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Microsoft Office on iPad Pro Requires Office 365 Subscription
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What are you talking about!? This is a Microsoft requirement. Mobile devices, tablets, and laptops over 10" in size require a subscription to access the Microsoft Apps. This applies to even the Surface devices. Tim Cook isn't doing anything to help Microsoft.
Not at all. Micro$oft'$ requirements are based on screen size. Devices over 10" in size require a paid subscription to access full features. This even applies to their very own Surface devices.
How do you calculate paying more? $99/year for the ability to LEGALLY install Office on 5 PCs or Macs as well as get the current version when released? Where as one license for Office (which is now legally only allowed to be installed on one computer) is about $400. You also get 1TB (soon going unlimited) of OneDrive storage with your account for up to five subscribers.
People that are justifying $1000 on an iPad aren't so Squeemish about paying for software. The price draws out customers willing to pay for good software. The low-cost, freemium Android crowd aren't the customers Apple wants anyway.Yes, I'm very much missing out on Visual Basic.....But seriously, I regularly use Pages and Numbers and have had no such issues, and transfer back and forth with my office computer running Excel and Word.
So your argument that we should have to pay Microsoft for their apps is ludicrous, when the average user has no need for the features you say are missing. I'm sure some extreme power users and business might need it of course, which is where Cook is leaning with helping MS here.
I smell MS supporters in this thread. lol
They may be doing this to have people decide for their Surface 3 instead of the iPad Pro.
I wonder why is it that whenever Microsoft 'gives' something for free, there's always a catch, just like AT&T's cell phone plans.
I wonder why is it that whenever Microsoft 'gives' something for free, there's always a catch, just like AT&T's cell phone plans.
100% agree with the portion of your quote I bolded. Not sure about the Android dig when it's Apple supporters in this thread complaining about cost.
Personally, I think the $99 price is great for what you get. MS Office on up to 15 devices (5 PC/Macs, 5 tablets, and 5 phones), 5 TB of free storage (1TB for 5 indivduals) and an hour of free Skype calls per month. To me, that's damn good. To a single person, maybe not so much. If what amounts to less than $9 a month is that great of a hardship, someone has bigger problems than software. I say that realizing it's not about the money for everyone. To each his own.
And it's a no brainer if you have more than one computer and/or mobile device.
Not sure where you are buying Office from, mine only cost $169. And I will be able to use it for many years. And I only need it on one computer. So yeah, I think $99 a year is too expensive. I would pay $0.99 a month at most, just like my iCloud service (now 50Gb) from Apple. I have OneDrive at work, and it sucks. We ended up using DropBox instead.
Just because I have Macs and iPads and all that, doesn't mean I can afford to spend a fortune on Microsoft's garbage. I spent my money on getting a good computer.
One thing I think people may not realize, is that once these software companies completely move away from the "perpetual license" model, and go online-only-month-to-month, once everyone is locked in, they will jack up the rates. Other companies have done it and Microsoft will be no exception.
I seem to be in the minority here, but I think Office 365 is a bargain for what it provides. Install on 5 PCs/Macs, plus tablets, Office Online, 1TB OneDrive storage, Skype bonus, etc.
If you don't need it then great, you don't have to spend $99/year.
But there are those of us who do need MS Office, and IMHO this is a good deal.
If you don't need it then great, you don't have to spend $99/year.
But there are those of us who do need MS Office, and IMHO this is a good deal.
It's not the profit that's the problem... A 10inch device allows the software for free.. A 12.9 inch does not?
The problem.... this doesn't make sense to the consumer, Why be penalized for upgrading a device? They clearly have done this based on their surface pro....
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Sounds like you have a lot of bitterness toward MS. And that's your business. Nobody has a right to get between you and your anger. But there are a couple of things in your post that I take exception to.
First, your statement that MS charges too much for their product. Maybe they charge too much for your needs/budget. But to state that they absolutely charge too much is a statement that can never be accurate. Some people find value in their product for the price, and thus MS does not charge too much for them.
Second, you state that "you end up paying too much in the long run" for SaaS. Again, everyone's mileage may vary. But if I have 5 computers, and I need MS Office on all 5 of them, buying Office 365 is just plain common sense. $99 a year gives me a license for their products on 5 different computers. If you tally the cost of one license of MS Office 2013 Professional on Amazon, (the lowest price I find is $237) that's almost $1200 for 5 licenses. For that price I can get the same 5 licenses on the subscription model for 12 years, and get the latest version whenever it's available. Not only that, but I can jump back and forth between Windows and OS X anytime I want for that same price.
So, if you don't find MS Office and/or the SaaS model for Office to be a value for yourself, that's fine. But please don't presume that there is no value in either for other users.
Disclaimer: I use Apple's office productivity applications whenever I can.
Ok...12.... IPad Pro is the first competitive action from Apple regarding the surface pro. I think that's the reason for the subscription requirement.
I have a subscription, so it's not an issue. It's the principle that bothers me....
They changed pricing schemes then for 2016. Until Office 2016, if you wanted Office Professional (the full Office offering) it was around $400. With Office Home & Student 2016 and Office 2016 for Mac, the price is $149 for either offering and is only Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and OneNote and for only 1 computer. If that's all you need, it's perfect. If you have a desktop and a laptop and you need Office on both, you need at least Office 365 Home.
The deal is sweeter if you're a student. You can get a 4 year subscription for $79. It covers 2 devices and provides full Office 2016 suite, plus 1TB of OneDrive.
I'm guessing your OneDrive implementation at work is on-prem and not part of Office 365? I have OneDrive for Business via O365 and use it religiously. I have no issues with it or the sync client. $12 a year for 50GB/$120 a year for 1TB versus $69 a year for always having the current version of Office and 1TB...this will soon be unlimited storage...(20x more than what you're getting from Apple).
Well, then go on and enjoy Apple's "HAAS" business model -- thanks to planned obsolescence, Apple basically sells Hardware As A Service. Or, simpler put, it's more like a lease because with one of the next software updates that they give away "for free", the performance of your hardware becomes so abysmal that you're forced to buy a new machine.
The average Mac user doesn't need MS's bloatware? Speak for yourself. If that would really be the case, why are Microsoft Office for Mac and Windows (which is then used in either "Boot Camp", VMware Fusion or Parallels Dekstop) selling like crazy? The answer is awfully simple: Even the average Mac users very obviously NEEDS Microsoft's products.
Malware injected via Macros. If a product can be in any way programmed or scripted, that risk goes with the territory. And if it's a product that is used by hundreds of millions of people on the planet, that risk naturally is exponentially higher than someone writing a, let's say, Mac-compatible Python script that will potentially harm your machine in some way. After all, Macs do come with a pre-installed Python interpreter, and Python is a full blown programming language that's not only loved by sys-admins.
People using a 12" iPad Pro have most certainly a choice other than MS Office? Theoretically, yes. In the real world, the target audience for the 12" iPad Pro -- which will most likely be BUSINESS USERS -- will not be satisfied with a second or third class office suite but will be needing the real thing that all of their peers are using.
The very simple reason why everybody still buys Microsoft Office instead of using ANY of the alternatives is that the Microsoft office suite is the best product on the market when it comes to business use. With Microsoft Office, it's not just about the client applications like Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, Access or Outlook -- it's about the back-end as well. Sharepoint and Exchange are the real killer applications, and the client apps integrate perfectly into those server applications. Try working on a globally distributed team WITHOUT Microsoft's products and then try it WITH their products. Everything else - from Google's over Apple's solutions to whatever else you might find on the market just pales in comparison.
I understand where your attitude comes from - I've been there myself. For 25 years now - even as part of my daily job - I've been constantly evaluating alternatives to all (expensive) commercial software products on the market. In some cases, alternatives are there and are being used where it makes sense. But the fact remains that Microsoft just OWNS certain niches like Active Directory (which alone is a killer application without ANY serious competition), Groupware like Sharepoint and Exchange, Terminal Servers, Office suites and business-grade multi-platform communication software like Skype.
Hate Microsoft, love them, don't care about them -- it doesn't matter because when you work in and with professional IT, there is no way around them.
Apple was also late when it came to smartphones and tablets...
No, It's not. Microsoft specifically outlines that any device with screen larger than 10" will be required to have an Office 365 subscription to access the full functionality of the Office Mobile apps.
https://products.office.com/en-us/mobile/office
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Well, when you buy Microsoft's Surface Pro, you also need to buy an Office subscription. Office came only bundled with the RT editions of the Surface and the current Surface 3 (without "Pro") comes with a one year Office 365 subscription. When you go "Pro", Microsoft wants you to pay for Office, and it doesn't matter if that's on the iPad or their own Surface.
As I've posted above already -- the iPad Pro (and the Surface Pro) users are regarded as a different target audience. Those devices were not designed with your average home user in mind. They're for business travelers, which are people who use these devices for work and to make money. Those people would also require at least a "Home & Business" license if those editions were available for the iPad, because the Personal edition is NOT licensed for commercial use AT ALL. But who reads EULAs, right...?