I usually just buy the MS office package (excel, PP, word etc) and pay the one time fee. For some stupid reason, last year I purchased a "subscription".

Fast forward to present day. The subscription will be coming due for "renewal".

What happens if I don't renew?
Will I still be able to use Excel, Word etcc?
Will I still be able to use my Outlook email?

I believe it switches to unlicensed & has limited features.

What you are looking for is Microsoft Home and Student 2021. One time purchase, on sale now for $99 from Microsoft.

Home and Student DOES NOT have Outlook.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...&culture=en-us&rtc=1

Ultimately, you may not need Outlook. Outlook is geared towards business and power users. Windows 10 comes with a built-in Mail app that allows you to access your email from various services (including Outlook.com, Gmail, etc.).

When your subscription expires, you switch into a read-only limited functionality mode, and are prompted to resubscribe each time you open up the app.

How sophisticated are your usages? I moved to Libre Office. Msft can kiss my grits.

The messages (if you believe them) says your documents will be read only. That's what I remember seeing. I went to Amazon and bought their 365 subscription for $10 less so $58 instead of $69. I know there are certain Excel functions that are only available with the 365 subscription.

I pay for it because I do like the exclusive Excel formulas. I also use OneNote after switching from Evernote which costs just as much as the 365 subscription but it doesn't have the Office programs and the 1 TB cloud volume.

The whole MS subscription thing is a giant rip-off now, not worth the price to me.

Fortunately there’s alternatives now that are good enough for what I use it for.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
The whole MS subscription thing is a giant rip-off now, not worth the price to me.

Not if you factor in cloud storage. iDrive, $59/yr for 1TB. Dropbox, $99/yr for 1TB. 365, $99/yr for six accounts with 1TB each, plus the use of the Office applications on both the desktop and mobile for six users. That's actually a rather decent deal.

One might argue about the benefits of other product's collaboration tools, versioned backups, or integrations, but for what you get, Microsoft365 is pretty good. The best for sheer cost per Gb is probably Backblaze B2, but B2 gives you nothing but lots of cloud storage.

If all you need are office apps, and you're not reliant on VBA, then the various LibreOffice offerings are good.

Me defending Microsoft: Forget about geese hitting airplanes. Watch out for the pigs, cause they fly now.

I use resident microsoft office on my computer. I don't pay the subscription. It's a ridiculous concept. No need, that I can see.

I run a mac, but use microsoft office for mac. Works fine, and as office is what much of the rest of the free world uses, its compatible and familiar.

My subscription went a month or two past renewal before I had an issue. Something in Excel I tried to open or save and it would not work. I renewed it then.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
How sophisticated are your usages? I moved to Libre Office. Msft can kiss my grits.

Put my grits on that same list!!

I have the newest Office version I could find at the time that was software on my computer and not a subscription based service requiring continuous renewal payments.
Unfortunately others seem to be going the same route. I use Quickbooks Pro for my small business and would like to find something newer that doesn't force me to the online subscription crap.

Costco currently has the "Personal" subscription for $59 and the "Office Home & Student 2021" for $95.

Me, I'm still on Office 2016, I don't do anything that important.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Unfortunately others seem to be going the same route. I use Quickbooks Pro for my small business and would like to find something newer that doesn't force me to the online subscription crap.

Look into Moneydance? https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...500022784#9500022784