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Office 2016 for Mac Now Available as One-Time $150 Purchase

The biggest advantage and value for me from Office 365 comes from UNLIMITED OneDrive storage. Dropbox etc charge you more per month, for a small amount of storage, or you can pay Microsoft, get the entire office suite for 5 people, Skype minutes for 5 people and unlimited OneDrive storage... you really cant grumble at it if you need cloud storage.

They are rolling unlimited storage out to all 365 accounts, but you can jump the queue by putting your email address forward.

Another tip... if you want to pay cheaper than the monthly fee, buy the Office 365 annual subscriptions card which are often on sale at retailers. I picked up 3 Office 365 Personal, users for £50GBP each, which is just over £4GBP a month. Add them to your account page, they stack, so you dont have to pay the higher rate.

EDIT : Link to jump the queue for unlimited storage...
https://preview.onedrive.com/?wt.mc_id=oo_blog_onedrive_insertblogtitlehere
 
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Tiger8 said:
None of these combined hold a candle to Excel on its worst day.

Apple does great devices and operating systems, OK productivity applications.

Microsoft is the standard for office productivity, no one else comes close.
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BUT
Numbers and OpenOffice Calc does everything I need.
 
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blueruck said:
MS web site doesn't seem to answer the following question. Anyone know the answer?

If I buy Office Home & Business 2016 for Mac, how often will I receive updates for bug & security fixes?
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So I just had a chat with support and they said "as long as the program is being supported by Microsoft, it will still get updates and support from us." And it's likely EOS is 5 years.
 
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I'm still incredibly curious why it still continues to work for me despite not having an Office 365 subscription. I downloaded the preview version when it first came out, and I always do the updates (including the most recent September one) and it has never expired or told me I can't use Office. I wonder if they are quietly doing the same thing as with Windows 10, where if you tested the Preview, you'll continue to get Preview releases going forward without buying it.
 
Sasparilla said:
Don't fool yourself, if Microsoft could get away with it, they'd do the Adobe model (only rent your software from them, forever) right now. Years ago Microsoft CEO Balmer waxed hopefully about moving to a subscription only model for Windows and their other applications….and I view this as a step down that path. I believe it's the same with Microsoft saying Windows 10 will be the last version released and they hope to making money with "services"…they want desperately to get to subscriptions only (even though they make embarrassing large profits) and this is a cobblestone in that path.

Remember, Adobe had both for a couple of years first too - and once they thought they could cast off the buy only holdouts, that was the end of that. It'll take longer, but Microsoft will get there. JMHO…
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Again, nothing wrong with Subscriptions for a lot of people. Tax benefits are great. Alway have support. Always have the latest software. Pushes things forward... Stops people languishing on old OS's like they did with XP. Which makes it easier for developers. iOS is the king of this. Devs can predict how many people will buy and use an app.. no point in publishing for iOS5 for example as it's like .5% of the user base.

Also... stops piracy dead. As a developer. Good.
 
Just subscribed to 365. Working on Word on my big iMac monitor at home is a nice option over the work laptop. The $100 subscription is a well worth it business expense. And the ease of never having to think about which computer or tablet gets the install, or using it on Mac or Windows is nice as well. IPad Air 2 is going to get Word as well.
 
Zorn said:
I'm still incredibly curious why it still continues to work for me despite not having an Office 365 subscription. I downloaded the preview version when it first came out, and I always do the updates (including the most recent September one) and it has never expired or told me I can't use Office. I wonder if they are quietly doing the same thing as with Windows 10, where if you tested the Preview, you'll continue to get Preview releases going forward without buying it.
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Mine stopped working recently... It's an timed thing based on the last version you installed. It'll go eventually.
 
littyboy said:
LOL. Are you serious? You must be really ignorant to not explore the world outside of Apple.
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On the contrary, I've looked at a lot of apps. From free and cheap indi products, to expensive packages. Pages and Numbers with OpenOffice as a backup do everything I need. I used to use OpenOffice for everything but the Apple products let me share documents through iCloud, which for all its faults I find less kludgy than DropBox. As far as the MS products are concerned I've used them. I use them at work. But I've found that I hate, no scratch that, DESPISE the ribbon. I find it infinitely awkward to use. Now, that's just me, YMMV, but the difficulty I have with Office makes it far from my preferred solution.

Oh and I should mention that I'm a published author and playwright. I write A LOT. A use spreadsheets for expenses, project management, medical tracking, and such. Not high level functions mind you, but likely in line with what MOST people do with spreadsheets.
 
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It's been nearly five years since Office 2011 for Mac was released -- October 26, 2010. If they wait another five years to offer a major release of Office for the Mac, it definitely makes sense to buy it once and own it. If they wait a year or two and release Office 2017/2018, it makes sense to do the monthly subscription if you need Outlook, which I do. Decisions, decisions.
 
macintologist said:
I'm really glad they are moving to a hybrid model where the people who don't know how to budget and save can do the low cost monthly option, and those of us who know how to spend a little more in the present to save a lot over the long term can buy the one-time purchase option. Best for everyone. Adobe on the other hand is forcing everyone to subscribe to software.
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My office is still on CS 5.5 for that reason. What used to cost me roughly $800 for 3 years would now cost me $3600 for 1 year. No thanks.

Thanks to Microsoft for making this move. Hopefully others follow.
 
Tiger8 said:
None of these combined hold a candle to Excel on its worst day.

Apple does great devices and operating systems, OK productivity applications.

Microsoft is the standard for office productivity, no one else comes close.
Click to expand...

Agree... but for advanced users, groups and needs. In a lot of ways Numbers is nicer - Same spreadsheet multi tables - Ability to use it like onenote.

Still equate using excel for most people is like using a shotgun to open a peanut.
 
MTW said:
This is an incredibly stupid post. You are ignoring that a newer/better version will be out next year. If you want to run out of date software, just pirate it....

Also, the tier that's '150' is missing a lot of functionality. You have to step up to $229 for the full package. Making even less sense, seeing as the next version will be out in a year's time.

There is merit to disliking subscription software, but 'know how to budget'/'more in the present, save in long term' is nonsense.
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The last Office version came out in October 2010. I'm not holding my breath for an annual update on the Mac side.
 
macintologist said:
I'm really glad they are moving to a hybrid model where the people who don't know how to budget and save can do the low cost monthly option, and those of us who know how to spend a little more in the present to save a lot over the long term can buy the one-time purchase option. Best for everyone. Adobe on the other hand is forcing everyone to subscribe to software.
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It depends on what you're looking for (and your text seems a bit pretentious)

- You get the basics for $150
- It's for one mac
- The next update will still take a few years, right, but it's obviously not included

I have Office 365 Home, which is $100 a year, but I use it on 2 Macs, 3 PCs and 1 iPad.

Not to mention the other perks, such as the Skype mins, 1tb Onedrive space for each user, etc.
 
CmdrLaForge said:
And as Microsoft doesn't release a new version every 3 years but more every 5 that might give an advantage? Not sure if you sum up the subscription cost over 5 years? How much does 365 cost/month?
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I've purchased my physical renewal cards when they are on sale on NewEgg or Amazon. It comes down to about $80/year for 5 computers regardless of platform (Office, Onedrive, and Skype minutes) and you get to bring your mobile devices along for the ride. Forget to deactivate a computer or lose a hard drive? Log-in to the Office 365 online to revoke that license and install it again until you are back up at 5. It's a cloud service at that point. You just get bigger shoes to fill if you are managing Office 365 for Business or Enterprise with Powershell goodness and flexible scaling.
 
Daalseth said:
On the contrary, I've looked at a lot of apps. From free and cheap indi products, to expensive packages. Pages and Numbers with OpenOffice as a backup do everything I need. I used to use OpenOffice for everything but the Apple products let me share documents through iCloud, which for all its faults I find less kludgy than DropBox. As far as the MS products are concerned I've used them. I use them at work. But I've found that I hate, no scratch that, DESPISE the ribbon. I find it infinitely awkward to use. Now, that's just me, YMMV, but the difficulty I have with Office makes it far from my preferred solution.

Oh and I should mention that I'm a published author and playwright. I write A LOT. A use spreadsheets for expenses, project management, medical tracking, and such. Not high level functions mind you, but likely in line with what MOST people do with spreadsheets.
Click to expand...

I am with you here. I also write professionally and also run my own business. Pages and Numbers are excellent for my needs and I love the way they are in sync across my devices. I have Office on my Mac but haven't used it for some time.
 
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I do not have any previous versions of Office installed on my MBP.

Can someone post a direct download/purchase link to Office 2016 for Mac?

I tried visiting the website and it is damn confusing as all it talks about is Office 365, subscriptions/ month, etc... where is the link to click and buy the offline version?
 
macintologist said:
There is no comparison. Owning a home is a HUGE money pit.
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It IS a money pit, but being worth it depends on where you live. In the us where we lived for a while buying was about 1/3 as much per month as renting and we sold when we left and made a little money. Much cheaper to buy. Here in mexico it's cheaper to rent than buy, but if you get land it's cheaper to build as cement houses are much cheaper to build.
 
mrkramer said:
If I already have the previous version is there any really reason to upgrade? The only thing I can think of is this might end up being the last version available as a standalone purchase so it might be a good idea to keep compatibility with new OS's as long as possible, but I was wondering if anyone else who used it might know of other reasons to upgrade.
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I have the 365 plan and this release of office is terrible. Search for 'scroll bars missing' or 'sluggish' or 'cpu spikes' and you'll see what I mean. I went back to Office 2011.
 
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