Microsoft ships subscription-free version of Office 2016 for Mac [u]

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 48

    Isn't the default 'save to' device the cloud? Do you lose access to your data on One Drive? There are reports of Office 365 on PC's stopping working if you can't connect to the MS Mothership for less than a week. This is sily. I went on a sea trip to the Southern Ocean last year. We were without internet for more than a month. Satellite internet is not a viable option. So no working office after a week. Yeah right.
    The subscription future is [redacted]. I'm really glad that I'm retiring in 18 months or so.

    ktappe wrote: »
    What if the documents are stored in the cloud? (The cloud you lose access to when your subscription expires.)

    Just having a Microsoft account gets you 25GB of storage for free. And no, the default save option is not OneDrive.

    On the iPad it saves a copy in both locations, one local and one on OneDrive. When you open the document on your iPad, it will check to see if the online version is different, download it if it is, and present the document. If you don't have an Internet connection, it runs the local copy for you.
  • Reply 22 of 48
    Here is a bit more detail on Microsoft's various pricing plans:

    http://www.computerworld.com/article/2985384/windows-apps/microsoft-raises-prices-of-office-one-time-licenses-5-to-7.html

    And here is an interesting review of the 2016 Office in Wired:

    http://www.wired.com/2015/09/office-2016-microsofts-best-hope-show-really-changed/

    I swore I would not purchase another Microsoft Office upgrade, given Apple's iWork suite is free. But darn if Office isn't needed to communicate with clients. I wonder if the new Excel "waterfall charts" and forecasting features will appear in the Mac versions (usually there is one or two features that never seem to make it over to the Mac).
  • Reply 23 of 48
    The subscription is a much better deal if you have 5 people that need a license. For example, the annual Home subscription is $100/year for 5 users. If you were to purchase 5 Home licenses it would cost $750 (5 x $150). So you would basically need to use the 5 purchased licenses for 7.5 years to breakeven with the subscription model and then you wouldn't be entitled to Office 2021 or whatever the next version is at no additional cost.
  • Reply 24 of 48
    riles wrote: »
    The subscription is a much better deal if you have 5 people that need a license. For example, the annual Home subscription is $100/year for 5 users. If you were to purchase 5 Home licenses it would cost $750 (5 x $150). So you would basically need to use the 5 purchased licenses for 7.5 years to breakeven with the subscription model and then you wouldn't be entitled to Office 2021 or whatever the next version is at no additional cost.
    Yes I share with four others and it's a few bucks a year each for the complete suite - and it's not just the desktop version, we also get a tablet version of our choice (android or iOS) and a terabyte of storage. As owner I also get some free Skype time each month I hardly use. Word is the only really fully featured WP - I use pages a lot but for writing now because it's so well adapted to the iPad but Word has many features that Pages doesn't yet. Word on the iPad is pretty good.
  • Reply 25 of 48
    gumbigumbi Posts: 148member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ktappe View Post

     

     

    What if the documents are stored in the cloud? (The cloud you lose access to when your subscription expires.)


     

    You are still able to access your files - you have 15GB just on the free tier.  If you have overrun that, you just can't add any new files to your storage.  However, you are still able to access all of your files regardless.  And assuming you still had the space, you could still do most of the editing and creation of documents using office online.

     

    MS does not bar you access to your data just because you stop paying.  You should read their terms sometime before jumping to conclusions. 

  • Reply 26 of 48

    The audacity of Microsoft to charge $229 for Office for Mac for existing customers.I hope you guys choke on your own greed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Reply 27 of 48
    aaplfanboy wrote: »
    Screw Microsoft. I use LibreOffice which offers a great alternative to Word and Excel. Don't forget that you can always 'Save As' a Word doc in Pages.

    Which strips all formatting, making it useless.
  • Reply 28 of 48
    djsherlydjsherly Posts: 1,031member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AAPLfanboy View Post



    Screw Microsoft. I use LibreOffice which offers a great alternative to Word and Excel. Don't forget that you can always 'Save As' a Word doc in Pages.



    Depends on your use case. Ever tried to write a thesis in Pages? "Yes I have" said No. One. Ever.

  • Reply 29 of 48
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by djsherly View Post

     



    Depends on your use case. Ever tried to write a thesis in Pages? "Yes I have" said No. One. Ever.


    Pages is also useless for lawyers.  There's many problems, but just to illustrate one, Pages won't do automatic paragraph numbering with the second line left justified.  Its a really easy fix, but Apple won't do it.

    The most likely explanation is that Apple has agreed with MS not to update Pages in exchange for MS releasing their software on iOS. It is a smart move for both of them. 

  • Reply 30 of 48

    Getting back to Office 2016 for a moment, after 3 months beta testing, my problem is that it is still loaded with serious unfixed bugs.

    Some examples:

     

    1. Try find Advanced find and replace in Word and watch the double inserts in the left sub-screen.

    2. Try running spellcheck in PowerPoint and watch as it switches randomly between Danish, Swedish and other languages in a completely English document.

    3. Try getting an accurate word count in Properties of PowerPoint.

     

    I could go on but you get the point that key functions remain broken.  Until they are fixed, I won't be buying—and what happened to upgrade pricing for owners of 2011?

  • Reply 31 of 48
    Worst Office installation in recent memory. Back to 2011 if I still have the DMG. Every app crashes unpredictably. All three open at once (and nothing else open) take 99% of 4GB RAM. Do not remember a crash with 2011. Tried second time to find every 2011 component and delete it before installing 2016 but that didn't help. Minute launches even after the first launch.

    Even more fun: the crash reporter stays bouncing after the app crashes. I suspect it has something to do with all of the additional stuff from the MS folder in 2011 Mac is now inside the Word and the PP and the Excel app, including - wait for it - the crash reporter app itself! Open each app as a package, the fonts are in the resources and three apps are inside shared support.
  • Reply 32 of 48
    Question, please: is there / is there not a reduced price upgrade path for current licensees of Office for Mac 2011? Not Office 365, but, 'real' Office 2011 licensees?
  • Reply 33 of 48
    I'm using the most recent versions of Pages and Keynote.

    In Pages, I edit and share complex documents like PhD dissertation chapters, checklists which get checked through time, indented test plans, etc., many with images, tables with footnotes, extensive track changes and comments, etc. If I'm working with someone with Word, I just import and the doc is fine, edit, then export back to them (while emailing to them in one operation), no problems in these Word->Pages->Word conversions. (In one case I had to edit some line drawing alignment on the cover page that didn't convert correctly.) Plus, with other Pages users I can share and we both edit the same document (almost) simultaneously, from the next office or across the planet. When I put pages files on my iCloud, there's always an automatic full copy on my local disk, and on my other devices a few minutes after logging in. If I'm on a plane or out of wifi, I edit the local copy, when I'm back on the net it seamlessly updates other copies..

    Summary: I can use Pages as a complete Word substitute, no compromises, rather, many extra features. Although there may be some specialized formats (one mentioned in this thread was a type of legal format), I was a much more demanding, and much more exchanging documents than the average Word user. Plus it's more intuitive and easier to use.

    I think it's already well known that Keynote is far better than PowerPoint, but Numbers is not up to snuff compared to Excel. For me the new versions of Pages has changed the game on word processing.

    If you are wondering about a Word update, try Pages on a couple of documents. I find it 98% exact substitutability, and far nicer to use.
  • Reply 34 of 48



    All great but when a customer sends a complex docx or pptx file with multiple tables in Japanese for translation, conversions to and from Pages and Keynote just don't handle it well.  All sorts of double-byte font conversion and page layout issues and an absolute PITA.

    Pages and Keynote are nice but the conversions with non-English languages are not.

  • Reply 35 of 48
    eriamjheriamjh Posts: 1,630member
    Still running office 2008 on my Mac. Updates and Internet access disabled. Works the same as it did in 2008. Paid like $80.

    It's office apps, not a browser.
  • Reply 36 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sandor View Post

     

     

     

    1) in four months of use, the 2016 beta has crashed less than the retail 2011 for me   :)

     

    2) i assume the same scheme as 2011, where after 3 activations with that serial number, you need to waste 45 minutes on the phone with MS support to get them to allow one more activation. This has been a huge pain in an 24x7 environment where HDD were failing, have been swapped out and now we are switching again to SSD....




    I bought the student single license version and immediately installed it on 2 computers (tested working). I'll be trying a third install tonight.

  • Reply 37 of 48

    The only thing I found disappointing was trying to find the stand alone version on Microsoft's webpage.  They push Office 365 so much that it became very difficult to find how to buy any other version.

     

    I bought it mostly because I use Power Point at work and the Mac 2011 Power Point is horrible.  

  • Reply 38 of 48
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,332member

    I understand businesses that are paranoid about file compatibility and buy into the MS.FUD, but it makes little sense for 99% of home users to fork over real money for Microsoft Office when so many free and low cost alternatives exist. I think some folks believe that just because it's a "big boy corporate toy" they're more savvy and sophisticated by having it on their home machine. Ooooh my. If that's the driving mindset maybe go ahead and install a big corporate leviathan like Lotus Notes for managing your home email. That would be perfectly reasonable, I suppose, ... if your home is the kind with rubber walls and really tight fitting jackets.

     

    When I leave the office I take great (great!) pleasure in leaving the Office behind. I'm free and don't want to drag along the feature bloat burdened baggage and infinite annoyances that Office makes me endure every day. I'll put up with it at work because I'm getting paid to put up with it! Me paying to bring that crap into my home? Now that's just crazy talk.

    pscooter63
  • Reply 39 of 48
    @TheWhiteFalcon

    "Which strips all formatting, making it useless."

    No, it doesn't.

    Local and structural formatting are converted very faithfully.

    Try it.
  • Reply 40 of 48
    croprcropr Posts: 1,122member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by squireafd View Post

     

    The audacity of Microsoft to charge $229 for Office for Mac for existing customers.I hope you guys choke on your own greed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


     

    Quality hardware is worth its money, but quality software apparently not.

     

    Isn't it a little hypcritical to pay without issue for your expensive Mac and to call at the same time Microsoft greedy?  How much discount do you, as an existing customer, get to buy a new Mac?

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