back to article Microsoft: Office 365 reached 1 million subs faster than Facebook

Microsoft's new Office 365 Home Premium subscription version has proven so popular with customers that it has reached one million subscribers faster than many popular online services have, the company has claimed. According to somewhat vague sales figures announced on Wednesday, it took the Home Premium edition of Office 365 …

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  1. Metrognome
    Meh

    Microsoft announcing healthy sales of new product

    Is this along the same lines of the triumphant Win 8 "tremendous reception" and the WinPho 8 selling great?

    If so, I give them another 3.5 to register "one of the fastest U-turns" in the business....

  2. adnim
    Meh

    Not surprising

    MS & MS Ofiice have had quite a few years market exposure prior to the provision of Office 365.

    Where as the others...

  3. P. Lee
    Paris Hilton

    I wonder...

    how many subscribers think they are just signing up for Office updates, rather than an access subscription?

  4. gerryg
    Windows

    marketing fail...

    <= not

    If I were in Microsoft's marketing department I might be worried about getting a pink slip

    Even taking the subscriptions at face value any measure of success needs to be adjusted for brand and product awareness, saturation marketing budget (it's been advertised everywhere) and other promotional activity.

    More importantly the biggest adjustment probably arises from Microsoft needing to publicise the progress in the first place.

    Let's check back in six months

  5. Mephistro
    Linux

    It may take a while, but...

    ... home users will end up noticing that there are free/OSS Office suites that cover all their needs, so instead of paying $100 every year to install an Office suite in up to five devices providing that their owners live under the same roof, they pay $0 and install the OSS Office suite wherever they fucking please, and send a copy to cousin Alfred too. And said OSS software won't disable itself automatically after a year, unless you pay another $100 as a ransom for your data for another yearly subscription.

    And small and medium companies (companies where the manager is also the owner/biggest stakeholder, or companies where the manager has a good chance of still being the manager 10 years in the future) will want nothing with Office 365, because it's much more expensive than buying a boxed version and using it for ten years.

    1. iDavid

      Re: It may take a while, but...

      I am just such a manager, and find that Office 365 meets our needs perfectly. Cost is far less important here than peace of mind.

      1. Roger Greenwood

        Re: It may take a while, but...

        I am just such a manager, and find that LibreOffice meets our needs perfectly. Cost is far less important here than peace of mind that our data will remain accessible for the forseable future.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: It may take a while, but...

          Voted down because that thing where you quote someone but change the names to suit your message is really feeble. Would give you another because I think it's really funny when people being cocky about office apps make spelling mistakes. You know, with language being such a big part of their use.

        2. Neil B
          Stop

          Re: It may take a while, but...

          Let's say you cease your subscription after the first year. In your head, what happens to your data?

          If, in your head, your data is now imprisoned by a cackling Microsoft, just go and stick your head down the toilet and flush the chain.

          1. Mephistro
            Facepalm

            Re: It may take a while, but... (@ Neil B)

            "Let's say you cease your subscription after the first year. In your head, what happens to your data?

            If, in your head, your data is now imprisoned by a cackling Microsoft, just go and stick your head down the toilet and flush the chain."

            What about the 3rd year? What about the fifth? What about the year when Ballmer retires, with Ballmer wanting to collect as much bonus money as possible? Please read my answer to iDavid and explain where you think I'm wrong.

      2. Mephistro
        Facepalm

        Re: It may take a while, but... (@ iDavid)

        "Cost is far less important here than peace of mind."

        Agreed. Now we should discuss how having your documents in Office 365 could possibly improve your peace of mind, given that:

        1- The formats used to store your data can be changed by MS on a whim - even while still paying lip service to some standard format or another- in such a way that any document you export to a new app will be ridden with subtle formatting errors. Thus, if you try to shift to a different office suite you'll find yourself with several thousand documents that need to be re-formatted by hand.

        2- The price you pay for your yearly subscription could change next year or the year after that, again at MS whim, so MS may wait until you have some critical mass of documents in their format and then raise the subscription price in such a way that changing to another suite and retrieving/exporting/fixing your documents is more costly than paying the ransom new subscription price.

        3- Your use of Office 365 may force you into using other MS apps, for which MS could, at least in theory, charge you whatever they please, as these other MS apps won't be subject to market pressures. In fact you'll become another hostage in another walled garden.

        4- A boxed/eternal licence app will still work 10 years in the future, so MS can't use it to extort you.

        IMHO, putting all your eggs in this particular MS basket will put you under the worst kind of consumer lock-in scheme that anyone could devise.

        Now, please tell us again how being turned into the proverbial boiling frog helps your peace of mind. TY

  6. Charles Manning

    Comparing apples and llamas

    Many have pointed out that the numbers really look pathetic when you consider the resources MS have pumped into the exercise.

    Pathetic though that they feel the need to compare themselves with fashion trends like Instagram and Facebook. They've really had to dig to find products to compare with. Perhaps they should really compare with Google Docs that has many tens of millions of users.

    I guess though you have to look at the positive: these numbers are way better than Zune, Kin and many other recent MS offerings.

  7. goats in pajamas

    What;'s the difference between...

    ...UK Government unemployment figures and Microsoft sales figures?

    None at all.

  8. Fihart

    Some thickies probably think it's cheap......

    .................until they discover they have to pay again next year.

    Foresee big boost for Libre Office etc.

  9. __________
    Thumb Down

    When El Reg comes decked out all in Office 365 colours and ads

    Wht should I be suprised that vague puff pieces for the product are here filling space

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Payment is required for compatibility

    No point installing a free office equivalent if it's not compatible with the real world.

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