back to article Microsoft confirms Office 365 price rise

Life is about to get more expensive for some folk living in Microsoft's Office 365 world with a 15 per cent price hike in the offing from August. This is the first time Redmond has decided to ignore the unwritten laws of the cloudy industry by upping its price list for punters - those with an Enterprise Agreement that haven't …

  1. User McUser
    Devil

    This is what's wrong with SaaS

    Once you're in, nothing stops them from jacking up the price eventually.

    Don't like it? That's fine, you can cancel at any time. Oh, but we do wish you luck in getting your data out of our proprietary file formats. *Tents fingers*

    1. h4rm0ny

      Re: This is what's wrong with SaaS

      >>"Don't like it? That's fine, you can cancel at any time. Oh, but we do wish you luck in getting your data out of our proprietary file formats. *Tents fingers*"

      You are obviously either misinformed or confused between Office 365 and the online versions. Office 365 is the same as regular office - it's simply the rental model vs. the pay up front model, plus a few extras such as OneDrive. I have Office 365 and the same software is installed on my machine as if I'd bought Office. And it's entirely possible to save everything I'm working on locally and even in open formats any time I want.

      It's really disappointing when out and out lies get posted and modded up reflexively by people who just want it to be true. I use Office 365. There is nothing stopping me "getting my data out" of it. In fact, my data already is - they mostly saved on my local network and under my control. And if I'd chosen to save them as ODF, it would have been the work of a moment to swap the default format type to save in.

  2. Cirdan
    Linux

    They put out the bait...

    who didn't see the hook?

    And, yes, for some the hook was well-set some time ago.

    ...Cirdan...

    (business use-case includes LibreOffice, thankfully)

  3. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Devil

    Nice business you've got there there

    Shame if your office software should suddenly... stop working...

    P.S. We have already priced a discount for the Exchange Online downtime into the price rise. You're welcome.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is it time for an 'I told you so' moment?

    A lot of us said this would happen when MS first launched it and now it happens and I assume it will continue year on year.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This isn't awesome, but it isn't any more of a hook than when a company decides to use SQL Server or any other lower level service -- the prices go up because the hassle of moving away is so bad it'd make a man's balls ache.

  6. Erik4872

    Looks like they're pulling an Adobe

    My assumption is that the next version of Office isn't going to be available stand-alone. It's unfortunate that Microsoft is taking this route. I work for a company that deploys IT stuff in very remote corners of the planet where cloud just doesn't fly. I'm the lone guy sitting in the corner asking server vendors to keep optimizing at least part of their product line for physical OS deployment, and software vendors to not tie their software to the cloud.

    The comment about SQL is spot on. We use a systems management tool that requires SQL Server (not System Center...) and the licenses for SQL dwarf the actual cost of the tool, even in Software Assurance SPLA rental mode. Not to mention the fact that Microsoft changed the SQL license terms so that deploying it on physical hardware is obscenely expensive. We had to add ESXi into our customer deployments for that very reason -- it was the difference between licensing 4 virtual cores or 12 physical ones.

    Software vendors do know that people are stuck on various applications. Windows and Office are just 2 examples -- Adobe knew they had a lock on the creative market and decided to exploit it. Microsoft is still hybrid for now -- but we'll see what happens!

    1. BlueGreen

      Re: Looks like they're pulling an Adobe @Erik4872

      > it was the difference between licensing 4 virtual cores or 12 physical ones.

      It's been a while since I looked at the license for mssql but I though it was not licensed per core but per socket, so if you had say a pair of hex core chips in your server you paid for 2, not 12. I may be wrong but it's worth a check.

  7. Ben Rose
    Pint

    Office 4.3

    Nobody ever needed anything more than Office 4.3.

    Word 6, Excel 5, sorted. It had a spell check and a Thesaurus, no stupid paper clip.

  8. John Sanders
    Linux

    News at 11

    Breaking news cloud stuff made by Microsoft not so fluffy.

    We told you so, said nice witnesses.

  9. Velv
    Flame

    TCO

    Doesn't matter what you use, you pay for it. Don't like Microsoft, fine, don't use Microsoft.

    Use something free? Well, is it really free? You still have to pay to train users on a different product, probably more so if its not what they use at home or learned in school? You have to pay for support. Maybe not directly (although some regulated industries mandate vendor support), but you'll be training and employing specialist support personnel who probably command a higher salary than an off the shelf Microsoft monkey.

    If only the world of business was flat and one product did everything for everybody. Well it isn't.

    Prices go up. Nothing to see here but bitching from trolls.

    1. fishman

      Re: TCO

      <<<Use something free? Well, is it really free? You still have to pay to train users on a different product, probably more so if its not what they use at home or learned in school?>>>

      That would be meaningful if Microsoft didn't keep changing the user interface for their products.

    2. hplasm
      Windows

      Re: TCO

      Prices go up. Qualty goes down. Trolls keep buying MS shit.

      Nothing to see here but gullible brown-nosed fools with too much (other people's) money and very little sense.

    3. Nuke
      Holmes

      @Velv - Re: TCO

      Wrote :- "Doesn't matter what you use, you pay for it ... You still have to pay to train users on a different product"

      Yes, I did pay for a copy of MS Office some years ago, and do you know what - it hasn't worn out yet! So, for me, what do you mean about a "different product"?

      "Prices go up"

      Only for idiots who buy into MS's software rental schemes.

    4. User McUser

      Re: TCO

      Doesn't matter what you use, you pay for it.

      Of course you do, but I am in the habit of only paying for software just the one time. After that I have it and thus additional payments are not needed until I want another copy/a subsequent version.

      Is it a better deal for some people? Maybe? I suppose if you were a large enough company that buying retail copies is too expensive but not quite large enough to get proper volume pricing then maybe SaaS might be a good idea. But I know in my last job the phrase "new reoccurring costs" was something that got you in trouble unless it was preceded by "Let's not generate any more."

  10. karlp

    Important Distinction

    There is an important note about this change - and one that appears to have been glossed over here - this only applies to those who bought in via an overarching Enterprise Agreement but yet didn't buy into SA at the same time.

    It also doesn't apply to renewals (at this time, according to the info I have). This effects very, very few people.

    All of my 365 clients have no rises as they signed up directly through MS, or through a partner signup link. And for those agreements for which I have been privy to that come out of an overarching EA agreement practically always have SA attached.

    Prices will go up inevitably, both for on-premise and hosted solutions, it's just what happens. But this is a pretty niche case.

    1. karlp

      Re: Important Distinction

      Also, and this is going to be bordering on a rant here,

      I wish people would stop acting like hosted solutions were from the devil. They Aren't.

      I also wish that people would stop acting like it's 2002 where we could have a technical solution that remained compatible with the rest of the wider world for longer than 18 months. - We don't live in that world any more.

      I have lots of clients 1, 2, or even 3 years into ongoing SaaS solutions, which are happier today than they were the day they signed up. The reason, overwhelmingly, is ongoing support for new devices and the far lower pain and cost threshold to stay current.

      In the past few months, here is what I have observed with my own two eyes:

      A business who now has access to great (usable) CRM self service sites and mobile apps whereas their competitor doesn't (because they are using an on-premise install which needs a $XX,XXX upgrade to provide that functionality)

      An office who made a big leap forward in productivity by leveraging heavy use of one drive and the new iPad office suite with remote employees.

      A firm, who had a dramatic increase in throughput in their estimating department due to new functionality introduced in a core package that, in it's older on-premise history, would have been exceedingly difficult and costly to upgrade.

      At the end of the day, the people I see buying and utilizing SaaS solutions are overwhelming appreciative of the fact that they aren't stuck with a system only compatible with the technology that existed when it launched, or having to shell out a meaningful percentage of the original whole on a regular basis just to stay current.

      Arguably, at least for my clients, that is the true selling point of the competent SaaS solutions. The recognition that we live in a world changing faster than ever with expectations of ongoing support and integration for as-yet-dreamt-up technology. In that world, there needs to be a sane way of providing day to day ongoing development for compatibility, integration, and features that don't amount to a bill for 50~60% of the original purchase cost in upgrade fees and consulting time every 18~24 months.

      Karl P

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
        Holmes

        Re: Important Distinction

        In that world, there needs to be a sane way of providing day to day ongoing development for compatibility, integration, and features that don't amount to a bill for 50~60% of the original purchase cost in upgrade fees and consulting time every 18~24 months.

        You may notice that this demand is COMPLETELY orthogonal to "SaaS" approaches. Vendors that provide this for on-premise solutions and/or "in-house SaaS" sure have the edge here.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Important Distinction

        When I hear FUD and marketing terms such as "leveraging," I bolt. "Activation" was the first nonsense consumed; now, "SaaS." Few businesses require the Win/Off crap dropped post 2000, and FUD about tablets is just that. MS crafts anxiety.

        Cure yourself. Move to free/non-proprietary, ASAP. Remember to make apps for the Web, not some tablet OS.

  11. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Holmes

    I don't know about this

    Is it time already to make prospects think harder about whether they want to snuggle up to this slightly unclean ladysexual partner of unspecified gender?

    The vast majority of our customers will not see an increase in the cost of Office 365

    As they are actually perfoming this, the vast majority of their customers WILL see an increase. Evidently.

    "I believe its still good value for clients"

    Sure you do Tim. Sure you do.

  12. Unicornpiss
    Thumb Down

    Too bad the quality of the app isn't set to rise

    Nuff' said.

  13. SVV

    Newsflash : MS increases stupidity tax on the gullible

    Meanwhile, intelligent world carries on using older versions of Office (or Libre Office at no cost) for humdrum tasks of word processing and spreadsheets.With no training required, because if you don't know how to use a word processor or spreadsheet you are probably as dumb as the fools who are forking out for this extortionate nonsense..

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