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it is about time, I dislike subscriptions and stoped using Microsoft, I would rather just buy the program for a one-time payment.
100%... I feel exactly the same. I think Office 2011 was the last one I bought. As soon as they started with the subscription I never bothered and avoided it. If this is true I'll buy a copy, no problem.
I used to by Adobe programs till they went subscription. I had to go to alternitive programs.
 
Subscription services annoy all users.

Signed,
Everyone.

That all depends. I'm glad I can subscribe to Photoshop, for example, because it used to be $600. I can justify $10/month, but not $600 up front and then another few hundred for upgrades every few years. In this case, the subscription does not annoy me at all; rather it allows me to stop pirating the program and become a legitimate user.

But an office suite? If I didn't have Office 365 through work, I'd never subscribe to that. I'd either use free alternatives, or pay for just the programs I would actually use. All I really need is Word and Excel, not the whole suite. So that one is kind of annoying.
 
I could probably get away with not using Word, but I use Excel every day. The current spreadsheet I am working with has 19 tabs and is quite complex. Excel does this better than anything else I have found.
Google Doc Fan Boys will disagree.. 🙃
 
Surprised nobody in the comments has guessed that the non-subscription version will be missing features vs the subscription version. In other words, non-sub will be a basic package and subscription will provide 100% functionality.
Many, many people just simply don't need all those 'bells and whistles' that Orifice 365 offers. A basic word processor and spreadsheet would do me fine. I find Numbers and Pages rather clunky but that's probably the Grumpy in me coming out.
 
I wonder how much money Adobe doesn't get because if its subscription model. I know professionals seem to quite like it, but they must have lost millions of casual users to the likes of Affinity, Krita, Gimp, Blender, Dogwaffle, Motion, etc etc. I've totally moved away from Adobe products, and I still get everything done I need to, while not spending £50 a month.
 
This might interest me actually. I don’t use Microsoft office on my personal computer anymore. I stopped paying for the subscription because it’s simply wasn’t worth it to me, but I would like to have it available for those extremely rare cases where I do need it. With windows virtualization eventually going away I might be interested in a one time purchase that I can keep using for a while.
 
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I wonder how much money Adobe doesn't get because if its subscription model. I know professionals seem to quite like it, but they must have lost millions of casual users to the likes of Affinity, Krita, Gimp, Blender, Dogwaffle, Motion, etc etc. I've totally moved away from Adobe products, and I still get everything done I need to, while not spending £50 a month.
Casual users of Adobe products wouldn’t spend the money to buy them.
 
Hopefully the price won't be artificially inflated like it is now. $149 for an essentially static suite is stupid money.

Bet on it...Microsoft's goal is to eventually get everyone on a subscription. If you want a stand-alone we will have to pay the price. The price will be designed to make people consider a subscription which will be the better value for your money in the long run.

Every two years for a stand-alone (and Microsoft makes you upgrade to stay compatible with the latest versions if you have to collaborate) is $ for them.

They haven't seen the light or giving anyone a break. They analysis the data and know how to maximize on the psychology of those who don't want subscriptions.

They know what they are doing..
 
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I wonder what is motivating this. Perhaps they are realizing that customers are seeking alternatives because they don’t like the idea of a subscription plan?

Motivation is still the same, just a different tactic...
 
I hope whatever deal (inside contract) Jobs had to do to get the loan from Gates back in the day is over (and that probably included dumbing down iWorks in favor of MS Office to bail out Apple when they were about done..)

Apple..lets get back to making iWorks the go-to for Macs again instead of Microsoft...

After all...these (iWorks) are YOUR programs by the way...
 
Everybody here says they applaud this, but how many will actually pay the whole cost upfront?


*cue everybody putting their hands up saying they would*


Yeah, sure. Just like everybody says they want healthy options at restaurants, but when presented with those options they’ll always take the burger.

Theres a reason the subscription model is now so ubiquitous. People say they’d buy software at full price but they won’t. They’ll either stick with old versions or acquire it through some other means.

The only software people buy annually is Parallels, and that’s just because they lock people out when each new MacOS version launches because of “compatability.”
 
When I lost my last job, I was SOL when it came to accessing Office and apps like word (as I had used a subscription through them). Can't remember what I needed, but I eventually ponied up for my own personal subscription - the $70/yr (which works out to $5 and change a month) being rather reasonable.

Now that I'm working again and can get at it through work, I could go ahead and cancel that, but like I said, for the price, I'll stick with it.
 
Subscription or one off payment. I don‘t care. As long as Office is gimped on iPadOS is the reason why I won’t pay for Office. Give me all the desktop features if you want my money, Microsoft!
 
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Looks like I am the odd one out here, but I think the Office 365 sub is a good deal. I usually buy a 12 month sub on sale for around 60-70 €, and for that I can always use the latest version of office on my Mac, on my wife's Windows VM, on our two iPads and my iPhone. Buying a new Office suite every couple of years would not be much cheaper, and would not cover all my devices. The bang for the buck is right for me.

Now with Adobe, their subs are simply to expensive for my use case. So I bought Affinity apps to replace Photoshop and Illustrator, and they work great for me. Haven't done video editing for years, but if I need to again, I will purchase Premiere Elements.
 
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If you can get by with LibreOffice, you're golden. I wish I can throw enough money at them to get them competitive with excel.
 
My company has the perpetual license with each new version, so I’ll just get it again. It’s really just the updates that Office 365 gets on a routine basis rolled into a standalone package.
 
Everybody here says they applaud this, but how many will actually pay the whole cost upfront?


*cue everybody putting their hands up saying they would*


Yeah, sure. Just like everybody says they want healthy options at restaurants, but when presented with those options they’ll always take the burger.

Theres a reason the subscription model is now so ubiquitous. People say they’d buy software at full price but they won’t. They’ll either stick with old versions or acquire it through some other means.

The only software people buy annually is Parallels, and that’s just because they lock people out when each new MacOS version launches because of “compatability.”
Nice strawman.

There is more than one reason why people might applaud this...

One reason, choice. Having the choice between purchasing a license and renting one is a good thing for consumers.

Another reason, it's a more wise financial decision. Not everyone can benefit from an 0365 subscription. If one doesn't need OneDrive space or multiple Office licenses, those "benefits" don't have any worth to that person.

As others have said, their situation has changed over time where in the past a subscription made sense but now a perpetual license is better suited for them.

I currently subscribe to O365 because we have a need for more than one license and make use of the OneDrive storage. That is primarily because of the Mac devices we have.

For my Windows devices, I still use Office 2007. I have a bunch of licenses for it from back in the day. Office 2007 still handles the moderate to advanced files I create with the latest version of Office. Which is one big reason why Microsoft (and other software companies) push the subscription model.
 
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