4 ms·

You used to be able to buy Office for a one-time purchase and not have to pay yearly. So how is this their best deal ever? Tbf, if this includes OneDrive you

You used to be able to buy Office for a one-time purchase and not have to pay yearly. So how is this their best deal ever? Tbf, if this includes OneDrive you are getting more than just an office suite. Also would be interested in more details on why you like Microsoft Office better than the other two.

signal11 7y ago
Indeed the offering is more than an Office Suite. You + 5 family members each get * Office Apps -- install wherever you want, including on web, iOS, Android and Android-capable Chromebooks to get native apps on Chromebook. You can install on as many devices as you want, around 5 per-person can be in use at the same time * 1TB OneDrive storage (clients on Mac/Win/Web only sadly, no Linux client yet) * 50GB Outlook ad-free email storage * Bring your own custom domain to get @my-family.tld email for your family * Priority phone support All in all, for families it's a good offering that competes really well with Google One (one.google.com) -- quite irritating that Google One still doesn't offer that custom domain thing. The 50GB ad-free email per family member is a great offer for instance. All of this for about $100/yr, less with the revamped Home Use Program.
- mark_l_watson 7y ago
  When did they add custom domain names for email? Do you get that in the $99/year family plan?
  - signal11 7y ago
    Not sure when they added it, but you do get it with[1] the $99/year plan. It's a more restricted version of a feature they used to support with Outlook Premium in the past, in that the domain has to be hosted with GoDaddy for now. [1] https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/get-a-personalized-email-address-in-office-365-75416a58-b225-4c02-8c07-8979403b427b https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/get-a-personalized-...
vb6sp6 7y ago
the "personal" edition lets you share with up to 6 people and those 6 people can install it up to 5 devices. Each person also gets 1tb of onedrive space and windows now has options to backup files. And you can still buy a one time license if that suites your needs better.
- stevenicr 7y ago
  I want a one time license for excel that works with windows 8.1 and does not install one drive spyware. I have 100 bucks. I am using libre office, calc in the meantime.
  - vb6sp6 7y ago
    contact microsoft
annoyingnoob 7y ago
You can still buy a permanent/stand-alone license - and that product can optionally the 'cloud' apps if you want. From my perspective its a huge cognitive burden for an organization to change Office apps that they use everyday. For a technical group like easydns its probably easier and most of the staff might even support it. In my organization we have some manufacturing folks that don't like computers and don't want to learn anything about them. Its hard to make this kind of change, there is a cost to retraining and effects on productivity and happiness.
- stevenicr 7y ago
  Two weeks ago I searched to buy excel on premises install / own - and could only find it for Windows 10 and Mac (not compatible with windows 8, 8.1, 7. Last time I bought the on prem off pack (few years ago) it auto installed spyware (one drive) - I did enjoy the multiple layers of phone support though, within an hour it was determined I needed to uninstall and return for refund, no way to run it without the spydrive addition. open office and libre office have been installed on all systems since. I understand some orgs can't new software, I think most just need to very basic formatting tools to be highlighted, open and save - which it does great now. I have to search 3-4 times a year on how to do something with calc.. I see many devs search 4 or more times a day on how to do basic stuff with their daily tools. Sounds like a couple UX templates would benefit the average company workers out there - one that is super basic, very few icons, and one that mimics word. I was going to take classes on excel but can't run it.
outside1234 7y ago
Software is not free - you maintain it with security patches etc. forever and a one time price is no longer viable.
dleslie 7y ago
I wouldn't undervalue it: you're getting 1tb/user of OneDrive, for the year. That makes it easily the best deal in cloud storage for personal use, if you have multiple members in your family and want to use Office.
mark_l_watson 7y ago
Good question. I pay the $99/year for a terabyte of cloud storage for everyone in my family, I use the web app versions of Office 365 on Linux, and everyone gets up to date Office apps for iOS, Android, and macOS. For me, that is a great deal. I especially like the Word app on my iPad Pro.

signal11 7y ago

Indeed the offering is more than an Office Suite. You + 5 family members each get * Office Apps -- install wherever you want, including on web, iOS, Android and Android-capable Chromebooks to get native apps on Chromebook. You can install on as many devices as you want, around 5 per-person can be in use at the same time * 1TB OneDrive storage (clients on Mac/Win/Web only sadly, no Linux client yet) * 50GB Outlook ad-free email storage * Bring your own custom domain to get @my-family.tld email for your family * Priority phone support All in all, for families it's a good offering that competes really well with Google One (one.google.com) -- quite irritating that Google One still doesn't offer that custom domain thing. The 50GB ad-free email per family member is a great offer for instance. All of this for about $100/yr, less with the revamped Home Use Program.

mark_l_watson 7y ago
When did they add custom domain names for email? Do you get that in the $99/year family plan?
- signal11 7y ago
  Not sure when they added it, but you do get it with[1] the $99/year plan. It's a more restricted version of a feature they used to support with Outlook Premium in the past, in that the domain has to be hosted with GoDaddy for now. [1] https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/get-a-personalized-email-address-in-office-365-75416a58-b225-4c02-8c07-8979403b427b https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/get-a-personalized-...

vb6sp6 7y ago

the "personal" edition lets you share with up to 6 people and those 6 people can install it up to 5 devices. Each person also gets 1tb of onedrive space and windows now has options to backup files. And you can still buy a one time license if that suites your needs better.

stevenicr 7y ago
I want a one time license for excel that works with windows 8.1 and does not install one drive spyware. I have 100 bucks. I am using libre office, calc in the meantime.
- vb6sp6 7y ago
  contact microsoft

annoyingnoob 7y ago

You can still buy a permanent/stand-alone license - and that product can optionally the 'cloud' apps if you want. From my perspective its a huge cognitive burden for an organization to change Office apps that they use everyday. For a technical group like easydns its probably easier and most of the staff might even support it. In my organization we have some manufacturing folks that don't like computers and don't want to learn anything about them. Its hard to make this kind of change, there is a cost to retraining and effects on productivity and happiness.

stevenicr 7y ago
Two weeks ago I searched to buy excel on premises install / own - and could only find it for Windows 10 and Mac (not compatible with windows 8, 8.1, 7. Last time I bought the on prem off pack (few years ago) it auto installed spyware (one drive) - I did enjoy the multiple layers of phone support though, within an hour it was determined I needed to uninstall and return for refund, no way to run it without the spydrive addition. open office and libre office have been installed on all systems since. I understand some orgs can't new software, I think most just need to very basic formatting tools to be highlighted, open and save - which it does great now. I have to search 3-4 times a year on how to do something with calc.. I see many devs search 4 or more times a day on how to do basic stuff with their daily tools. Sounds like a couple UX templates would benefit the average company workers out there - one that is super basic, very few icons, and one that mimics word. I was going to take classes on excel but can't run it.

outside1234 7y ago

Software is not free - you maintain it with security patches etc. forever and a one time price is no longer viable.

dleslie 7y ago

I wouldn't undervalue it: you're getting 1tb/user of OneDrive, for the year. That makes it easily the best deal in cloud storage for personal use, if you have multiple members in your family and want to use Office.

mark_l_watson 7y ago

Good question. I pay the $99/year for a terabyte of cloud storage for everyone in my family, I use the web app versions of Office 365 on Linux, and everyone gets up to date Office apps for iOS, Android, and macOS. For me, that is a great deal. I especially like the Word app on my iPad Pro.