Microsoft Office 365 price hike

[winemaker81]

I use the MS Office 365 subscription, as it comes with multiple licenses, each of which has 1 TB of OneDrive space. OneDrive is great for syncing files between my PCs and my phone. I use it for non-critical files, e.g., files that I don't care are on the net, meaning nothing like personal financial files. The $99.99 cost per year is worth it to me.

Well ... I just discovered that MS is jacking the annual price up to $129.99.

So with a bit of searching, I discovered it's because MS has included CoPilot in MS Office ... which I have no use for. I immediately found the setting to turn it off.

Then I found this site, which explains how to get MS to back off. It requires canceling the subscription, at which point MS offers the old price for Office "Basic" without CoPilot.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-remove-copilot-from-your-microsoft-365-plan/

 

[Boatboy24]

I had the monthly and cancelled a week or so ago when my price was hiked. For ~$7/month, it was worth it, but not at double that.

 

[winemaker81]

I had the monthly and cancelled a week or so ago when my price was hiked. For ~$7/month, it was worth it, but not at double that.

I've been doing the annual subscription for the last few years. The offer of the old price may be a more recent thing, as MS may have been losing too many subscribers.

Paying $100 for 6 licenses for a year is fine. Jacking the price because of something I do not want or need (CoPilot)? Nope.

I've read a few editorials that stated MS is pushing CoPilot too hard and most people don't want it. This makes sense, as MS has never had a good understanding of their customers' needs.

 

[franc1969]

"never had a good understanding of their customers' needs"
Is right! I just had my pc update itself, CoPilot was added without my want or consent. I lost my desktop picture background, and several defaults -which were definitely not MS programs. I figured out how to turn off and uninstall CoPilot pretty quickly. Still have to find the picture, I put it there as it was a dog that died awhile ago.

 

[QuiQuog]

I was thinking just yesterday, "whatever happened to buying software and getting to use it unrestricted?" I'm tired of the money grabbing, and I'm done with any software that you get by subscription.

 

[winemaker81]

I was thinking just yesterday, "whatever happened to buying software and getting to use it unrestricted?" I'm tired of the money grabbing, and I'm done with any software that you get by subscription.

A lot of software is going with the subscription model. It makes sense for the vendors to ensure an annual income stream.

For you-n-me? Not so much ...

Whether or not a subscription is worth it depends on the situation.


I've been using WinZip since the original programmer marketed it, over 30 years ago. It was one-fee-for-life ... until he sold the rights in 2006 to Corel, and they charge for each new version ... and used minor updates to justify a new version. So I got in the habit of updating every 3 or 4 versions.

Five years ago I upgraded to v25 for $20 USD total, as I received a rather desperate email begging me to upgrade for $10/license. There were enough improvements that I decided to do it.

The current version is v28 and they want $55 USD/year for a subscription. Nope, nope, nope!!! V25 does everything I need, and it cost less than 1/5 of what a pair of licenses would cost me annually.


Let's consider MS Office -- Office 2024 is $150 USD for 1 PC, and includes only Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

The $100 subscription for Office 365 includes 6 licenses, and each license can be used on multiple units. I have it on desktop & laptop, and could have it on my phone, and a tablet if I had one. My wife & children use most of the other licenses. The license includes MS Access and OneDrive, both of which I use, along with a bunch of other stuff I don't use.

Over the course of 5 years, I'd pay $300 for 2 PCs, versus a total of $85/license for up to 6 people.

The math on this is quite different from WinZip and other subscription-based programs.

 

[Sage]

My computer upgraded..... now, it won't let me use word. I bought the program, have the disc and code..
Still won't let me use it "unverified code"

 

[winemaker81]

My computer upgraded..... now, it won't let me use word. I bought the program, have the disc and code..
Still won't let me use it "unverified code"

Did you buy just Word? What version?

 

[cmason1957]

I avoid subscription software whenever possible. I use 7Zip instead of winzip, Libre Office instead of M's office, I could probably come up with a few others. Oh and I also just recently installed Linux Mint on two older laptops instead of upgrading to Windows 11, so far everything I have wanted to be able to do with Linux has been easy enough to use.

 

[winemaker81]

I avoid subscription software whenever possible. I use 7Zip instead of winzip, Libre Office instead of M's office, I could probably come up with a few others. Oh and I also just recently installed Linux Mint on two older laptops instead of upgrading to Windows 11, so far everything I have wanted to be able to do with Linux has been easy enough to use.

For 95% of the use cases, you're right.

When my younger son was 10, I walked him through installing Linux (probably Ubuntu) on a desktop I rebuilt for him. He had no problems, which is why most adults should have a 10 yo handy when installing Linux.

Most people will find Linux (any flavor) sufficient for web browsing and email.

I'm in that other 5%. I do detailed formatting where Google Docs is not part of the conversation, and Libre Office is like pulling my own teeth with a rusty spoon.

Everyone should focus on their own needs, and if they don't need Win 11 (a pig by all definitions), then go with a flavor of Linux.

 

[Raptor99]

I avoid subscription software whenever possible. I use 7Zip instead of winzip, Libre Office instead of M's office, I could probably come up with a few others. Oh and I also just recently installed Linux Mint on two older laptops instead of upgrading to Windows 11, so far everything I have wanted to be able to do with Linux has been easy enough to use

I have done the same things. I switched to 7Zip years ago. I had a dual boot computer for a while. I work regularly with Linux on webservers, so that is not a problem. But some of the software that I use frequently does not run on LInux. Don't get me started about Wine (the program for Linux, not the beverage!).

I'm in that other 5%. I do detailed formatting where Google Docs is not part of the conversation, and Libre Office is like pulling my own teeth with a rusty spoon.

I'm in the 5% too. I do quite a bit of writing, and make extensive use of some of the advanced features of MS Office, including outlining, styles, and macros. I tried porting that over to Libre Office, but it was a nightmare. But for 95% of users, there are good alternatives to MS Office. For email, web browsing, and editing simple documents, Linux is a good choice over Windows and MS Office.

We each need to evaluate our needs, and make the appropriate decision.