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nutmac

macrumors 603
Mar 30, 2004
6,044
7,288
Office 365 is obviously aimed at folks that depend and use Office frequently. Many of you criticizing the service are not intended audience. As for me, I use only Excel frequently (which I don't love, but alternatives are just much worse for my needs) so it isn't for me.

Having said that, subscription-based cloud model seems to be the trend. Adobe Creative Cloud at $600/year (for access to $2800 worth of software + cloud services) and Microsoft Office 365 at $100/year (for access to $400 worth of software + cloud services).

I actually wouldn't mind Apple joining the party. Consumer subscription that bundles iApps (about $220 worth of iOS apps and iLife, iWork, and OS X) + 15GB iCloud storage for $60/year. And professional subscription that adds all the pro apps (about $1000 worth of apps, including Aperture, Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and OS X Server) and 50GB iCloud storage for $200/year.

If you use all of the apps, it would take 4 years or so to break even, but good side benefit is that you get larger cloud storage that integrates more tightly than Dropbox and always having access to the latest version of apps.
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
My big question is, say I buy this for myself, my wife who has her own live account and Hotmail --- can she use it with her Live account if I install one of the 5 licenses I have on her computer? I imagine not, so that means those of my family who have their own hotmail, if they want to use the whole experience, each one has to pay $99!

According to Thurrott

http://winsupersite.com/office-365/office-365-home-premium-review

Individual experiences. Speaking of which, while you do use a single Microsoft account to create an Office 365 subscription, each of the family members who installs Office on their own PCs will sign in with their own Microsoft account and get the personalized experience I wrote about recently, including their own settings sync, recent documents sync, SkyDrive access, and more.

Which seems similar to the MAS model.

B
 

DrumApple

macrumors 6502a
Jan 30, 2009
546
1,417
2013 is God awful ugly and has a HORRENDOUS color scheme. It is extremely bright with no real dark settings as 2011 and 2010 had. It is seriously blinding.

2011 works just fine! Love being on a Mac and not having to put up with that!

The ONLY thing I would pay Microsoft to do is make OneNote for Mac.
 

winston1236

macrumors 68000
Dec 13, 2010
1,902
319
Begun the cloud subscriptions have.

I've been using the trial for a while now and it seems like a watered down version of office that has a tablet interface focus to it.

Like Windows 8, I think I am going to skip this one.

Windows 8 is lightning fast but i cant ever see my office adopting it. Its too consumer. I have office 03 on my work machine and aside from the interface its the same as the new version i have at home.
 

Stella

macrumors G3
Apr 21, 2003
8,837
6,334
Canada
They need to make it for all platforms. This is the stupid thinking that is hurting Microsoft. They need to make software not hardware.

Read the name. Microsoft.

Even if the Surface could catch up to the iPad in sales that would take years. In the meantime you are throwing away millions, and possibly billions of dollars in sales. All because Ballmer is an idiot who has forgotten what Microsoft was founded on.

I agree with you mostly - balmer, potential losing sales, but hardware side - they've succeeded with XBox and a few others and failed in a lot of other areas. Why not have a stab at tablets? I highly doubt that Office would bring in billions dollars just from iPad.

Microsoft want Surface to be successful of course, so maybe making Office a Surface exclusive ( for mobile at least ) could help them here.

The question - do people really want Office on a mobile device at this point in time? Will it make a significant difference to purchasing decision.
 

TouchMint.com

macrumors 68000
May 25, 2012
1,625
318
Phoenix
looks like a win-win for businesses and msft.

Large corps end up spending quite a bit for office and have to upgraded every few years anyways.
 

InfoTime

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2002
500
261
My workplace of over 110,000 employees still uses Office 2003 and XP.
If it ain't broke...
What will your company do in May 2014? My understanding is that XP will be end-of-life'd in April 2014. That means no more security updates or and fixes whatsoever.
 

FWRLCK

macrumors member
May 2, 2011
82
59
Have some perspective. Most users don't even use 10% of Word or Excel's features. Yes Excel (even the Mac version) has many more features than iWork, but that doesn't mean that iWork doesn't meet the needs of a large amount of Office users.

We actually use Google Docs (for hosted domains) at work. It's simple, shares well and has good data connectivity (XPATH support, etc).
 

BigMcGuire

Cancelled
Jan 10, 2012
9,832
14,022
We actually use Google Docs (for hosted domains) at work. It's simple, shares well and has good data connectivity (XPATH support, etc).

Same. Google Apps is awesome. Great way to share data and edit data at the same time.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
Which reminds me, when will Apple finally update iWork?

This has to be the biggest missing upgrade joke besides the MacPro.

I really don't see how they can have 137 billion in the bank and not upgrade the Mac version of iWork for four years. The iOS version is nice for viewing stuff but not actual productive work :mad:

When will Apple finally update most of its software. Macintosh software seems to have taken a back seat. :(
 

Oyobiia

macrumors member
Nov 25, 2008
99
1
Far too bright in my opinion... Getting a headache just from looking at the previews... Plus I'm not going to upgrade because what I use now is perfect for what I use it for.
 

Tech198

Cancelled
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
Does this mean Microsoft doesn't care about Macs ?

Putting their 'best foot forward' to cater for Windows in every possible way, "we'll get round to Apple eventually, but they have a version to keep them happy"

It would be different if it was only a few months apart, but this ?

Not happy.

This "subscription" stuff is for the birds. No thanks.

Yep. It makes perfect sense to charge for editing of something you created. :(
 

Liquorpuki

macrumors 68020
Jun 18, 2009
2,286
8
City of Angels
There is no obvious way to save's Microsoft business. The future is moving away from Windows, and they're going to be a shell of the company that they were when that happens. There are lots of problems that all relate to one thing: uncompetitive products. Customers today expect more both from the software and the hardware, and they expect a level of quality that is above what PC OEMs are creating today. One of the big problems is actually hardware-related: customers expect thin and light (i.e. ARM-based) devices, but they also want lots of apps. Microsoft has a large existing app catalogue, but that necessitates the thicker, heavier, more power hungry Intel processors. There's not one simple thing that Microsoft can do to fix this; it's a big collection of things.

Personally I think Apple and MS are more alike than people think. Apple faces the same problem but on the software side. Where MS OEM's put out cheap junk hardware that still runs a robust software ecosystem, Apple puts out great hardware but doesn't pay enough attention to software. On desktop they've had to allow people to Bootcamp Windows to account for third party software deficiencies. On mobile, they emphasize app quantity over quality and had no problem letting it turn into a budget market. This is a parallel to MS letting OEM's flood the market with a ton of cheap Wintel computers made of plastic.

Basically Apple is content to let their premium hardware run cheap applications, as long as their hardware is selling. MS was content to let cheap hardware run their expensive OS and Office Suite, as long as the software was selling. Only thing is now, Windows 8 isn't selling because the OEM's didn't listen to them, and MS now has to put out their own hardware to save the brand.

If the Surface Pro becomes a success, it'll be because the Windows ecosystem offers worthwhile software solutions you can't find on iOS. Apple will lose their leverage on mobile and their lack of attention to software will hurt them
 

Thunderhawks

Suspended
Feb 17, 2009
4,057
2,118
Open Office is Open Ugly though.

And takes forever to launch on my MBP.

If you only use the same functions all the time Excel, Word and PP from 200X is good enough and still works just fine.

Using 2004 and 2008 with ML , no issues. So, why pay?

Companies also need to realize that we are being inundated with monthly fees and subscriptions.

I prefer to buy something and be done. No other costs until I replace it. Not everything in life needs to be up to date all the time.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
Office 365 is obviously aimed at folks that depend and use Office frequently. Many of you criticizing the service are not intended audience. As for me, I use only Excel frequently (which I don't love, but alternatives are just much worse for my needs) so it isn't for me.

Having said that, subscription-based cloud model seems to be the trend. Adobe Creative Cloud at $600/year (for access to $2800 worth of software + cloud services) and Microsoft Office 365 at $100/year (for access to $400 worth of software + cloud services).

I actually wouldn't mind Apple joining the party. Consumer subscription that bundles iApps (about $220 worth of iOS apps and iLife, iWork, and OS X) + 15GB iCloud storage for $60/year. And professional subscription that adds all the pro apps (about $1000 worth of apps, including Aperture, Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and OS X Server) and 50GB iCloud storage for $200/year.

If you use all of the apps, it would take 4 years or so to break even, but good side benefit is that you get larger cloud storage that integrates more tightly than Dropbox and always having access to the latest version of apps.


It is the way things are going, and with OFM now coming with a 'free' yearly subscription to 365 when you buy Office 2011, its a gentle way to ease users over to Office 365.

It will also mean a great financial saving can be made by eventual move to Office 365 only services on Mac platform in the future.
 

bjm2660

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2011
332
0
Virginia
I wouldn't exactly say we're "stuck" on Office 2011.

First, the 2011 Office suite remains a capable package. While I only use Word, I have been pleased with its performance.

Second, as has been stated here on the forums many times, there are alternatives to Microsoft's office suite. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers will do the job if the work is light in nature. Personally, I prefer Keynote to Powerpoint and use it regularly.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
Does this mean Microsoft doesn't care about Macs ?

Putting their 'best foot forward' to cater for Windows in every possible way, "we'll get round to Apple eventually, but they have a version to keep them happy"

It would be different if it was only a few months apart, but this ?

Not happy.


Office 365 will likely be the future of Office on Mac.


As for Microsoft not caring about Mac. I remind you Office for Mac 2011 is 2 years newer than iWork 09 which was the last version of Apple's equivalent programme.
 

thebluepointe

macrumors member
Oct 17, 2011
78
67
I switched over to Google Docs years ago and have been very happy. Of course, my Word processing and Spreadsheet needs are very minimal. I'm just a casual home user.

I do love that these types of products are going online now. It just makes more sense to me. I want to access my documents from anywhere and not worry about what software or operating system is installed on the computer/device I am accessing them from.

I'll probably skip Office 365 since Office exceeded my personal needs back in the 90s. But if Apple produced an iWork online version that was completely platform and browser independent, I'd consider buying/subscribing to that.
 
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