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

1Alec1 said:
No, '04 is just '03 but a little better and with more clipart.

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How is the Mac version of Excel worse? They're the same thing.
Also, Pages is better than Word, Keynote MUCH better than PP, and Numbers much worse than Excel. I just use iWork and Excel.
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Agreed. Though Excel for Mac is frustrating for long functions and anything needing Macros.
 
ifij775 said:
Who are these mythical power users who need Access or even the full versions of these apps? Unless you are running a business from home, I don't see the justification for the price and functionality on this. If it is for business, why call it "Home"? Which suggests to me a consumer edition.
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The home 'power user' would likely be a student and/or business person who needs those programs.

I think the only true "Home" users are those who use Word for page layouts, like making a neighborhood newsletter. Excel is would be used for basic computations, like creating a home budget. Powerpoint, Access, Outlook would really not have any use I can think of.
 
ELMI0001 said:
As a home user I would not spend $99/year to keep my Office subscription. I'd move to iWork at that point.
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You don't have to subscribe, you can buy it outright, too. And why would any Office user favour 'upgrading' to iWork that hasn't seen any real update for four years - the clues point to Apple not really caring about iWork and there's a chance they'll drop it like they did iWeb.
 
deconstruct60 said:
It took Apple? Microsoft delivers Office for the Mac. Actually Apple's hand in the matter was part of the substantive delay. Dead ending Carbon (no 64 bit option) and switching to x86 made the Microsoft Office team have to port the application to a new framework and , because of assembly language core elements (like VB support), switch to a new scripting solution as well. All of that time and effort means not keeping up with the features added to the Windows version.

Apple pouring lots of resources at the time into matching Office with their own applications also lessened the incentive for Microsoft to pour even larger resources into the Mac solution. So the resources roughly remained the same and hard resource allocation choices had to be made. The Windows versions had no such allocation issues. The OS strategy was not at odds with the Office strategy. So progress went faster.
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Damn, yes. I meant Microsoft. And Microsoft COULD have parallel-developed Cocoa/Carbon the way other companies did.
 
I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but as of today, Office for Mac 2011 is now available as a download with only a product key in the box, no media. This is now available at the Apple on-line store, Bestbuy, Staples, etc.

Besides Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OneNote, and Outlook, Office 365 Home Premium also includes MS Access and MS Publisher. For $99, it's basically a one year subscription to Office Professional, but with a licence for 5 home computers.
 
I'm a big proponent of Open Office. I've been using it since I got my Mac in 08. It's a clone of Office but it's a clone of the best version of Office, so that's good enough for me.

Oh, and it's free... yeah... that's kind of a plus.
 
ifij775 said:
Who are these mythical power users who need Access or even the full versions of these apps? Unless you are running a business from home, I don't see the justification for the price and functionality on this. If it is for business, why call it "Home"? Which suggests to me a consumer edition.
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Right.
I am sure there a few power users for some of the Office products, but if you aren't a home accounting business then why do you need anything like excel or word
 
H2SO4 said:
Without meaning to sound flippant, why can it not function as one?
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Excel 'functions' as a database in exactly the same manner as plain-text files 'function' as a database. It can map rows and columns of data into tables.

On the other hand, if you want the ability to query your data, enforce referential integrity, or need *any* of a number of very basic features that *actual* databases have and Excel doesn't even begin to offer? Well, you'll want to use a database instead of something that only provides a collection of tables.
 
tbrinkma said:
Excel 'functions' as a database in exactly the same manner as plain-text files 'function' as a database. It can map rows and columns of data into tables.

On the other hand, if you want the ability to query your data, enforce referential integrity, or need *any* of a number of very basic features that *actual* databases have and Excel doesn't even begin to offer? Well, you'll want to use a database instead of something that only provides a collection of tables.
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Not exactly true. It's not the same as plain-text files functioning as a database. And Excel is far more powerful when programmed well than just mapping rows and columns of data. Maybe you haven't experienced such a spreadsheet - and that's ok.

I agree that Excel is not ultimately the best solution when a database is needed as it will come up short. But it's far from being a bad solution for many people who *think* they need a database - when in actuality, they don't.
 
Stella said:
Its a good deal for students since they get a subscription lasting 4 years. Basically their full university term.


Microsoft should release Office on microsoft tablets while forgoing the iPad. Office on windows 8 for mobile devices would encourage businesses back to microsoft platform and away from Apple.
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Agreed. I am a big fan of Apple and its products. However, that could be a great move for Microsoft.
 
thebluepointe said:
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.
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X2 here. Google Drive is the best. And second paragraph = Yep. Agreed 100%. Even though I'm a programmer, spent over a decade in the IT industry, I REALLY like having all my files available everywhere without having to sync, worry about hard drives, etc... I get a lot of flack from fellow programmers/IT people tho. :p
 
I wonder how long it will be before someone find a way to trick the $9.99 version into staying active beyond a month :D
 
mr.steevo said:
My workplace of over 110,000 employees still uses Office 2003 and XP.
If it ain't broke...
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Exactly why I still edit video on my "maxed out" 2008 24" iMac 3 Ghz Core 2 Duo with 4 GB of RAM. Yeah, it isn't the fastest machine, but I don't sit in front of it all day....just and hour or so each evening editing video, checking e-mail, etc.
 
macs4nw said:
On the money!! Also, why can't APPLE improve iWork to a level comparable to MS Office; wouldn't that pay off for them in the long run? There'll always be Office, but with a dramatically improved iWork, more of the installed Mac base would use iWork rather than Office.
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Because they barely make money off iWork. To them it's just another carrot they dangle in front of you to get you on the Mac ecosystem and once you do, it's served its purpose and gets tossed.

Kinda like all those first party apps that accompany every iPad launch. Look it's iMovie/Garageband/etc for iPad, now you can make movies and music on your tablet for under $10. 20 million sales later, minimal updates if any.
 
tlinford said:
The fact is that Office is a mature product; the only advantage I see in paying a subscription is for the cloud storage and there are already plenty of other options. I currently sync all my stuff through DropBox, which works for me across platforms... Why would I want to pay for office again?

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!

Is this a case of Microsoft loosing the plot? again?

I think the Office 365 option is probable good for corporate entities where managing costs are important, but for hime users, students etc, why bother?
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Here is one argument for home users, and probably the only reason I might consider it: I happen to use a Skype number and already pay for the service, so if I choose to renew my use of Skype service, I might as well get a good deal on Office to go along with it. Otherwise, I'll just continue using 2010 and forget about it. As others have said, if most people remain on older versions of Office, then I don't have as much urgency to upgrade my copy.
 
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