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> Office365 There's your problem right there. Just buy a perpetual Office license. The awful Adobe-style subscription model for desktop software that barely ev

> Office365 There's your problem right there. Just buy a perpetual Office license. The awful Adobe-style subscription model for desktop software that barely ever changes is ridiculous.

zapzupnz 8y ago
There are other aspects to Office 365 that are quite valuable to people, like a huge increase in the size of their OneDrive storage quotas, the ability to install Office on multiple devices rather than just one (which is pretty common; people install Office apps connected to their 365 accounts on their mobiles, tablets, etc.), Skype airtime, technical support beyond the first 60 days of purchase, and with certain plans you can share these benefits with a certain number of people. Aside from that, many businesses with specific Office 365 packages get a number of licences (sometimes unlimited) to assign to staff; so people don't have to buy Office, they get it "free" from work and can install it on something like five or ten devices. Same goes for educational institutions; I'm a teacher, so all the staff AND the students get free access to Office 365, and all the complicated businessy things like Active Directory profiles, SharePoint, Teams (MS' answer to Slack), and so on is included with the same account that I use to install Office on my home Mac, iPhone, and iPad. So for plenty of people, benefitting from the subscription service in this way, Office is free - no need to buy a perpetual licence. It's not ridiculous. It might be for your use case, but you can't make a blanket statement that covers everybody.
- brianpgordon 8y ago
  Well, maybe two different things have gotten conflated here. What I'm calling ridiculous is the fact that Microsoft is charging a subscription for Office. The flexibility to install on multiple devices is something that shouldn't be tied to a subscription license in the first place. And neither is more OneDrive space (why you'd want OneDrive space in the first place is a separate issue) or Skype airtime. It also doesn't make sense to me why you think it's a good thing that your Office account is the same as for AD and SharePoint and Teams... this is an offline desktop office suite - what does a Microsoft account have to do with it anyway? I feel like Microsoft noticed how Adobe was making money hand over fist by moving Creative Suite to a subscription model and wanted in on the action. Of course everyone hates Adobe's awful subscription model, but it doesn't matter- if you have to have Photoshop then you're going to pay whatever they ask. But this is not a good thing. Basically what I'm saying is that rushing to defend Microsoft's licensing model doesn't make any sense. This is a step back in every way from the world where you buy a license and don't have to keep paying the vendor month after month for them to do little more than refrain from shutting down access to software already on your computer. If you want Skype and OneDrive (again, why?) then fine, but the fact that that's bundled is not a good thing.
  - briandear 8y ago
    > Of course everyone hates Adobe's awful subscription model Not everyone. I have access to pretty much everything Adobe makes for $30 per month. That’s a far better deal than paying hundreds each for an app I might use occasionally. It also includes TypeKit and let’s me use Adobe fonts in any application, not just Adobe’s or on the web.
  - zapzupnz 8y ago
    Firstly, Office 365 is not just offline apps. It’s software as a service; it’s a suite of high-quality online tools that rapidly approach parity with their product to flint counterparts, it’s being able to install multiple copies of Office in multiple devices without needing to purchase more product keys; it’s about being able to use the mobile apps without paying for those separately (which people just won’t); it’s about reducing piracy for MS by allowing organisations and educational instituons to provide Office 365 to employees and students; there are so many advantages to Microsoft and consumers. I am not “rushing” to defend anything, merely pointing out the benefits. What you call a step back, others call a blessing. I genuinely prefer to pay a relatively low fee for access to essential data in the cloud and the high-quality tools that I can access anywhere to work with my documents, collaborate, and even automate with online add-ons. All without worrying about what platform I’m using (desktop, mobile, web, Windows, macOS, Linux), licence keys (which demonstrably don’t work; Genuine Office got cracked every five minutes, and piracy was rampant). I find your apparent incredulity at other people’s potential desire for certain aspects of a product(S) or service(s) is symptomatic of a refusal to even attempt to understand other people’s priorities when it comes to technology, something I’ve written about at length on HN before. Don’t write off my input just because your priorities don’t match mine or others, dismissively calling my five cents but a “rush”.
handzbagz 8y ago
I rarely use Office products but I spend most of my day in some Office 365 product or another. There is a huge amount more to it than just Word.

> Office365 There's your problem right there. Just buy a perpetual Office license. The awful Adobe-style subscription model for desktop software that barely ever changes is ridiculous.

zapzupnz 8y ago

There are other aspects to Office 365 that are quite valuable to people, like a huge increase in the size of their OneDrive storage quotas, the ability to install Office on multiple devices rather than just one (which is pretty common; people install Office apps connected to their 365 accounts on their mobiles, tablets, etc.), Skype airtime, technical support beyond the first 60 days of purchase, and with certain plans you can share these benefits with a certain number of people. Aside from that, many businesses with specific Office 365 packages get a number of licences (sometimes unlimited) to assign to staff; so people don't have to buy Office, they get it "free" from work and can install it on something like five or ten devices. Same goes for educational institutions; I'm a teacher, so all the staff AND the students get free access to Office 365, and all the complicated businessy things like Active Directory profiles, SharePoint, Teams (MS' answer to Slack), and so on is included with the same account that I use to install Office on my home Mac, iPhone, and iPad. So for plenty of people, benefitting from the subscription service in this way, Office is free - no need to buy a perpetual licence. It's not ridiculous. It might be for your use case, but you can't make a blanket statement that covers everybody.

brianpgordon 8y ago
Well, maybe two different things have gotten conflated here. What I'm calling ridiculous is the fact that Microsoft is charging a subscription for Office. The flexibility to install on multiple devices is something that shouldn't be tied to a subscription license in the first place. And neither is more OneDrive space (why you'd want OneDrive space in the first place is a separate issue) or Skype airtime. It also doesn't make sense to me why you think it's a good thing that your Office account is the same as for AD and SharePoint and Teams... this is an offline desktop office suite - what does a Microsoft account have to do with it anyway? I feel like Microsoft noticed how Adobe was making money hand over fist by moving Creative Suite to a subscription model and wanted in on the action. Of course everyone hates Adobe's awful subscription model, but it doesn't matter- if you have to have Photoshop then you're going to pay whatever they ask. But this is not a good thing. Basically what I'm saying is that rushing to defend Microsoft's licensing model doesn't make any sense. This is a step back in every way from the world where you buy a license and don't have to keep paying the vendor month after month for them to do little more than refrain from shutting down access to software already on your computer. If you want Skype and OneDrive (again, why?) then fine, but the fact that that's bundled is not a good thing.
- briandear 8y ago
  > Of course everyone hates Adobe's awful subscription model Not everyone. I have access to pretty much everything Adobe makes for $30 per month. That’s a far better deal than paying hundreds each for an app I might use occasionally. It also includes TypeKit and let’s me use Adobe fonts in any application, not just Adobe’s or on the web.
- zapzupnz 8y ago
  Firstly, Office 365 is not just offline apps. It’s software as a service; it’s a suite of high-quality online tools that rapidly approach parity with their product to flint counterparts, it’s being able to install multiple copies of Office in multiple devices without needing to purchase more product keys; it’s about being able to use the mobile apps without paying for those separately (which people just won’t); it’s about reducing piracy for MS by allowing organisations and educational instituons to provide Office 365 to employees and students; there are so many advantages to Microsoft and consumers. I am not “rushing” to defend anything, merely pointing out the benefits. What you call a step back, others call a blessing. I genuinely prefer to pay a relatively low fee for access to essential data in the cloud and the high-quality tools that I can access anywhere to work with my documents, collaborate, and even automate with online add-ons. All without worrying about what platform I’m using (desktop, mobile, web, Windows, macOS, Linux), licence keys (which demonstrably don’t work; Genuine Office got cracked every five minutes, and piracy was rampant). I find your apparent incredulity at other people’s potential desire for certain aspects of a product(S) or service(s) is symptomatic of a refusal to even attempt to understand other people’s priorities when it comes to technology, something I’ve written about at length on HN before. Don’t write off my input just because your priorities don’t match mine or others, dismissively calling my five cents but a “rush”.

handzbagz 8y ago

I rarely use Office products but I spend most of my day in some Office 365 product or another. There is a huge amount more to it than just Word.