Bought a new laptop and go to load MS Office on it, through my employer's HUP I used to get an Office package for like 15-20 bucks and that was it.

Now I find out that it's going to cost me 65 bucks a year this year...then next year...then the year after that and on and on.

Ummm...no thanks Microsoft. You can take your stupid subscription-based Office and cram it sideways up your greedy little asses.

I'll use something else from now on, there's no way in hell I'm paying $65 a year for something I don't really use all that often.

Google Docs or something like that will have to suffice!

It's one reason why I went w/ Apple instead of a new Windows laptop. I think you can still buy Office but it's obfuscated. They are really pushing subscriptions. No, Nope, Not. The Apple free 'office' suite is sufficient for me. YMMV.

Yeah, that's total robbery fuck up, charging you yearly subscription for something that should a one-time buy. Assholes.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Yeah, that's total robbery fuck up, charging you yearly subscription for something that should a one-time buy. Assholes.

I don't have a problem with subscriptions when it's something useful to me that I use a lot and is fairly priced like Spotify at 12 bucks a month for the premium sound quality and no commercials for the wife and myself.

But for Word or Excel that I don't even use all that often? And for PowerPoint and Outlook that I don't use EVER? And without the HUP price it's more like 99 bucks a year.

Screw that.

I hate to be "that guy," but I'll say I've still got Office 2000 on a machine here. It works.


I'm with PASig on this. I seriously dislike the idea of paying a subscription for software.

Use one of the open source office suites. It’ll do 99% of what you need.

Apple guy. Numbers gets it done for me.

Open Office.

Just grab a slightly earlier version. I'm still using Office 2016.

Same thing for Quicken. When I bought a new computer with Win10, I reinstalled my Quicken 2014. It works fine; I don't need all the online features (downloads from banks, credit cards, stock/bond prices).

Free and open source:

https://www.libreoffice.org/

I'm rockin' Libre Office and don't miss MS Office a bit.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:

Free and open source:

https://www.libreoffice.org/

Yup. I have been using this and have not found anything that I would need the MicroSoft product to accomplish.

LibreOffice will open MS files, and can save files in MS format, so there is no problem exchanging data with MS users.

Bill and Melinda might like to get more of my money, but I need it more than they do. They have a lot and I just have a little.

One-time purchases of software are going the way of the DoDo. It's irritating for the individual consumer, but it's a financial challenge for businesses. Our company has resisted the monthly/annual rental concept of software for a long time, but the time is here.

In the past two months we have experienced three cyber attacks -- Microsoft Exchange Hafnium and two ransomware events. We came back up from the first ransomware and Hafnium, but we are currently down with ransomware #2. Once the cyber security experts scrub the encrypted machines & drives, and give us the go ahead to rebuild compromised servers, we immediately migrate some functions to the cloud. Gone are MS Office and Exchange; we will come back up with MS Office 365. And we start paying annual user fees.

I have LibreOffice on one laptop at home. Our IT guys installed it on a machine I purchased from the Company. This PC was technologically end-of-life, and our Company allows staff to buy retired machines -- wiped of all Company-owned software, of course. LibreOffice is fine for the casual user, but it doesn't meet the needs of those with great demands on their software.

Time will tell how well annual user fees sit with end users. I suspect annual fees will be with us for some time.

I've been running 2003 forever.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
Free and open source:

https://www.libreoffice.org/

This is what I use.

The only subscription based software I've had trouble finding a decent replacement for is Adobe Acrobat DC.

Office 2019 is available as a one time purchase.
Looks like it is priced at $249.99

https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...ss-2019/CFQ7TTC0K7CQ

Unless you are truly "locked into" the Microsuck products, there are options. Microsuck is a marketing entity that started from a stolen product (CPM). BG was a marketing guy, not a computer guru! He can thank M. Albright for his dominance. CPM-86 was a better OS. Microsuck is all about profit etc. etc.

quote:

Microsuck is a marketing entity that started from a stolen product (CPM)

He did change the CPM "delete" command to the PCDOS command "erase"! He also stole Windows from his Computer Associate neighbors.

I was in the same position when I bought a new desktop last year. I use Libre Office Calc, but it's not nearly as good as Excel. I'm the treasurer for our local water company. Each month I review the financials. They are sent to me in Excel and I open them in Libre Office Calc, ODF file. Slow as shit and constantly locks my machine up when I try to go to Print Preview. But, its free software, so I can't complain too much I guess.

I use Thunderbird for my email client. It does the job, but sucks compared to Outlook.

I also refuse to pay for a subscription, but I can see why they do it. They have to support those products for years and years. Paying a one time price doesn't really help them to constantly provide updates for years and years after you bought it.