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Microsoft Office 2015 (2016?)

I own Office 2011 on a Macbook and Mac Mini. If I sign up for this service, do I need to install different versions of Office, or can I use what I have installed now and just change server details?

I'd like to be able to sync calendars, tasks and to-do lists across the two computers as well as across my iPhone and iPad.

In another thread a lady "Diane" pointed us to a Microsoft link where we can sign up for $4 a month. But that service, it seems, omits Australia as it isn't in the list of countries.
 
mjt57 said:
I own Office 2011 on a Macbook and Mac Mini. If I sign up for this service, do I need to install different versions of Office, or can I use what I have installed now and just change server details?

I'd like to be able to sync calendars, tasks and to-do lists across the two computers as well as across my iPhone and iPad.

In another thread a lady "Diane" pointed us to a Microsoft link where we can sign up for $4 a month. But that service, it seems, omits Australia as it isn't in the list of countries.
Click to expand...

I do not think you can use your current version. You will probably have to install a new one. You will be able to install Office in both your MacBook and your Mac Mini.

Do you have a link to that thread you mentioned?
 
skaertus said:
I do not think you can use your current version. You will probably have to install a new one. You will be able to install Office in both your MacBook and your Mac Mini.

Do you have a link to that thread you mentioned?
Click to expand...

Diane was probably writing about Office 365 hosted Exchange (email) which is different from the Office 365 software subscription.

In its wisdom, Microsoft decided to label what seems like dozens of different services "Office 365". But they've always done that sort of thing.
 
BrianBaughn said:
Diane was probably writing about Office 365 hosted Exchange (email) which is different from the Office 365 software subscription.

In its wisdom, Microsoft decided to label what seems like dozens of different services "Office 365". But they've always done that sort of thing.
Click to expand...

Yes, it may be. Microsoft has a very smart way of labeling their products. It never creates any kind of confusion.

Suddenly, the "Metro" term was dropped; and then SkyDrive suddenly became OneDrive...

"You'd think after Xbox, there would be Xbox 2, but no. Next came Xbox 360 and now after Xbox 360 comes Xbox One. Why One? Maybe that's how many seconds of thought they put into naming it. (Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory)
 
BrianBaughn said:
Diane was probably writing about Office 365 hosted Exchange (email) which is different from the Office 365 software subscription.
Click to expand...
I'm going to ask her what the differences are. $4/mth seems awfully cheap for a hosted exchange service.

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skaertus said:
Do you have a link to that thread you mentioned?
Click to expand...

Here's Diane's link to the Microsoft service:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/e...ge-online-email-for-business-FX103739072.aspx

And the thread in question:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1727934/

And it's Message #8.
 
mjt57 said:
I'm going to ask her what the differences are. $4/mth seems awfully cheap for a hosted exchange service.
Click to expand...

That's what it costs here in the states. You have to pay for a domain name somewhere if you want your own @mydomain.com address.

I find that it works perfectly. The worst thing is no real phone support (at that level anyway). The help-by-forum folks are quick to respond, though. If you want support that you can call a more expensive solution such as Sherweb.com would be the way to go.
 
All I want to be able to do is to use my existing email accounts (ISP provided and a Gmail one) and to be able to sync calendars across a Mac Mini, Macbook Air, iPhone and iPad. Currently I do this using Gmail's calendars and Thunderbird.

Tonight I tried to set up a trial account with MS and its 365 product (that $4/mth service). I got to the point where I had to assign an email address which is different to the user login details. Kept telling me that the email is taken, despite it being allegedly unique to my account.

the "domain" was Ratbags.onmicrosoft.com, the username being mjt57. Already taken, it tells me. Tried random letters, and even entered a rarely used email address of mine. Still taken.

I gave up in the end.

I'll stick with Gmail/Calendar and Thunderbird.
 
skaertus said:
Yes, I know it. Microsoft could have just bought the name. Or bought the name prior to launching the service.
Click to expand...

Not quite.

skaertus said:
... and instead on working on Office 2014 for Mac, the Mac BU keeps working on... Office for iPad!

https://www.macrumors.com/2014/04/29/...ipad-printing/
Click to expand...

Holding your breath for the Office refresh really isn't worth it for now as from the information that's out there, it is coming but they're in no rush to push it quickly.
 
Sky Blue said:
They are working on it, they can do more then one thing at once.
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Yes, I am pretty sure they can. However, it's the same amount of people working on two products, meaning that the Mac release is already late...

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AndyK said:
Not quite.
Click to expand...

Or they could have researched it and change the name since the beginning.

Holding your breath for the Office refresh really isn't worth it for now as from the information that's out there, it is coming but they're in no rush to push it quickly.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know it. Mac users are second-class citizens, apparently.
 
The subscription thing is economically more problematic than some seem to portray it to be. As I don't have any statistics, I'll revert to the second best: my experiences.

I currently use Office 2008 (Home and student). The Office 2008 package was bought in 2009. Before that I had a Office 2004 (a three-pack), which was bought in 2006. The Office 2004 package was sold in 2009 to a guy who did not want to relinquish his PowerPC gear.

Since 2009 (for five years), I've used Office08, and will continue for at least some more time. I'm also someone who uses Office professionally for at least 6 hours per day. Assuming I'd progress to Office 2014 in the beginning of 2015, The Office 2008 package will have seen 6 years of active use. Moreover, I expect to be able to sell the software for ca 30€. Thus my total cost of ownership will be around 95€ for six years, resulting in a monthly cost of 1,30€/month.

Office 365 Personal costs around 5,80€/month, and even the absolute bargain (which as a PhD student I'll probably be eligible for) Office 365 University is 1,87 €/month.

RGDS,
 
sracer said:
Unlike Apple who dumbed down iWorks simply to give it away for free.
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What you're saying here is complete and utter BS. The only reason why iWork lost features is because Apple did a full rewrite, similar to Final Cut Pro. Lost and new features will be re-added in the future updates.
 
n-evo said:
What you're saying here is complete and utter BS. The only reason why iWork lost features is because Apple did a full rewrite, similar to Final Cut Pro. Lost and new features will be re-added in the future updates.
Click to expand...
Do you have a link to an Apple press release stating that reason or are you simply repeating what others have said?

So it is just coincidence that they happened to make it free at the same time that they released the gimped version? Why didn't they make the previous version available for free?
 
sracer said:
Do you have a link to an Apple press release stating that reason or are you simply repeating what others have said?

So it is just coincidence that they happened to make it free at the same time that they released the gimped version? Why didn't they make the previous version available for free?
Click to expand...
I guess you were unable or unwilling to do a two-second Google search yourself, so here you go:

http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-to-restore-lost-features-for-iwork-power-users/
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6049?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

PS While we're on the subject: Do you have a credible source from within Apple stating the company "dumbed down iWorks simply to give it away for free"?
 
Last edited:
n-evo said:
What you're saying here is complete and utter BS. The only reason why iWork lost features is because Apple did a full rewrite, similar to Final Cut Pro. Lost and new features will be re-added in the future updates.
Click to expand...

n-evo said:
I guess you were unable or unwilling to do a two-second Google search yourself, so here you go:

http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-to-restore-lost-features-for-iwork-power-users/
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6049?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

PS While we're on the subject: Do you have a credible source from within Apple stating the company "dumbed down iWorks simply to give it away for free"?
Click to expand...

Well people complained enough that those feature are being added back.
 
n-evo said:
I guess you were unable or unwilling to do a two-second Google search yourself, so here you go:

http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-to-restore-lost-features-for-iwork-power-users/
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6049?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

PS While we're on the subject: Do you have a credible source from within Apple stating the company "dumbed down iWorks simply to give it away for free"?
Click to expand...

Well, Apple may or may not have deliberately dumbed down the iWork suite. However, the fact is that iWork is clearly an ancillary product for Apple, which will not spend big bucks on it. Office, however, is big business for Microsoft. Office is to Microsoft what the iPhone or the iPad is to Apple.
 
skaertus said:
Well, Apple may or may not have deliberately dumbed down the iWork suite. However, the fact is that iWork is clearly an ancillary product for Apple, which will not spend big bucks on it. Office, however, is big business for Microsoft. Office is to Microsoft what the iPhone or the iPad is to Apple.
Click to expand...
That's a different discussion altogether.
 
skaertus said:
Well, Apple may or may not have deliberately dumbed down the iWork suite.
Click to expand...

Well I doubt it was an accidental thing. "Whoops, our new version actaully has less to offer than our previous version. We'll have to give it out for free now! Oh bugger what a mistake!"
 
roadbloc said:
Well I doubt it was an accidental thing. "Whoops, our new version actaully has less to offer than our previous version. We'll have to give it out for free now! Oh bugger what a mistake!"
Click to expand...

Well, the removal of features was supposedly because the app was completely re-written from scrap and not because it was deliberate...
 
skaertus said:
Well, the removal of features was supposedly because the app was completely re-written from scrap and not because it was deliberate...
Click to expand...

That to me does sound like a deliberate thing if I'm honest. You don't get the product launch to find out your product doesn't have over half the features it had previously by accident. Regardless of the reasoning, the feature cut was deliberate.
 
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