News Microsoft's ad-supported version of Office only saves to OneDrive

[Admin]

Microsoft Office gets an add-supported model.

Microsoft's ad-supported version of Office only saves to OneDrive : Read more

 

[umeng2002_2]

Literally spy-ware.

 

[SonoraTechnical]

I couldn't even imagine signing up to this thing to save the $99 that the Microsoft 365 Pro plane costs per year..

 

[SocDriver]

This is going to be bloatware that gets installed with every computer you buy at retail and its main job is going to be getting you to buy more Microsoft monthly services. Gross what Microsoft has become.

 

[Dr3ams]

A couple of years ago I switched to Libre Office. Before that I had been using MS Office since 1995. The reason I switched was simple. Libre office has all the tools and functions I need with no ads and it's free. I will also be switching to Thunderbird soon. I would have done it sooner, but I was waiting for the Android app.

Becaue of gaming support and a few software titles not available on Linux, I will still continue to use Windows.

 

[Giroro]

Every paid version of Office is ad supported - and many of those ads are for OneDrive.

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

Is interesting they looked at Google Docs/Sheets/Slides and said "You know, we can do it worse"...

 

[Sippincider]

Gross what Microsoft has become.

MS always was disgusting.

But they did have enough sense not to drive off users in an attempt to wring out more revenue. Until now, anyway.

 

[CelicaGT]

Line must go up. I'm using MS solely for my gaming rigs right now. Once I'm done with all the current crisis I'm dealing with I'll be giving SteamOS a whirl on my main rig as a dual boot. If it works that will be that as far as Windows goes. I actually do like Win11 but just take my money and leave the the heck alone MS. I'll pay you again when Win12 comes out. Same goes for Office. Sigh, I do miss the olde days..

 

[frogr]

I've been on Libre Office for a few years. I've had good interoperability with excel, Word and power point users. Other than the differences in menu layout, I haven't noticed any problems.

 

[Nitmare64]

Everything that Microsoft does is ad supported.

 

[cryoburner]

I couldn't even imagine signing up to this thing to save the $99 that the Microsoft 365 Pro plane costs per year..

I couldn't even imagine spending $99 for 365. Within 10 years, that will be $1000 for some software that probably isn't going to improve much over time. For the most part, office software hasn't changed much in decades, and the free alternatives have long offered comparable functionality, making it pointless for most to spend a yearly subscription fee for something like that, unless one knows they need some obscure functionality not suitably covered by the free office suites. But even then, Microsoft still offers non-subscription versions of Office that will have cost less within a few years, making the subscription only worth considering if one will be making heavy use of the cloud storage or other side features.

A couple of years ago I switched to Libre Office. Before that I had been using MS Office since 1995. The reason I switched was simple. Libre office has all the tools and functions I need with no ads and it's free. I will also be switching to Thunderbird soon. I would have done it sooner, but I was waiting for the Android app.

Becaue of gaming support and a few software titles not available on Linux, I will still continue to use Windows.

I helped setup Thunderbird for someone the other week, after their home Outlook installation stopped syncing with their mail provider. Looking online, there were a bunch of people having the same issue following an update to Outlook, with a potential fix having questionable effectiveness. And this came within just months of Microsoft forcibly updating them to the "new Outlook" in place of their prior Windows mail client that had been working fine for years. The new Outlook prominently features a pair of targeted ads made to look like mail at the top of the inbox, sends users mail from other providers to Microsoft servers, and doesn't provide the option to keep offline copies of older mail past a certain point. The best fix was just to switch them over to another mail client. Much like office software, email clients haven't improved much for decades, and making the client behave more like webmail just negates much of the reason to use it, especially when they allow critical bugs to slip through that break the core functionality for many users.

 

[USAFRet]

I couldn't even imagine spending $99 for 365. Within 10 years, that will be $1000 for some software that probably isn't going to improve much over time.

If I didn't get Office cheap from my employer, I'd just go to Libre.

$69/year for 5 system licenses....

 

[umeng2002_2]

Yeah, I've been using Libre Office for years now. I understand your work might force you use Office.

 

[rambo919]

You will own nothing and be happy.... including your documents.

 

[chemistu]

Even locking in just on Microsoft Word, the removal of key formatting options like line spacing, text wrapping, headers, footers, bookmarks, and even proper date & time fields is truly egregious. You can't even hyphenate anymore!

So, it's Notepad then?

 

[TerryLaze]

So, it's Notepad then?

Plus plus

Literally spy-ware.

Well no, it's only literally spy ware if you don't know that that's the primary function of the software.

Gross what Microsoft has become.

Eh, it's not like they have any other choice, they either make massive losses or they do this kind of stuff.
The getting paid once, in 1998 money, for a product that is many times more complex to develop isn't sustaining them anymore.
Let alone that they had to do barely any support on the older versions other that bringing out an update every now and then, no internet no servers no mail no nothing, you got a cd and a book and that was it.
I mean windows 98 was like $200 and windows 11 is around $150 , they would have to charge the $400 that $200 was worth in 1998 and probably even more than that.

 

[salgado18]

If I didn't get Office cheap from my employer, I'd just go to Libre.

$69/year for 5 system licenses....

Still more expensive than free.

 

[rambo919]

I mean windows 98 was like $200 and windows 11 is around $150 , they would have to charge the $400 that $200 was worth in 1998 and probably even more than that.

If your OS costs as much as a whole PC you are not gonna get it sold.... it will get pirated a lot though if it's a requirement for something.

 

[TerryLaze]

If your OS costs as much as a whole PC you are not gonna get it sold.... it will get pirated a lot though if it's a requirement for something.

That's what I'm saying, they can't ask for the amount of money they would have to ask for to make it a pay once OS with no ads and no nothing.

 

[rambo919]

That's what I'm saying, they can't ask for the amount of money they would have to ask for to make it a pay once OS with no ads and no nothing.

I am not buying that.... software in general is overpriced from the consumer pov... which eventually is the only pov that actually matters.

It is irrelevant how expensive something was to make if the money does not actually exist to pay for it.... and given how Windows has become worse over the last decade rather than better..... it's an increasingly hard sell.

At the same time M$ tacitly admits it does not care if the consumer pirates or not as long as they enforce a global Windows monopoly. Their actual profits come from corporations. So given that they have so little profit to lose anyway, why not pivot and find ways of legitimately giving it away to the consumer class while gaining command and control capability at the same time while exploiting a willing AI data generation network?

You must remember, when figures this massive start appearing on reports and spreadsheets.... you don't think the same way about money any more. It stops being a sledgehammer and becomes a bulldozer. Abuse becomes a matter of course, you reach a point where you can actually kill off some of your target market and increase long term profits and other kinds of strategies become available. They can find ways of completely eliminating PC's as a market and pivot to server-client based hardware solutions if they can manage to sort out server load and bandwidth problems.... THIS is the real reason everyone is pushing higher frequency mobile connections so heavily, to have the server do all the load and the client only receive as much as possible.

Also the above being the case... it's perfectly rational that these people WANT hardware and software to be so utterly ludicrously expensive that people will happily switch to renting instead of owning. The consumer, again, is not the primary market anymore.... it's part of the new models of profit generation. And in this case the cattle actually pays for it's own upkeep which is also a major positive for its owner.

 

[TerryLaze]

I am not buying that.... software in general is overpriced from the consumer pov... which eventually is the only pov that actually matters.

It is irrelevant how expensive something was to make if the money does not actually exist to pay for it.... and given how Windows has become worse over the last decade rather than better..... it's an increasingly hard sell.

What is there not to buy?! You are saying the same thing as I am.
They can't ask for a very high price, that's what I said and what you are saying.

At the same time M$ tacitly admits it does not care if the consumer pirates or not as long as they enforce a global Windows monopoly. Their actual profits come from corporations. So given that they have so little profit to lose anyway, why not pivot and find ways of legitimately giving it away to the consumer class while gaining command and control capability at the same time while exploiting a willing AI data generation network?

That's literally what this article is about...
They are giving stuff away but they put in ads and only allow you to save to onedrive. Because even MS has to make money.

 

[cryoburner]

I mean windows 98 was like $200 and windows 11 is around $150 , they would have to charge the $400 that $200 was worth in 1998 and probably even more than that.

The vast majority of Windows sales have never been retail boxed copies though. Windows 98 was only around $50 for big PC manufacturers to install on systems. And even home users could upgrade from a prior release for less than $100.

Though I can see why they want to focus more on reoccurring sources of income, since people have been upgrading to new hardware less frequently in recent years, and often use mobile devices for much of their computing. Things like putting invasive ads in the software and needlessly locking basic functionality behind a subscription paywall are just going to turn more people away from the Windows ecosystem though.

And if we look at software like Office, we are talking about programs that have not really changed all that much in decades, so their ongoing development costs should be relatively low.

 

[TerryLaze]

and often use mobile devices for much of their computing. Things like putting invasive ads in the software and needlessly locking basic functionality behind a subscription paywall are just going to turn more people away from the Windows ecosystem though.

Mobile users will feel right at home with invasive adds and only saving to the cloud, saving to the cloud alone is something you would have to pay for on a mobile app.

Also for anything that has a decent alternative the users already left windows which is another reason MS needs to make money from other sources.

 

[Exploding PSU]

Time to switch to the trusty write.exe then...