Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac Will Soon Stop Letting You Edit Documents

[Radeon85]

What’s really disgusting about this is MS quietly edited their website to hide it, as the old version is on the Wayback Machine. 😡

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRnno9VIZx0

 

[ttyRazor]

I'm assuming it's been calling home to check the certificate for years and rather than patch that out they just don't give a ****.

Nothing has to phone home with certificates, it’s just your PC’s clock that’s checked against the cert’s expiration date. You could manually roll back the clock and this cert might work, but all the certs that were issued after that point plus any encrypted traffic outside your machine would stop working.

 

[beermode]

Sadly, Apple is moving in the same direction as everyone else. It's all about recurring revenue whether it's from ads

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www.macrumors.com

Ads Are Coming to Apple Maps This Summer: Here's What to Expect

Apple is planning to start showing ads in the Apple Maps app this summer, and signs of ads have already shown up in the iOS 26.5 beta as Apple prepares to roll them out. Where Ads Show Up Ads will be displayed in the Apple Maps search interface. Depending on the search, relevant ads will be...

www.macrumors.com

or from subscriptions.

Some Apple Apps Will No Longer Receive Every New Feature Without a Subscription

If you are not interested in subscribing to the new Apple Creator Studio bundle introduced today, you will officially start to miss out on some new features. Apple said some "exciting new intelligent features and premium content" in Pixelmator Pro, Keynote, Numbers, Pages, and Freeform will only...

www.macrumors.com

Apple Introduces New 'Creator Studio' Bundle of Apps for $129 Per Year

Apple today introduced a new Apple Creator Studio bundle that offers access to six creative apps, as well as exclusive AI features and content, as part of a single subscription. In the U.S., pricing is set at $12.99 per month or $129 per year.

www.macrumors.com

Apple Updates Keynote, Numbers, and Pages Apps With New Free and Paid Features

Apple today updated its Keynote, Numbers, and Pages apps with many new features across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but some of the additions are limited to users that are subscribed to the new Apple Creator Studio bundle that launched today. Apple Creator Studio is a subscription bundle that...

www.macrumors.com

"You will own nothing and be happy."

 

[DominikHoffmann]

Microsoft 365 is still a pretty good deal, if you use OneDrive as a cloud backup solution. I use Arq for that. It bailed me out the other day, when I had lost the Time Machine encryption key. I use the family subscription, which allows me to make backups for six of my family members’ Macs. Each one gets 1 GB of OneDrive cloud storage.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Two problems with that fix:
1. Same thing will likely happen with that version in the future -- as others have said we no longer have an option for a one-time purchase but rather we're just buying subscriptions with longer renewal periods
2. Not everyone has a computer that can run Office 2024 and they were happy running Office 2019 on their current computer

What system requirement for Office 2024 for Mac do you think would keep any Mac from the last 10 years from working with it? Intel or Apple Silicon, 4GB RAM or more, 10GB free space and 1280x800 minimum screen res. What Mac won't this work on?

 

[stocklen]

diff

Any software with certificate-based license or protocol requirements that don't allow user updates of those certificates is at risk.

I expect versions of MacOS prior to Catalina will see degradation next year. Not read-only mode but things like FaceTime, Messages, and other services may become inaccessible.

Difference being of course that the latest versions of MacOS and their Pages app etc are available for free for upgrade.

 

[Brian_v11]

I wonder if this would have happened if the divestiture took place several years ago and Office was a distinct entity. I'm guessing whoever would have had the helm of Office would have tried something similar; kept pushing to know the limit of what they can get away with.

Would love for another word processor / spreadsheet combo to come out at the same level and give some competition.

 

[IIGS User]

See. This is why people loathe Micro$oft and by extension Bill Gates. Everything is just another way to pick your pocket.

Are Apple products more expensive up front? Sure they are. Despite all of Apple's missteps lately (and I don't hesitate to point them out), Apple generally refrains from this screwing the customer to their face activity.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Two problems with that fix:
1. Same thing will likely happen with that version in the future -- as others have said we no longer have an option for a one-time purchase but rather we're just buying subscriptions with longer renewal periods
2. Not everyone has a computer that can run Office 2024 and they were happy running Office 2019 on their current computer

The third problem is: People shouldn't have to pay more to keep using their "one time purchase" Office 2019 software.

 

[SilmarilFinder]

And when people sails to the high seas, they are the bad ones…

 

[ridgero]

Hands down, who isn't a big fan of that great Microsoft Auto Updater, that keeps popping up even after you've disabled it in the deepest settings?

 

[UliBaer]

Well, my employer serves me Office 365 licenses on all my work devices, including iPhone - so it's their beer.
Privately I'm using LibreOffice since ~2012 and never looked back... 😎

[edit] Well, to be honest, Outlook is really hard to beat on functionality and ease of use! 👍 ♥️

 

[Biro]

Hands down, who isn't a big fan of that great Microsoft Auto Updater, that keeps popping up even after you've disabled it in the deepest settings?

That’s one of many reasons why, when I updated most of my devices this year, I stopped installing anything from Microsoft.

 

[gaximus]

Every other company: If you force them to a subscription model they have to keep paying you, unfortunately if they paid for a full version they can keep using that version.
Microsoft: Hold my beer

 

[CarAnalogy]

I don’t know why anyone is shocked at this.

They were allowed to continue producing security patches for Windows 10, but gate them behind paid support or using a Microsoft account.

Once they realized they could get away with that, they’ll keep pushing it. Why work to make your customers happy when you can use negligence to force them into paying you money?

 

[capamac]

Eschew the corporate rentware:

Download — LibreOffice

Download LibreOffice, the free and open source office suite.

www.libreoffice.org

 

[raythompsontn]

Nice work, Microsoft. Really doing a good PR job just now.

Adobe pulled the same stunt. Older software with a one time purchase will no longer activate. I suspect some hacker will provide a solution to resolve the issue.

 

[fhall1]

See. This is why people loathe Micro$oft and by extension Bill Gates. Everything is just another way to pick your pocket.

Are Apple products more expensive up front? Sure they are. Despite all of Apple's missteps lately (and I don't hesitate to point them out), Apple generally refrains from this screwing the customer to their face activity.

Bill Gates has had no say in these policies for a long time now.

 

[rorschach]

yeah sounds like a lawsuit is coming

And in 3 years you'll get a code for 6 months free of Office 365. (Obviously not that I support this at all...)

 

[jimbobb24]

openoffice....you were right all along.

 

[kagharaht]

I stopped using MS anything many years ago. Don't miss them at all.

 

[thewiccaman]

I dumped Office when the monthly sub increased by 50% or more, can't recall how much.

I now use Libre Office, Pages, Keynote and Numbers with MS Office expunged from my Macs.

 

[Bazza1]

I'll need to check the version (and look for an update) when I get home, but when I opened my standalone 2021 Office on my old (but still functioning 2017 Air w/Monterey - used for work and travel) yesterday, I got the nag banner for 365 and notice of reduced functionality. It's bad enough they had already stopped supporting updates with 2021 on Intel. Now the threat it'll just stop working *as purchased*?

It's not for nothing I've recently installed LibreOffice - just a mater of flipping the default now. Can a full uninstall of a pricey non-functioning product be far behind?

UPDATE: Screen grab from Office Home and Business 2021 (v.16.89.1) running on Intel / Monterey as below -

 

[Alvinc]

Absolutely evil.

Next time they will dare to cut your period of use even when you subscribe for a month.

 

[TheOldChevy]

"Guys, you have two months to update your office suite, or you cannot edit documents anymore"

Imagine the small company using it for years on several computers, they probably didn't plan any important IT investment for this year. That's crazy. The certificate expiration date was known by Microsoft from the beginning, they just "forgot" to mention it to the buyer.