Microsoft Office Apps for iPad Gain Support for Monthly Subscription Purchases

Must be kidding me

The better office tool iWork is for free, while the MS Office costs continuously... Why MS Office...

Not sure what I would pay for these apps with there are several 'free' options when it comes to word, excel and powerpoint documents.

Do I really get 5 computers AND 5 tablets?

Huh, last time I looked it appeared that I would get 5 total... I need to revisit this, because I could use it on my iPad at times - but not enough to burn one of my 5 installs.

I had a Dell coupon and got the year for $60, and split that with my boyfriend. That makes it cheaper - he needed it for work, my kids need it for school. We (unfortunately?) run a mix of Macs, iPads, Windows and Windows tablets - right now Office is the better solution for us.

TraceyS/FL said:

Do I really get 5 computers AND 5 tablets?

Huh, last time I looked it appeared that I would get 5 total... I need to revisit this, because I could use it on my iPad at times - but not enough to burn one of my 5 installs.

I had a Dell coupon and got the year for $60, and split that with my boyfriend. That makes it cheaper - he needed it for work, my kids need it for school. We (unfortunately?) run a mix of Macs, iPads, Windows and Windows tablets - right now Office is the better solution for us.

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We are doing the free trial right now and on my account page there is a place for 5 computers and a place for 5 tablets.

Just checked now, it looks different. Not sure. I know there can be 5 users, I think they can have a computer and a tablet each.

TraceyS/FL said:

Do I really get 5 computers AND 5 tablets?

Huh, last time I looked it appeared that I would get 5 total... I need to revisit this, because I could use it on my iPad at times - but not enough to burn one of my 5 installs.

I had a Dell coupon and got the year for $60, and split that with my boyfriend. That makes it cheaper - he needed it for work, my kids need it for school. We (unfortunately?) run a mix of Macs, iPads, Windows and Windows tablets - right now Office is the better solution for us.

Click to expand...

you get 5 computer installs and 5 mobile device installs.... So yes get 10 total installs..

Oh Microsoft...

If Office were a reasonably-priced, one-time payment- even $100 for ownership of the software-I might consider buying their stuff. Office is decent software, and their file types are so prevalent that they're now the standard.

Since it's not, and iWork and Google Docs are both free (I'm an iWork fan, although Numbers leaves a bit to be desired), I'll stick to them.

If you shop around, you can get a yearly subscription for a lot less than $100 a year. I paid $56.00 and have Office 365 installed on 6 devices.

I think the monthly option is good, especially for people who may only need Word, Excel etc. short-term.

Yes.

For 5 PCs or Macs, and 5 tablets like Windows tablets and iPads®, plus easy access on multiple smartphones.

In addition to 1 TB of OneDrive online storage per user (for up to 5 users), your subscription includes other services, like 60 Skype minutes per month to call mobiles in 8 countries and landlines in 60+ countries, and tech support at no extra charge.


I may spring for this, with the 3 kids there are 5 of us. Two getting ready to finish high school and go to college.

It looks like we finally get a break here in mexico. It's 7.69 a month family and 5.76 for individuals.

DragoniteD said:

The better office tool iWork is for free, while the MS Office costs continuously... Why MS Office...

Click to expand...

The Office 365 subscription is a really good value. I didn't think that I would need Office after I switched back to Mac, especially since iWork worked great on all my iDevices (iPad, iPhone, iPad mini). For work related things I had to use Excel and thanks to the HUP program I was able to get MS Office for Mac for just $9.99.

When Microsoft issued Office for the iPad, I bit the bullet and signed up for Office 365. It has been the best thing that I could do. Now I can access both Excel and Word documents on my iPad, iPad mini, iPhone, iMac, and MacBook Pro as well as my rarely used Windows laptop. I get the updates free when they are available and I also have 1TB of storage on OneDrive. Well worth the $9.99 a month and even better if you get the annual subscription at $99.95 or even $67.99 on Amazon.

Yes, iWork could do a lot of the same things, and I do prefer Pages over Word, however when it comes to what I need at work and just general overall compatibility issues, Office is what I need and $99.99 is a small price to pay. 1TB of OneDrive storage alone is worth the price of the subscription, 20GB of additional iCloud storage alone is costing me $40 a year. Yes I know that is about to change as well, but this is what the current iCloud pricing is.

I don't understand where people seem to think that software companies have to give their software away for free all the time. If a piece of software does what I need it to do, then I pay the price to get it. The subscription model is here to stay so just get used to it.

DragoniteD said:

The better office tool iWork is for free, while the MS Office costs continuously... Why MS Office...

Click to expand...

Because you're paying iWork with your $299+ device.

DragoniteD said:

The better office tool iWork is for free, while the MS Office costs continuously... Why MS Office...

Click to expand...

And no online storage included.

MS gives you a terabyte for docs, photos, etc.

Apple offers 200GBs for $3.99 per month, one-fifth the space at almost half the price.

Oh, and the poster above is right. MS does 1TB for each user, so shared out among my family, that's (at present) 3TB for $99 per year vs. 200GBs for $47.88.

There may be a reason iWork is free...

SteveLV702 said:

you get 5 computer installs and 5 mobile device installs.... So yes get 10 total installs..

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Thanks guys!

I just activated Excel on my iPad and it didn't show me on there at all. Ok then!

Our Dell tablets came with Office, so that helps in the counts.

DragoniteD said:

The better office tool iWork is for free, while the MS Office costs continuously... Why MS Office...

Click to expand...

Sorry, but Numbers is horrible.

And what about Macs? Do I have to use Office 2011?

driceman said:

If Office were a reasonably-priced, one-time payment- even $100 for ownership of the software-I might consider buying their stuff. Office is decent software, and their file types are so prevalent that they're now the standard.

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Which is why I'm still running Office 2011.

miknos said:

And what about Macs? Do I have to use Office 2011?

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Yes, you have to use Office 2011 for Mac.

Any mention of subscription and I'm gone. I'll pay for a one-time charge license that lasts for as as long as I decide to maintain a computer that will run it.

Office 365 is not even close to being worth it, for me. I don't mind the subscription with Adobe, because I'm in my Adobe apps every day for hours. But I rarely use Word, hardly ever touch Excel, and have never even launched PowerPoint since I installed Office when I bought my MacPro in 2009. I usually get a fresh copy of Office whenever I get a new computer. Don't think I'll be doing that anymore.

FieldingMellish said:

Any mention of subscription and I'm gone. I'll pay for a one-time charge license that lasts for as as long as I decide to maintain a computer that will run it.

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If paying $100+ for a single license is your thing then I can see why a subscription doesn't appeal to you.

For our household, $67/year for Office 365 to have Office installed on every computer and tablet is a fair price. 5 computers + 5 tablets.

For students, Microsoft offers Office 365 University $80 for 4 years, 2 PCs or tablets, 1TB of OneDrive space, and 60 Skype minutes per month (for those who use it).

We've had our subscription since March and we're eagerly awaiting an update to Office for Mac. If Microsoft isn't forthcoming with an update before our subscription is up, we may not renew.... but that's another issue.

sracer said:

If paying $100+ for a single license is your thing then I can see why a subscription doesn't appeal to you.

For our household, $67/year for Office 365 to have Office installed on every computer and tablet is a fair price. 5 computers + 5 tablets.

For students, Microsoft offers Office 365 University $80 for 4 years, 2 PCs or tablets, 1TB of OneDrive space, and 60 Skype minutes per month (for those who use it).

We've had our subscription since March and we're eagerly awaiting an update to Office for Mac. If Microsoft isn't forthcoming with an update before our subscription is up, we may not renew.... but that's another issue.

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I can get Office 2013 Pro Plus for about 50€ here.

Then again, their decision to make ANY license a one-computer-activation license (basically every Office license you can regularly get is OEM) disqualifies them for me just as well.
It's the "annoyance" of renting software, not being able to put it back into a shelf/HDD and reinstall whenever I need to, independent on which machine I'm using then (not in terms of platform or compatibility, but in terms of licensing and activations)

As you can guess, I'm not a big fan of DRM as well.

Glassed Silver:mac

Not a bad deal at a monthly price. If I needed it, I would go for it.

Glassed Silver said:

I can get Office 2013 Pro Plus for about 50€ here.

Then again, their decision to make ANY license a one-computer-activation license (basically every Office license you can regularly get is OEM) disqualifies them for me just as well.
It's the "annoyance" of renting software, not being able to put it back into a shelf/HDD and reinstall whenever I need to, independent on which machine I'm using then (not in terms of platform or compatibility, but in terms of licensing and activations)

As you can guess, I'm not a big fan of DRM as well.

Glassed Silver:mac

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With Office 365 you CAN "put it on the shelf". You CAN install it on whichever system you want. Their license control interface is quite good. There is a limited number of times that you can do this per year, but
you can switch which of the 5 PCs/macs and 5 tablets have it installed.

If you use Office infrequently, then pay by the month... don't need it for 3 months, don't pay the subscription, if you need it on the 4th month, just pay the $10.

sracer said:

With Office 365 you CAN "put it on the shelf". You CAN install it on whichever system you want. Their license control interface is quite good. There is a limited number of times that you can do this per year, but
you can switch which of the 5 PCs/macs and 5 tablets have it installed.

If you use Office infrequently, then pay by the month... don't need it for 3 months, don't pay the subscription, if you need it on the 4th month, just pay the $10.

Click to expand...

Can I stop paying and continue to use what I have had until then?
No.
Disqualified.

Excuse me, but this model of software purchasing doesn't suit everyone.
If it does for you, all power to you, really.
For me however, call me old-fashioned, but I can't stand it.

Glassed Silver:mac

PS: After less than 10 months I already have the aforementioned Office 2013 Pro Plus.
Not buying into that.
I only need it on one computer, iPad WOULD be nice to have it installed on there as well, but no dire need.
Even if, I could still get away cheaper in the long run, because I don't need the latest Office software ALL the time.
I like to skip one major version (in the MS release cycle) for MS Office.