MS Office 2013 Pushing Home Users Toward Subscriptions 349
An anonymous reader writes "Ars reports that Microsoft has announced pricing plans for Office 2013 that include a subscription-based model for home users. There will be a $100/year Home version that can be shared by up to 5 users and a $150/year Small Business version. 'Subscription software of one form or another has proven popular in the enterprise (whether it be cloud services, like Office 365, or subscriptions to desktop software, such as Microsoft's Software Assurance scheme). But so far it's a rarity in the consumer space. Anti-virus software has tried to bully and cajole users into getting aboard the subscription train, but the large number of users with out-of-date anti-viral protection suggests users are resisting. ... As another incentive to subscribe, and one that might leave a bad taste in the mouth, the company says that subscribers will be given unspecified "updates" to add new features and capabilities over the life of their subscription. Perpetual licensees will only get bug fixes and security updates.'"
Guess I am learning Libre Office (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Humorous. If you have to learn libre office you clearly haven't used a word processor before. Microsoft Office is not significantly different (at least older versions) than Libre Office. Unless you've only picked up word processing since 2007 or so and it was with MS Office then you've already got the skill set to use Libre Office. There are just a few slight differences for basic word processing tasks.
Re:Guess I am learning Libre Office (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
May I ask, what you do that requires scripting and macroing (or did you mean complex formulas for spreadsheet).
Re:Guess I am learning Libre Office (Score:4, Insightful)
It could also be an error checking, a sorting feature, um... what else
It could be maybe mass email lists, or some other functions like that.
Macros are pretty useful in Excel if you know what you are doing. I have seen some cool stuff.
Word... not so much.
Re:Guess I am learning Libre Office (Score:5, Insightful)
Libreoffice spreadsheet macros are nearly identical to Excel now. Not to the point where you could expect some gigantic Excel model to just work, but I doubt you get that even between different versions of Microsoft's product. Writing macros from scratch... it just works. All the same functions are there with the exception of a few really bizarre ones. And Openoffice/Libreoffice has a much nicer implementation of cut and paste than Excel, it works more like cut and paste in a word processor as opposed to the wierdo funky scheme they came up with for Excel. That a big deal for me, I don't want to be thinking about cut and paste oddities when I'm thinking about crunching numbers.
Re:Guess I am learning Libre Office (Score:5, Informative)
And fortunately you need go no further than TFM to find out that you don't have to. Subscription is just an option. You can still buy outright if you want.
Re:Guess I am learning Libre Office (Score:5, Insightful)
Several years down the road LibreOffice will probably remain an option. Let tomorrow worry about tomorrow.
Re:Guess I am learning Libre Office (Score:4, Insightful)
Several years down the road, I'd still have the copy of Office bought today.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
No.
I run LibreOffice under Ubuntu, and with the automatic updating I get a steady stream of vulnerability fixes, bug corrections, enhancements, and additional features. There is probably an average of one such update per week, and all I need to do is press a button to authorize it. This setup is much slicker than the Windows equivalents, at no cost and no hassle.
Not only that, but my copy of LO has functioned without problems when I did a major upgrade from Ubuntu v10.4 to v12.4, and when I changed the GU
Re:Guess I am learning Libre Office (Score:5, Insightful)
You're already leasing it. It's called licensing. The only difference is that you had a one-time payment before, and now they want you to pay continuously.
They say they're going to add new features, but I don't see how they can add $100 worth of new features every year. Heck, office 2004 still gets my jobs done. I don't see what features they could possibly have added over the last 8 years that would be worth $800.
The whole pricing thing for apps like this I think is going to do a bubble burst shortly anyway. Who's going to pay $100/yr to lease an app that a cloud app will do for you for $15/yr? I've used Google Docs recently, and while it's not a perfect replacement yet, it's sure a lot cheaper!
Re: (Score:2)
The whole pricing thing for apps like this I think is going to do a bubble burst shortly anyway. Who's going to pay $100/yr to lease an app that a cloud app will do for you for $15/yr? I've used Google Docs recently, and while it's not a perfect replacement yet, it's sure a lot cheaper!
MS is in that game, too - SkyDrive is free and comes with its own web-based Office suite. I can't say how it compares with Google Docs, since I don't use either much - only to view documents online, not to edit - but it looks much closer to desktop Office.
Re: (Score:2)
Its pretty irritating if youre used to office, but the pricetag goes a long way to easing the pain. And actually its been a lot better in recent versions-- I often forget im using it.
Re: (Score:2)
Good news for Libre Office! (Score:4, Informative)
Well then, I'll just leave this here:
Download Libre Office. $0, $0 a month. I think you can swing it. [libreoffice.org]
Re:Good news for Libre Office! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
In the real world, we conduct our business in Office formats. Having LibreOffice do a halfass job of reading them is unacceptable.
Re: (Score:2)
I have LibreOffice on my home computer for my kids who are in grade school and edit Word documents for their classes all the time. It works fine.
Would I rely on LibreOffice at work? Regrettably, no; the documents are far more complex. Even MS Office for OSX does not cut the mustard. But for home use, I find LibreOffice to be good.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Good news for Libre Office! (Score:5, Interesting)
In real work we use Libre Office to convert old WordPerfect and Microsoft Office files to a newer version. It handles old Microsoft Office files better than the recent versions of Microsoft Office.
( I work as digital archivist / documentalist )
Re:Good news for Libre Office! (Score:5, Interesting)
> In the real world
Look: that argument was compelling up until just a few years ago. I'll grant you that, especially back in the old StarOffice days (gack, gag), then on to OpenOffice.org. But speaking for myself -- freely admitting that your mileage will vary -- I haven't had trouble opening anything in LibreOffice for a couple of years now. Including some fairly sweet PPT presentations.
Besides, Microsoft has tried to introduce the "subscription" model before. They'll probably back off of it after they get deluged with complaints. Again.
(Or -- this is my real fear -- they'll go after things like Libre and KOffice with the patent hammer.)
Re:Good news for Libre Office! (Score:4, Informative)
... with a bad economy, with money tight, most businesses are looking for a way to trim a buck. Just because your particular firm isn't willing to spend the (minimal, in most cases) effort on a migration that will literally save your company tons of money, don't think that all of us think that way. We certainly don't.
The last few times I tried that, apparently the users got sufficiently pissed with OpenOffice's oddities that they just went out and purchased Office 2007 anyways. Being a technical guy, I can put up with a fair bit of grief before I loose my cool at my computer; apparently your average accounting / legal employee tends to be much less tolerant of that kind of change.
So the best of luck to you, but dont be surprised when those savings turn out not to be worth it to the CEO.
Re: (Score:2)
Good news: It looks like Office 2007 will happily read ODS / ODT / whatever files (found this out last night).
And of course LibreOffice is happy with the binary 2003 formats-- not sure about the OOXML stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
As clear and persuasive as always, I see.
Re: (Score:2)
Your sig is hilarious when attached to this comment.
Re:Good news for Libre Office! (Score:4, Funny)
Would be nice if you cockfuckers would learn to pull your head out of your ass and read the fdman title. Let me help : "MS Office 2013 Pushing HOME USERS Toward Subscriptions 110". That's not bujsiness u8 sutpdi ignrosnt anoanmosu tylotlerle shti. Burn inhell. Dmajn fuckignndiptioc pierfed sof mchsit. Why are theere so many stupdi people in this world that cna;t even REAd a fucikjigntitled? Being stupdi ashoudl quzluitfy people for sterilziation, so they can't mspreaed their suptid gejhnes ot other peopel. D,an fuckignidiktopci opeice so shfit shirt.\
FTI: somepeople inbteract wuith businedsdses from hone. Espexiakkly withresumes. Senfing an Open/LibreOffice Dog to an HR drone using MS Office csnresult infickinh loojin likethus.
Re:Good news for Libre Office! (Score:4, Insightful)
>Here's the thing: LibreOffice is by far best when you use its native formats. Weird, huh?
Here's the thing: Normal people who want documents from you don't use LibreOffice's native formats. Weird, huh?
Re:Good news for Libre Office! (Score:4, Insightful)
LO does a fine job producing .pdf files, and a reasonably good job producing HTML. Those are the only two formats any business should be using in any final draft of any communication, internal or external.
Re: (Score:2)
It also mangles a lot of my DOCX files... changes the formatting just enough to screw up anything that's not just text.
Re:Good news for Libre Office! (Score:5, Funny)
Let me know when Libre Office doesn't horribly mangle my PPTX files.
I believe that any MS file format that contains an 'X' in the extension is experimental and that is most likely why Libre Office has a problem. Use another file format and you probably won't have any problems.
mangling pptx for home use (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Good news for Libre Office! (Score:4, Interesting)
My old company used to have Office 2003 installed site-wide (until as recently as the start of this year). Occasionally we'd get documents from people who used Office 2007, which uses the new XML-based file formats and ironically, only those of us who used Ubuntu/LibreOffice could open these documents.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
LibreOffice is good when you're doing simple text and pictures on a background.
Now try using it when you have animations, color changing, custom fonts, interactive features, and other things in your PPT files. It will make your presentation unusable.
Re:Good news for Libre Office! (Score:4, Insightful)
Having animations, color changing, custom fonts, interactive features, and other things will make your presentation unusable. What you write it in doesn't matter at that point.
Re:Good news for Libre Office! (Score:5, Insightful)
That, ladies and gentlemen, is pretty much a textbook example of sour grapes [wikipedia.org].
Slashdotter #1: "My software can do everything your software can do."
Slashdotter #2: "Your software can't do x."
Slashdotter #1: "Yeah, but... but... doing x is stupid anyway, and only for losers!"
Re:Good news for Libre Office! (Score:4, Insightful)
PowerPoint is only one example though. I think the issue is that this "sour grapes" issue is rampant in the Linux/open source world. Heck, I fully understand why certain functionality might be missing in a FOSS program compared to its proprietary equivalent (it might simply be difficult to implement, lack of resources/time, etc), but I can also completely understand why someone might prefer to just throw money at a solution that DOES provide the functionality they want.
Most people are more interested in results and will deal with a bit of financial pain if the free alternatives are too stressful to use for whatever reason. It's better to accept this as an inherent limitation with the nature of open source rather than suggest that the user is at fault. Otherwise you're just setting up a case of the user never bothering with open source again if it's failed them too many times.
Re: (Score:3)
PowerPoint is only one example though. I think the issue is that this "sour grapes" issue is rampant in the Linux/open source world.
Its rampant in *any* situation where someone is having to switch from the system they are used to to a system they aren't. Whether that be from Windows to Linux, Windows to OS X, OS X to Linux, OS X to Windows, Linux to Windows, Linux to OS X, Android to iOS, iOS to Android, whatever. No two systems have complete feature parity so there's *always* something you use (however rarely) on the old one that you can't use on the new one, and the response from the existing users of the system you're switching to
Re: (Score:3)
Funny you mention OCR - I actually investigated that yesterday to see what FOSS options were available. Turns out that Tesseract (http://code.google.com/p/tesseract-ocr/) is pretty damn awesome. It's command line only, but I've found you can use gImageReader (http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimagereader/) as a frontend. Tesseract itself provides surprisingly good recognition
Re: (Score:2)
But is it easier to place complicated math in Powerpoint than to do so in LaTeX?
Perfect family gift (Score:5, Funny)
Dad: Merry Christmas kids!!!!
Kids: What did you get us?
Dad: We now have a 1 year family subscription for a web-based word processor!
Kids: YAAAAAAAY!!!!!!
Re: (Score:2)
What fools. My 1-year subscription came with a 3-month membership and in-game currency for an MMO!
See what happens when you don't clip the internet coupons in your toolbar? You miss out on great deals!
Libre Office (Score:3, Insightful)
OK, so why wouldn't any home user choose a free LibreOffice download over a $100/year msoffice subscription tax?
Kurt
Re:Libre Office (Score:5, Insightful)
Because users actually prefer MS Office and are willing to pay for using it?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Because users actually prefer MS Office and are willing to pay for using it?
Users don't necessarily prefer MS Office as much as they are locked into it.
Compatibility is a crapshoot and I think there may be active work on MS side to decrease it further.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
I know it's hard for us geeks t
Re: (Score:3)
I know people who, when having a look at screenshots of both Office 2010 and LibreOffice 3.5, decide that they prefer Office 2012 because, in their words, "it's prettier". If this is all it takes then I'm not surprised at all when people say they prefer MS Office.
Beside, even if we argue that they only "prefer" it because they're locked into using it, isn't that still a preference? My wife is a teacher. She could use LibreOffice if
Re: (Score:2)
Because users actually prefer MS Office and are willing to pay for using it?
Microsoft is about to find out just how willing users are to pay for it every year.
An acquaintance said MS is incompetently evil while Apple is competently evil. If MS goes with this model, that will be further evidence that my acquaintance is correct about MS.
I prefer Libre Office but also have Office 2010 because $100 was a decent price to buy it for and on rare occasion it is useful. Lease it for $100/year? No fricking way
Re:Libre Office (Score:5, Informative)
Because it's not advertised on the Tee Vee, and because MS can afford all of the FUD and astroturfing it needs to keep people in a state of confusion. After all, it's "not ready for the desktop", just like Linux.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Because it's not advertised on the Tee Vee, and because MS can afford all of the FUD and astroturfing it needs to keep people in a state of confusion.
Also, because you may or may not be able to open that PowerPoint.pptx with cute cat pictures. I know compatibility exists, but it is in no way guaranteed to always work
After all, it's "not ready for the desktop", just like Linux.
And here I will have to burn some of my carma once again
With all due respect, Linux is not nearly as ready for the desktop as people on slashdot seem to think. Now, I understand that there is a bunch of people who will come forward and explain how their grandma used Ubuntu (or such) for 10 years now.
But what I know is when the wireless ca
Re:Libre Office (Score:5, Informative)
and their grandma can use it" ... (as long as someone carefully administers that box for them) is rarely mentioned.
Windows boxes also need to be administered. Their administration also involves routine cleanup of "toolbars" and trojans and other crap that either installs itself, or with some help from a clueless user, and then the whole thing comes to a grinding halt once every two years due to malware, FAT shortcomings, or getting completely hijacked by some Trojan that blatantly demands a payment "to protect your computer". Thus, Linux administration is cheap and hassle-free compared to Windows, and your point is moot and void. There is a currently a shortage of neighbourhood kids who can help with Linux, but that is not what you were talking about, you meant that Windows does not require administration at all, didn't you?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
People who use Office daily, for whom 27Â per day is reasonable.
People who use Office daily probably aren't home users (which the article is about). The small business cost is $150 per user per year, so a 100 person office will pay $15,000/yr. Regular business cost is even higher. Previously, a small business could purchase those 100 copies for around $20,000 and then use them for 5 years. That equates to $4,000/yr versus $15,000.
No wonder the republicans want tax cuts for the wealth, job creators -- they are going to have to use it to pay for new copies of Office.
Re: (Score:2)
Not to mention $100 per year is fucking expensive compared to buying it outright.
Re: (Score:2)
There must be some sort of "service" that comes with the package in order to make it compelling, and I don't mean "free upgrades" and "cloud storage."
Actually since this is "Office 365" and not actually Office, that should be "forced upgrades," the very reason people should be staying clear of both "Office 365" and "Google Docs." Upgrades sometimes mean a break in compatibility, surprise interface changes, and sometimes even feature reduction (a
Why is this a problem? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Did anyone here say it was a problem? Most of the responses so far are suggesting alternatives, like LibreOffice. Or is there some reason we shouldn't be discussing that?
Poor value? (Score:3)
I doesn't seem very good value to me.
I just bought a home license for office from Costco for ~$120 with instant $20 rebate. It allows up to three licensed installations and it doesn't expire. Like many people, I don't upgrade instantly each time a new version of Office rolls around, so you can easily amortize that cost over say.. 3-4 years. So for my 3 licenses (only two of which I'm even using), I paid about $33/yr, or $16.50 per active license/yr and don't have to worry that the software will expire.
If I
Re: (Score:2)
My company has already seen the writing on the wall. All non-engineers have been moved to IBM's Lotus office suite. All the engineers are still on Office 2000 because of the number of VBA scripts that have been written in it.
who is dumb enough to pay it? (Score:2)
no one in their right mind will pay $100 a year to use MS Word and Outlook at home
Turning the screws (Score:2, Insightful)
You knew this was going to happen. Think you bought your software? Microsoft disagrees, and by the way, Microsoft doesn't think you should own your computer either. Anybody so weak kneed as to be afraid to act in their own interest and move to the free and open option gets no sympathy from me.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem is Microsoft no longer holds the majority OS market in personal computing devices. If they try and screw you over with their software on their platform, then people will use a platform with more affordable application pricing. Microsoft has to win 2 games at one time here - the OS and the applications. Frankly I don't see it happening, as they are screwing up in one or both arenas every time they turn around.
One thing a lot of people don't realize is that not only is the iOS app market HUGE,
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
> Tablets and cell phones are for consumption and it's going to take
> a hell of an engineering feat to make it more practical otherwise.
Add a bluetooth keyboard+mouse to a tablet, and you've re-invented the notebook.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't see tablets and cell phones as a very viable market for document creation and editing. Tablets and cell phones are for consumption and it's going to take a hell of an engineering feat to make it more practical otherwise.
Why would it take "a hell of an engineering feat"? What's wrong with [asus.com] these [microsoft.com]?
Re: (Score:2)
Tablet/phone + dock = real computer. It's not a complex equation, nor a hell of an engineering feat. People already have the keyboard, monitor, and mouse, but when it comes time to replace the box under the desk, a cheap docking station for the portable they already like will seem quite attractive.
Re: (Score:3)
Microsoft isn't the only one who thinks you shouldn't own your electronics.. In computing, the age of empowerment is coming to a close. Next up, the age of enslavement.
Who the Hell is steering this ship? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
First an interface that no body likes ...say hello to blocky windows 8 than a screw you charge for Office. Bill come back! The captain is steering into the reefs! Awww...screw it just go open source, spend half an hour learning the in's and out's and be free!
This is working for MS just fine. Vista was a failure similar to what Windows 8 is (apparently) shaping up to be, and no lasting damage was done. Most users and all corporations just skipped it. MS may be coordinating good/bad releases with corporate re-licensing cycle on purpose, for all we know
Most of those actions would be destructive for a non-monopoly but work reasonably well for MS.
no thanks... (Score:5, Insightful)
Word 2003 still works just fine...
Most home users barely use many of the features of these tools to begin with, they won't see the value of paying $100 a year for this. That's a lot of money to many people.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, Word 2000 still works just fine. And is far more straightforward and less annoying than the 2010 version I use at work... /frank
Re:2010 version (Score:3)
I do have to say that the 2010 version of office has an unheralded devastatingly good feature called Custom Ribbons. It's even better than the old menus because you pick any feature you want and line it up in your own little toolbar in the order you use stuff. So for example you dump Bold, Center, Left, Font, Size, Cut Copy Paste, Print Preview, Save-As, and Print all in a neat little row. Bang, make a document, click your buttons mostly left to right, out comes your work. Before you dismiss this, the secre
Re: (Score:2)
Word 2003 still works just fine...
Most home users barely use many of the features of these tools to begin with, they won't see the value of paying $100 a year for this. That's a lot of money to many people.
Of course Microsoft could just change the licensing agreement on your existing copy (like Google and Facebook have recently done with their services) and you then have the choice to upgrade to the new subscription or stop using the product.
Re: (Score:2)
Word 2003 still works just fine...
Until you start receiving those docx files, you mean?
Re:no thanks... (Score:5, Informative)
To open Microsoft Office Word 2007 .docx or .docm files with Microsoft Office Word 2003, Word 2002, or Word 2000, you need to install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats and any necessary Office updates. By using the Compatibility Pack for the 2007 Office system, you can open, edit some items, and save Office Word 2007 documents in previous versions of Word.
Re: (Score:2)
2K SR-3 with converter packs as well. :)
Two words (Score:4, Informative)
Google Drive.
Seriously if you've not checked out googles iteration of google docs (and their attempt to compete in 'the cloud') you should. 5 gigs free space on the cloud, plus built in web based office suite, all free.
Though from what I understand it costs more than the old google docs subscription models did. If you decide 5 gigs of space isn't enough for you. But it would seem they have added value to it with the rather convenient google drive program
Re: (Score:2)
Recurrent cost? (Score:2)
I don't THINK so!
Subscription software may be popular in the enterprise, but I can't see it flying in the home.
Wow, for only $100/yr I can get free UPDATES? (Score:5, Insightful)
It is kind of funny how the marketing departments of big software companies think we actually look forward to 'updates' which annoy us and waste our time. Now I actually breath a sigh of relief when my BlueRay player gets past the moment where it may insist I have to spend 5 minutes 'updating' before I can watch my movie. I can't imagine wanting to pay $100 in return for being hassled with updates I don't care about. Apparently, they haven't figured out that people very well might pay $100 to never be bothered with them.
"New features and capabilities"... (Score:2, Redundant)
Office web apps are still free (Score:2)
I would have to need the stuff not in the free apps pretty badly to pay a subscription. As in, "do I really need to do this?"
"Convenience" (Score:2)
Two words: (Score:4, Interesting)
Fuck that.
I will use my current version of Office until it is absolutely and completely obsolete, and I will switch to something else before I buy into this "pay indefinitely for something" BS. Try increasing sales the old-fashioned way, by actually offering new and innovative products, instead of using this rent-a-program crap to leech off your customers.
This just in... (Score:4, Interesting)
Office 2000 still works. It'll even open docx files with this [microsoft.com].
I'm happy to use the more recent versions of Office, but it has to be on someone else's dime. (Like, my place of employment.) I bought 2000, it works, and they're gonna havta pry it from my cold dead hands (at least until I switch to something open source).
Why would a home user waste valuable income on a new version of Office? Are ribbons all that important for that letter to Aunt Edna?
Bright Business Future (Score:2)
Expect to be followed up with a "Free to Type" and "Pay to Save" model shortly.
so... (Score:5, Insightful)
Google Docs (Score:4, Informative)
Predictably, there are already lots of mentions of Libre Office.
I'm almost embarrassed to admit that Google Docs (free) meets my meager needs. You can even download copies of your documents, in several different formats, to store locally.
Highly recommended unless you have advanced needs.
Thank you Microsoft! (Score:4, Funny)
Dear Microsoft,
Thank you for the generous time and money donation to "The Documentation Foundation"; home of LibreOffice. The extra incentive of more users having more time to devote to providing feedback to make LibreOffice better and more focused is certainly appreciated. However, in the future, perhaps consider a straight up money donation as this will be better for your business. After all, more competition is better for the consumer and if it weren't for the consumer, neither of us would be here.
For the future developers coming into the fold, there are plenty of User Interface improvements that are perfect for getting your feet wet with the project. We welcome you aboard!
Best Wishes,
LibreOffice Development Team
Real People Needs (Score:3)
Here's a newsflash.
Actually, most home users spend more time putting words and pictures into Facebook than they do into any office suite.
My point being that for probably 75% of the public LibreOffice or GoogleDocs are absolutely just fine.
And if LO breaks your dumb Word doc, maybe it's because you've filled it with unnecessary junk that actually detracts from what you're doing.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Support for Access databases on Linux. (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunately, editing a *.docx in LibreOffice and saving it tends to fuck it up. I speak from experience.
Re:Support for Access databases on Linux. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
You're always better off with Technet - then you get ALL the s/w for the same price.