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Office 365 only for Mac?

X

xVeinx

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 9, 2006
361
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California
While Microsoft has said in the past that they will remain committed to producing versions of Office for the Mac, at what point do you foresee that they will be limited to online varieties? With today's press conference, they appear to be making a major push towards cloud versions of office (Office 365). The integration of Skype, Yammer, and other software packages may reduce the number of features and motivation for Microsoft to port any or all of it to Unix...
 
Microsoft is a Software company. They don't do the whole "I'ma-go-and-not-bother-developing-for-other-platforms" like Apple do (because Apple is a hardware company).

If the platform is popular enough and there is demand, Microsoft will make it happen. In their own buggy sort of way. :)
 
I was willing to pay for a single copy of Office for Mac 2016, but MS informed me that I could only get it by paying the yearly subscription for their 365 cloud version. That sucks. I'll live with Office 2011; will not be sucked into an annual subscription fee.
 
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lugesm said:
I was willing to pay for a single copy of Office for Mac 2016, but MS informed me that I could only get it by paying the yearly subscription for their 365 cloud version. That sucks. I'll live with Office 2011; will not be sucked into an annual subscription fee.
Click to expand...

It is only available through 365 now, but will be available as a standalone later this year
 
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I often have to work in remote locations, sometimes for several months at a time. Often internet connections are simply not available to me, and when they are they are very weak, very limited bandwidth, like going back to dial up days. I'm keen for developers to maintain standalone (non subscription) versions of their software, all this cloud stuff and checking in to activate this or that just will not work for me. I'm not unique, but I know my situation is far from the norm.
 
Nothing wrong with subscription-based to me. (Or new, even; IBM's been doing that for decades!) For $99 a year, I get to have the latest versions of everything for up to 5 pcs/macs (the pc versions include publisher and access), plus 5 tablet/phones.
 
wgnoyes said:
Nothing wrong with subscription-based to me. (Or new, even; IBM's been doing that for decades!) For $99 a year, I get to have the latest versions of everything for up to 5 pcs/macs (the pc versions include publisher and access), plus 5 tablet/phones.
Click to expand...
And don't forget the 1TB OneDrive space included. It's a pretty great deal.

And if you only need Office for 1 Mac, 1 tablet, and 1 phone, you can save $30/yr and get the Personal edition.
 
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wgnoyes said:
Nothing wrong with subscription-based to me. (Or new, even; IBM's been doing that for decades!) For $99 a year, I get to have the latest versions of everything for up to 5 pcs/macs (the pc versions include publisher and access), plus 5 tablet/phones.
Click to expand...
Yes. Subscription-based mainframe software is a major reason for the rise of personal computers as business tools. One of the consequences was that IBM lost its dominant position in business computing.

Microsoft, a monopoly power in business productivity software, and Adobe, a monopoly power in creativity software, are turning their backs on their personal computer roots for a steady stream of subscription fees. Given a choice, customers prefer the freedom of ownership over subscriptions. Someone will find a way to satisfy customer preference.
 
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