Microsoft introduces 365 Family subscription and Teams for consumers

Discussion in 'Frontpage news' started by Hilbert Hagedoorn, Mar 31, 2020.

  1. Aura89

    Aura89 Ancient Guru

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    Again, you're buying for one PC.

    Also, Office 2010 prices were: Office Professional is $499, Home & Business is $279.95, and Home & Student is $149.95, so if you found packs, or a deal, that was cheaper, that's great! But the MSRP of office hasn't really changed much over the years (it's actually gotten cheaper on the highest end office). I can find copies of Home & Student for $50 off even now, it's still possible to get deals, but my point was not "which deal you can get" but rather when a subscription model can make sense.

    Of my years in this field, sales wise, i have not seen a massive difference in prices for office as you suggest, nor did i see a change when subscriptions came about really at all. What i have seen is a lack of PCs/Laptops that come with Office, and if they do, it's a 1 year subscription now. That's really the only difference from my personal experience that i have seen.

    Also, physical copies of the programs don't really exist anymore, so the only sales you get now are microsoft-backed sales as all copies of the program are sold like giftcards (cards that get activated at the register). So i can see the local-store "super" discounts no longer existing (for instance your 3 pack deal was, i am assuming, a physical copy, not directly from microsoft, and could have been the business trying to blow them out) But that has less to do with a subscription and a whole lot more to do with going to activation cards in retail. You're effectively always buying directly from microsoft now, and stores hold no value to those cards and couldn't care less how long they sit on the shelves.

    [​IMG]

    I will say however, how many computers the program can be installed on has changed. Office 2010 to my knowledge for instance could be installed on 2 PCs.
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2020
  2. Kaarme

    Kaarme Ancient Guru

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    The three license pack did indeed come with a DVD, but it was an official MS affair. In fact back then if you needed to make the phone call to MS for activation, the robot asked you if the license was for 3 PCs (or some other options I didn't listen to). There wasn't an option for 1 PC. That's why when I decided to try to reactivate OEM Office 2010 on a new PC, I had to select the 3 PCs option. It worked.

    I'm not actually trying to argue against you in any sense since your calculations must be correct. However, I merely wanted to point out that while now (and already back with Office 2016) MS only offered the permanent licenses for 1 PC (at least for regular home users), earlier you could get them for 3 PCs in retail packs for a price that wasn't out of this world. Perhaps you could have also got them directly, digitally, from the Microsoft store, I don't know, since I got all of my Offices from brick and mortar.

    Also, lots of people actually have 2 PCs: desktop and laptop. MS is kind of flipping the bird at people with the 1 PC limit, not even 2. But that's just my opinion.
     
  3. heffeque

    heffeque Ancient Guru

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    Well... 99% of households don't actually need anything that LibreOffice doesn't offer, and it's 100% free, so... there are a ton of different reasons as for why something is best for someone and not for another. We can't really judge on our own particular needs/opinions.
     
  4. Kaarme

    Kaarme Ancient Guru

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    If you say so. I've used MS Office since the 90's. I'm kind of used to it. I was mainly looking at the expenses aspect if one wants to stick to MS Office, especially having more than a single PC (but still not many). Plus the dislike of subscription services. If Office 2010 become unusable due to some Win10 update (it's not even supported by MS anymore, I think) and the only alternative is the subscription Office 365, I might as well go for LibreOffice and get used to it.
     

  5. Redemption80

    Redemption80 Guest

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    I've never purchased MS Office, must owe them a fortune, but Office 365 is the first one i've considered.

    The subscription model is just much more appealing.
     
  6. heffeque

    heffeque Ancient Guru

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    You would be surprised how similar LibreOffice is to MS Office. The learning curve is basically flat as a board.

    Same here. It's the first time I've actually payed for MS Office. Partly for the always updated Office, but mostly for the really cheap 1 TB of OneDrive.
     
  7. H83

    H83 Ancient Guru

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    What about compatability between the two??? I read in the past that MS made it extremely difficult to open their files on other suites, is this still the case?
     
  8. Aura89

    Aura89 Ancient Guru

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    Openoffice opens microsoft stuff with little to no problem in my experience. Don't know about libre
     
  9. heffeque

    heffeque Ancient Guru

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    Libre is a bit more modern than openoffice, so should be covered.
     

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