Microsoft Launches Office 365 Subscriptions Alongside Office 2013, But Macs Still Stuck on Office 2011

[balamw]

Microsoft is really trying to push folks into Office365.

Microsoft quietly raises prices of Mac Office by up to 17%

For multi-Mac/multi-platform households it really starts to become clear that Office365 is a winner.

B

 

[NeXTMac]

So... a resuscitation to see if there is a good version of Excel on Mac?

I've used/tried OpenOffice: it randomly stops updating (visually) rows when they get scrolled off the screen and then back into the viewable area. Random graphic glitches are scary enough that I don't want to invest more time into it.

I don't want to "subscribe" to office just so I can get a changing version of Mac Excel. I'd rather just get a good version once and have it not change.

I've tried google docs, and it lacks many features... as well as I don't want all my financial data in the cloud.

I haven't tried LibreOffice yet (it's next) -- is it any better than OpenOffice?

From this thread it looks like Excel 2011 for Mac is the peak? Is it good enough to use or should I boot Windows 7 in a VM and use Windows Excel 2011?

Thanks for any and all answers.

 

[InfoTime]

If you've got the horsepower, software and knowledge to do the VM then that's probably what I'd recommend. Since switching back to the Mac in 2008 the only real disappointment is Office. I like the Windows versions much better.

 

[the.lost.one]

Office 365 is a pathetic deal, a total rip off. A normal computer lasts about what, 3 to 5 years? It means $300 to $500 for Office and if at the end I'm giving away my computer to someone it is without Office.

They removed the family pack or whatever it was called. It was $150 for 3 licenses, for the entire life. Works out $50 per license FOREVER. With deals, discounts from certain resellers one could get it even cheaper.

Even if you need the maximum FIVE licenses, the minimum cost is $60 per license for 3 years, $100 for 5 years and so on. For someone who needs 2 or 3 licenses, it is like extortion.

We understood software purchase wasn't a purchase, but only a license to use. Now it is a license to use for only a limited time, like a trial version. What is next? We could use a certain feature in Excel only a certain number of times during the year or we'd have to renew subscription before the year?

Microsoft has lost it. They can't bring out a new product to save their lives, so they are using their monopoly to make us pay more for the products we already had.

 

[smoledman]

Office 365 is a pathetic deal, a total rip off. A normal computer lasts about what, 3 to 5 years? It means $300 to $500 for Office and if at the end I'm giving away my computer to someone it is without Office.

They removed the family pack or whatever it was called. It was $150 for 3 licenses, for the entire life. Works out $50 per license FOREVER. With deals, discounts from certain resellers one could get it even cheaper.

Even if you need the maximum FIVE licenses, the minimum cost is $60 per license for 3 years, $100 for 5 years and so on. For someone who needs 2 or 3 licenses, it is like extortion.

We understood software purchase wasn't a purchase, but only a license to use. Now it is a license to use for only a limited time, like a trial version. What is next? We could use a certain feature in Excel only a certain number of times during the year or we'd have to renew subscription before the year?

Microsoft has lost it. They can't bring out a new product to save their lives, so they are using their monopoly to make us pay more for the products we already had.

Ah yes, you're entitled to pay once for Office and have it the rest of your life with all the new versions. Free free free.

 

[the.lost.one]

Ah yes, you're entitled to pay once for Office and have it the rest of your life with all the new versions. Free free free.

I'm entitled to not have to be required to pay full license fee for what are essentially trial versions. Plus, your comment had nothing to do with my post you quoted, which was an analysis of prices of a former and current Office products

 

[smoledman]

I'm entitled to not have to be required to pay full license fee for what are essentially trial versions. Plus, your comment had nothing to do with my post you quoted, which was an analysis of prices of a former and current Office products

Except with Office 365 you get constantly updated software every few months instead of having to wait 3 years for the next updates. This subscription model is the wave of the future.

 

[RolyPolyBird]

Office is still too buggy in my personal experience, I can't remember faultless Office usability since classic mac days. I don't give a damn about cloud features, I just want an advanced and rock solid word processor / spreadsheet program.

Hence I will continue to pirate until I respect their product.

 

[Steve121178]

Office is still too buggy in my personal experience, I can't remember faultless Office usability since classic mac days. I don't give a damn about cloud features, I just want an advanced and rock solid word processor / spreadsheet program.

Hence I will continue to pirate until I respect their product.

List what bugs you have experienced that makes it ok for you to steal software.

 

[RolyPolyBird]

List what bugs you have experienced that makes it ok for you to steal software.

Excel, Word and Powerpoint constantly crashing under every version since the release of OS X. Thats more than a decade of working with Office apps on a variety of OS X incarnations and lots of different hardware. The only other critical app that I have used that has also been buggy is FastTrack Schedule, but the developers of that are responsive and have a fraction of the resources of Microsoft so I maintain my loyalty to them.

And software piracy is not necessarily theft, but this debate has been well explored on every IT forum on the internet.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

The last upgrade to 2011, was justifiable on the basis that Microsoft had put back Visual Basic work-flows, something that should never have been taken away from the pervious version!

As I recall, VB was taken out of Office 2008 because Apple decided at the last minute not to support Carbon, which is what Office 2011's VB was based off of, leaving Microsoft to scramble.

 

[Steve121178]

Excel, Word and Powerpoint constantly crashing under every version since the release of OS X.

You must be using it wrong.

And software piracy is not necessarily theft

Using something illegally without paying for a license is theft in my book.

Your argument that it's ok to steal because Microsoft are a big company is probably the worst argument FOR piracy that I've ever heard in my life.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Excel, Word and Powerpoint constantly crashing under every version since the release of OS X. Thats more than a decade of working with Office apps on a variety of OS X incarnations and lots of different hardware. The only other critical app that I have used that has also been buggy is FastTrack Schedule, but the developers of that are responsive and have a fraction of the resources of Microsoft so I maintain my loyalty to them.

And software piracy is not necessarily theft, but this debate has been well explored on every IT forum on the internet.

Did it ever occur to you that Office crashes so much because you're using buggy pirates versions? I can't recall the last time I had any office:mac application crash on me.

 

[Michael Goff]

Excel, Word and Powerpoint constantly crashing under every version since the release of OS X. Thats more than a decade of working with Office apps on a variety of OS X incarnations and lots of different hardware. The only other critical app that I have used that has also been buggy is FastTrack Schedule, but the developers of that are responsive and have a fraction of the resources of Microsoft so I maintain my loyalty to them.

And software piracy is not necessarily theft, but this debate has been well explored on every IT forum on the internet.

You're taking something that doesn't belong to you without paying.

It is theft.

----------

Did it ever occur to you that Office crashes so much because you're using buggy pirates versions? I can't recall the last time I had any office:mac application crash on me.

That would make sense. I remember using Office 2011 on the Mac.. didn't run into a single crash on my MBA.

 

[Steve121178]

Did it ever occur to you that Office crashes so much because you're using buggy pirates versions? I can't recall the last time I had any office:mac application crash on me.

I presume the cracked version cannot be patched either? So those running pirated versions are actually putting themselves at risk and getting unstable software to boot. Idiots.

 

[sracer]

Excel, Word and Powerpoint constantly crashing under every version since the release of OS X. Thats more than a decade of working with Office apps on a variety of OS X incarnations and lots of different hardware. The only other critical app that I have used that has also been buggy is FastTrack Schedule, but the developers of that are responsive and have a fraction of the resources of Microsoft so I maintain my loyalty to them.

And software piracy is not necessarily theft, but this debate has been well explored on every IT forum on the internet.

Bah. Office can't be THAT buggy if you continue to use it. Either that or you're a glutton for punishment losing your work when they "constantly crash".

 

[benthewraith]

You're taking something that doesn't belong to you without paying.

It is theft.

----------



That would make sense. I remember using Office 2011 on the Mac.. didn't run into a single crash on my MBA.

I did. Usually working with Equation Editor.

 

[Michael Goff]

I did. Usually working with Equation Editor.

Ouch, sorry to read that.

I did read somewhere that the next version for Mac will be Cocoa, so that might help?

 

[RolyPolyBird]

Did it ever occur to you that Office crashes so much because you're using buggy pirates versions? I can't recall the last time I had any office:mac application crash on me.

I have only recently resorted to pirated versions as I am fed up.

As I said in my post, various versions of Office, under different versions of OS X including clean install systems, using various hardware over a long period of time. Colleagues and friends have had similar experiences. Perhaps we are using the applications differently or under different conditions, but whenever you mention bugs there is always the "never happened to me mate" crowd.

I can be sympathetic to Excel crashing when using macros and such, but a word processor should never be crashing in 2014, let alone constantly.

----------

Bah. Office can't be THAT buggy if you continue to use it. Either that or you're a glutton for punishment losing your work when they "constantly crash".

That or its the industry standard and for most workplaces there is no decent competitor.

 

[Michael Goff]

I have only recently resorted to pirated versions as I am fed up.

As I said in my post, various versions of Office, under different versions of OS X including clean install systems, using various hardware over a long period of time. Colleagues and friends have had similar experiences. Perhaps we are using the applications differently or under different conditions, but whenever you mention bugs there is always the "never happened to me mate" crowd.

I can be sympathetic to Excel crashing when using macros and such, but a word processor should never be crashing in 2014, let alone constantly.

----------



That or its the industry standard and for most workplaces there is no decent competitor.

So ... you're stealing something that doesn't work for you anyway? Or does the pirated version mystically work better?

Edit: As for there being no competitor... that couldn't possibly be true. I'm told that iWork and/or Google Docs and/or LibreOffice are just as good.

 

[RolyPolyBird]

You must be using it wrong.



Using something illegally without paying for a license is theft in my book.

Your argument that it's ok to steal because Microsoft are a big company is probably the worst argument FOR piracy that I've ever heard in my life.

Did I ever use that argument? No you created it.

If you want to discuss the morality and legal status of piracy then I suggest you start a thread.

----------

So ... you're stealing something that doesn't work for you anyway? Or does the pirated version mystically work better?

Edit: As for there being no competitor... that couldn't possibly be true. I'm told that iWork and/or Google Docs and/or LibreOffice are just as good.

No it doesn't. But it makes one feel less like a chump.

None of the alternatives you mention would cut mustard in my workplace.

 

[Michael Goff]

Did I ever use that argument? No you created it.

If you want to discuss the morality and legal status of piracy then I suggest you start a thread.

----------



No it doesn't. But it makes one feel less like a chump.

None of the alternatives you mention would cut mustard in my workplace.

And why would none of the alternatives cut the mustard in your workplace?

Wait.

Workplace.

So you work for a company, yet you insist on stealing Office. Don't they have a HUP thing for you guys where you pay about 15 or so dollars for a copy?

 

[RolyPolyBird]

And why would none of the alternatives cut the mustard in your workplace?

Wait.

Workplace.

So you work for a company, yet you insist on stealing Office. Don't they have a HUP thing for you guys where you pay about 15 or so dollars for a copy?

I have had various workplaces over that period and Office was required in all of them. I am now a freelancer and I am required to maintain my own affairs. Its not about the money, its about the principle. I have become fed up being taken for a sucker with their buggy bloatware.

Oh and I want to make clear I am not advocating piracy in general.

 

[Michael Goff]

I have had various workplaces over that period and Office was required in all of them. I am now a freelancer and I am required to maintain my own affairs. Its not about the money, its about the principle. I have become fed up being taken for a sucker with their buggy bloatware.

Oh and I want to make clear I am not advocating piracy in general.

I have an idea that can save you (on principle). You use iWork to type it up, upload it to Office Online and make sure everything is formatted correctly, then you download it and use that copy.

Also, I feel like people don't know what bloatware means beyond "bad, throw it on anything I don't like".

 

[RolyPolyBird]

I have an idea that can save you (on principle). You use iWork to type it up, upload it to Office Online and make sure everything is formatted correctly, then you download it and use that copy.

Also, I feel like people don't know what bloatware means beyond "bad, throw it on anything I don't like".

lol you are kidding me right? You want me to buy Office, not use the main component of it and then buy iWork to make up for MS deficiencies? The hilarious thing is my workflow is actually similar to that. If what I am doing can be copy and pasted then I usually write it in TextEdit or Scrivener (can't remember either app crashing for a long time) and then bring it across. But that of course doesn't work when dealing within collaborative workflow which makes up for the bulk of my work.

Are you some kind of Objectivist or something? Obviously I have outraged your world view.