OK, so lets break it down:
In the past I spent ~$150 to get the office suite on 3 computers (2 desktops, and one laptop which I no longer have), and I would spend that money every 2 generations which comes to 6 years
$150/6/3=$8 per year per machine, that is not a bad deal, and I have never understood all of the belly aching that people have said about Office being too expensive. That is probably one of the least expensive prices on software that I have ever spent, and I use it almost every day.
So now MS is changing things up a bit:
$150 per machine to own Office 2013 Home. I now only have 2 machines, so that brings my total to ($150/6 years) $25 per machine per year... A lot more expensive, but still a justifiable purchase. Not to mention that I already have OneNote because it is a free app in Win8.
On the other hand, I have the 'opportunity' to have the entire office suite available, with the most recent version available at all times (meaning I get an automatic upgrade in 3 years), on 5 machines for $100 a year, which breaks down to $20/year per machine, which is also not a bad deal.
Only problem? I don't have 5 machines!!! I have 2. That means that I would be paying $50 per year per machine for office. That is absolutely insane considering that there are viable alternatives out there for free.
And what do I get for this?
Word, Excel, and PPT, none of which have changed much in the last 6 years.
OneNote... which I already have for free in Windows 8
Outlook, which is still garbage that I refuse to use (except when I have to at work)
Access and Publisher, which are admittedly much improved... but still not exactly something I would use often enough to consider purchasing.
20GB of skydrive, which is tempting... but my understanding is that it is 20GB for the purchaser of the software product, and not 20GB per user (meaning my wife would still only have 7GB), and my wife (being the competitive person she is) would want her own 20GB of skydrive costing me an additional $10/year. Last I checked this is a COST, not a SAVINGS unless everyone on the machines using the software also get the free 20GB.
And lastly I would get an hour of free Skype calls. Something I would also never use.
So lets do that math again:
The only bits of this I will actuially use are 2 liscences, word, excel, and PPT, and 20GB of storage for each of us:
Just purchasing Office home and student + Skydrive would cost me $33.33 per year per computer if I continued my 6 year upgrade plan... that is a ton more money than the $8 per year per computer I have paid in the past
Purchasing Office 365 + Skydrive would cost me $55 per year per computer... that is absolutely insane!
Thanks MS, But I think I will stick with my good old copy of Office 2007 until you come to your senses and offer an Office365 for 3 machines that cost somewhere in the negiborhood of $20 per year per machine. That is still much more expensive than the $8 I am paying currently, but I would pay a little extra considering I would get the up to date software when it comes out, and I would be getting Access and Publisher which I currently do not have.
On another note; the student deal for office365 for $80 for 2 machines for 4 years is a killer deal! Students should jump on that in a heartbeat! That is only $10 per year per machine
I must be getting old. I see M-80s and the first thing I think of are the "firecrackers" that would blow your hand off.
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