open source is not free. MS offer great prices to schools and whilst £MS<£open source solution (including administration and rollout) then MS will win.
Being a person who USED to use open office 2.x only to go back to M$ due to later versions having great difficulties in allowing a reasonable way to centralise setups.
Re: @Eadon
https://schoolforge.net/education-software/school-management-software
That link appears to be a new argument from you Eadon. A quick glance showed me that each one of those were insular independent modules or software to perform a task. I must say I have not looked at them all. I have no idea if they interact with each other, if they have a common way of assigning default folders, abilites to lock down each piece of software. Having a batch file run on startup to copy new configuration files from a central repository to set up each piece of software depending on who logs in is not very robust (the only way to configure OO or Libra office prior to 3.x after 3.x it gets even harder as you need to edit core files too that users are not normally privvy to editting)
In MS I *know* I can use an ADMX to do so for every piece of software. I can also rely on interoperability. Open source is still not free to roll out and manage.
Re: @Eadon
Eadon, I've asked you twice if you were a microsoft shill and twice you've not answered.
So, have you any link with MS in any form?
TIA
Or consequently
Just use Office 2K3!
Oddly enough it still seems to work just as well as it always has, and I for One can't say that I ever felt that I needed nor wanted anymore outta Office.
Really Microsoft ought to just retain the old trick of kick B&'ing old Office Copies off their newer OS.
But, then no Ones interested in Windows 8 either. I for One hope this fails.
But, then I'm mostly on Linux anyway now. The last hold out being this Netbook that's using Windows 7 Pro.
If and when Seven hits EOL, that should be it for me and Microsoft.
red it on reddit
I ship the surface tablets for Microsoft, the amount of overstock they have from none of them selling is unbelievable
ref: http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/17hrzr/windows_8going_up_to_200_soon/
Re: red it on reddit
I'm waiting for the skateboard version....
The Mpnthly subscription model is pretty sweet.
I've just bought the subscription. It's £7.99 for Office on 5 devices, including Outlook, 20GB cloud storage, 60mins of Skype minutes (if those minutes renew per month then that's even more awesome) a month, free upgrades too apparently. This could give an entire households worth of office products (albeit they'd have to create a single microsoft account for the whole house, but that's no biggie really) for just £7.99 a month. That's a pretty sweet deal IMO. The cloud integration is fantastic too, i'm using it to do my documents at home on my desktop pc, then when I get to college in the morning, I can go straight where I left off to on my Laptop, and it's so seamless. If you think about it, for what they're offering, it's a pretty good deal. £79.99 every year is too much, but psychologically, £7.99 a month is nothing really. You don't even need the Skydrive Desktop client to sync Office documents either, which is great. Plus you get the streaming versions of the office apps too when you're at a totally new computer.
Re: The Mpnthly subscription model is pretty sweet.
... and if you're a pensioner with just one desktop machine?
Re: The Mpnthly subscription model is pretty sweet.
> " £79.99 every year is too much, but psychologically, £7.99 a month is nothing really."
Eh?
£8 a month is £96 a year. That's a lot of cash for a standard household, especially when there are things out there which do exactly what is required for homework and the like.
On the upside this might well be the start of the end for MS!
Re: The Mpnthly subscription model is pretty ... expensive compared to google's
You say, "The cloud integration is fantastic too, i'm using it to do my documents at home on my desktop pc, then when I get to college in the morning, I can go straight where I left off to on my Laptop, and it's so seamless"
Weird language. This is straight out of an astroturfing marketer's notebook, or so it seems to me.
Re: Mpnthly
If you pay mpnthly, you deserve to get mpwned.
Re: The Mpnthly subscription model is pretty sweet.
@GalvatronJB
You are kidding, surely ? I hesitate to accuse you of being a shill, but really !!
Is There A Reason To Pay For ever For???
I guess I am now using the last version office that I shall ever use. Office is getting more expensive, over complex and does not do anything more for me than 2000 used to do. Perhaps in ten years I shall have learned enough of 2007 to make full use of the package.
I have never believed in renting, TV, cooker, house, its money down the toilet as far as I am concerned.
I know that MS almost agree, - as long as they are the toilet into which the money goes!
In a short time...
MS Office. I seem to remember that from years ago. Is it really still going?
Already have one.
I already have a subscription - to LibreOffice. Cost? $0 down and $0 per month, including free updates.
OEM MS Office
I've been caught out with MS Office a few times when a user's PC needed a new motherboard. MS Office detects the change and requires reactivation. On some versions that means finding an install CD of the right version of Office. However OEM versions are more troublesome - even if you had the foresight to do a key retrieval before rebuilding the system. The OEM licence limits the install to the original hardware - and won't accept the activation key for a re-activation or re-installation if it has changed.
Next time that happens the user is going to get Open Office instead.
If you use office at work, work from home
I think Office is pretty much mandatory, at least if you're working complex documents and spreadsheets. If you just need an office app for simple stuff (letters, short reports, a bit of number crunching) then Google Docs will do. For most home users, MS Office is going to be overkill.
Microsoft ad-man
If I use any of the many FREE versions of office software and save it to say my FREE Dropbox folder I too can open it elsewhere and work on it where I left off........so I|m saving £7.99/Month.Now thats budgeting in times of osterity.
Did I mention I did this all for FREE!
Never underestimate the IQ of MS Office users
Especially the PowerPoint warriors.
Re: Never underestimate the IQ of MS Office users
Surly you must have meant overestimate or?
But, then again I never found these "Power Point Warriors" to be very bright anyway.
And Power Point is the biggest piece of sh--.... I want to kill the bitch that came up with this torture device!
Re: Never underestimate the IQ of MS Office users
Software development by PowerPoint
I've known plenty of "managers" who think that if their PA can design it in PowerPoint then the real application can be developed just as quickly.
Re: Never underestimate the IQ of MS Office users
Strange that I'm defending it, but there's nothing "wrong" with PowerPoint , it's a great tool when used correctly.
Unfortunately it's the "used correctly" caveat where 99% of PowerPoint users stumble.
A PowerPoint slide show is not a presentation. A presentation may have a PowerPoint slide show to assist with parts of the presentation, but that is very, very different.
document fails in a completely different environment = LibreOffice problem how?
" they e-mailed it to me and it took two minutes and 20 seconds to open in LibreOffice -- it opens instantly in MS Office -- and it was messed up -- which it wouldn't be in MS Office -- and I had to go in the work to fix it (I was supposed to be off today)."
Speaking of idiots (and worse), which you were, you don't suppose some idiot had intentionally or otherwise endowed that spreadsheet with a whole load of links to other content, links which work in the office but don't work at home because the linked contents aren't accessible from home? Links which will each take a TCP/IP connect fail timeout before the connect finally fails? Links whose contents are relied upon for part of the main document's formatting?
I've seen exactly this happen. Now I'm not suggesting that it's the only option here, but if it were to be the case here (and you haven't said how you know it isn't the case), would it be LibreOffice's fault, or would there be a problem between keyboard and chair?
Anyway, enjoy the overtime. And/or ask your IT department to get you a proper VPN that works so that your office documents are visible from your home just like they are from the office.
I am still on Office 2007 (free licensed copy given by my workplace)
Works like a charm after all the service packs, and does everything I want.
Now, pray tell, why should I *pay a monthly subscription fee* for office productivity? Why should companies do the same thing?
Why should I even upgrade to Office 2010?
Sorry, Microsoft. This will flop badly.
What you should have done was:
1) Offer Office 365 free and full-functioned.
2) Slash prices of Office 2007 and Office 2010.
3) Sell subscription on massive Skydrive storage: 100Gb or 1Tb
Re: I am still on Office 2007 (free licensed copy given by my workplace)
^ THIS
this is just ridiculous.....they really need to think about what their doing here.....i mean really...the balance is just not there...and the more companies that start offering similar packages for a much reduced price or free the less significant office will seem...you only have to look at whats happening in the highstreet as a comparison to see that....customers aint as reliable and more tech savvy as before.
...microsoft have a good opportunity to get it right and really make a difference with their office suite but this is not the right way....lets hope they get it right in the near future otherwise it will be a mass exodus of biblical proportions....
wtf?
Home users should not pay hundreds of pounds for software that can literally be substituted with any of hundreds of free alternatives. If I find out you are an Office subscriber, that to me is a good indication that your brain was not properly formed. Your mum probably denied you breast milk and fed you MSG every day.
I'm happy with MS Office Professional Plus 2013
Just US $14.32 under their Home Use Program.
Google Docs
I've found Google Docs does just fine for me. As a personal user the cost is zero including a reasonable amount of on-line storage. I just don't need the MS Office Bloatware with its hundreds of unwanted bells and whistles.
Trial Version
The trial (which we were going to check out at work today) gives you free access to 365 for a month.... But they still want payment details before you sign up. Oh, you can cancel at any time of course, and you won't get charged if you cancel before the end of the trial.
How many people do you reckon will sign up to check it out, then forget to cancel the subscription?
Re: Trial Version
So it's that old chestnut, eh?
Oh, how the might have fallen, that they need a scam to get subscribers to their flagship product.
Re: Trial Version
Cancelling your trial is your responsibility. If people forget then that's their problem.
Re: Trial Version
Nobody should be expected to 'cancel' trial software.
Trial software, by its very definition lets you try the software before you buy (or not buy). The trial is either feature-limited (demo) or time-limited (expires). Nobody should be obliged to provide payment details for trial software.
This is as sneaky and dirty as certain organ donation laws when you are assumed to be opted-in unless you explicitly opt out (presumed consent). Or how some telcos keep charging for some services after the 'six months free' period is over - it presumes you still want them.
It's just the wrong price
Microsoft's strategy is to make the non-subscription package seem like poor value, so they have denigrated the non sub package. Now with the home and student pack you only get one licence, tied to a single machine.
That's right - even the retail copy is not transferable. Trouble is I don't have any real use for the bells and whistles of 365 home premium - don't want Publisher, Access or Outlook, and barely want Powerpoint, and the 20gb of Skydrive is irrelevant given the free alternatives. If they were asking £40 a year it might seem just worth it ... but as it is they just seem out of touch with the market. No business ever thrived by offering customers no added value for more money: for most home users Office 2010 is simply a better deal. Meanwhile LibreOffice and Apache Office are dicking around with their antiquated UIs, but over the next 12 months perhaps that will change, and there will be a free Office suite that does more than Microsoft Office ... I've been using LO and Office for the last couple of years and while the latter is certainly far more refined, in other ways LO is functionally better, and it's hard to argue with "free". I hope Microsoft wakes up, but if it doesn't this cash cow is surely going to die.
BTW I bought Office 2010 in November so am entitled to a "free upgrade". But funnily enough the upgrade server has crashed all evening ... so that's a good argument for the cloud then...
Pretty good deal
I think it's a pretty good deal. £79.99 per year gives me the full suite of applications for all the computes in my house (2 Mac's, 3 PC's). 365 is always updated so I will always have the most current and latest version for however long I subscribe for.
Yeah, I could use the free alternatives, but they are shit.
It was very interesting reading about Word but ...
I actually use Scrivener. Admittedly I wouldn't roll this out around the company but I find I can do just anything I ever wanted to do with it.
I know it's a bit of a left field suggestion for some people now that I've switched I'm very happy. And it's comparatively cheap.
As for the whole Office suite question.
In my company we're being more-or-less forced to upgrade from Office 2003 now because of document compatibility issues with clients. It's frustrating - especially as the staff do not have the technical expertise to understand what is going on.
There's no way we would roll out an Open Office solution to the people here. They just wouldn't cope. I've never found a satisfactory way to rejig a flavour of OO so that it 'looked and behaved" like MS Office - if anyone has a suggestion I'd be pleased to hear it.
Re: It was very interesting reading about Word but ...
If you think Office 2003 to Open/Libre Office will be tough, then you are going to have loads of trouble with Office 2007 or later.
When we did that switch the whole company stopped "office" work for several weeks*, and many users still cannot cope now we're a few years down the line.
The Ribbon is a simply massive culture shock.
* To be honest it was somewhat refreshing to get quick info in emails rather than as attachments.
Cloud storage? Not for me, or my company
Okay, so you've got your shiny subscription linked to your Microsoft account, and you need to do some work at home. No problem, I'll just pop it on my USB drive and take it home to work on.
Get home, open in your shiny version of Word 2013.
A copy gets saved in your MS account 'somewhere in the world'.
You get a knock at the door at 6am:
"I am arresting you for the transmittal of export controlled data to country XXX, you do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence..."
Think I'm joking? Many businesses allow you to work from home. Many of these companies are working with data that falls under the remit of "Export Control Regulations". You are personally liable for any data that you have, and your MS account stores files, metadata and other data on servers in various countries. So no more working from home (not a bad thing) for me at least.
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