I have finally put in enough time with my crappy, POS laptop that hasn't worked well since I got it four years ago that I can justify purchasing a new one. I know exactly what laptop I want, but I'm on the fence as to whether I should go ahead and purchase the full version of MS Office as usual, or if I should take the leap to Office 365? I understand the differences between each, most notably cloud vs. computer storage, paying upfront vs. a monthly fee, etc., but I'm really more interested to hear personal anecdotes/opinions on the pros and cons choosing one over the other. I'm leery of having everything in the cloud, but I'd assume I could make backup copies of the files on my computer and just open them in 365, right? Another bonus I'm thinking of is that it can be used on multiple machines, so I could share the subscription with my husband (who does not have Office installed on his laptop). Oh, and disclaimer here: for my own personal, well examined reasons, I am not looking for recommendations for other non-Office software like Scrivener, Open Office, etc. Please just stick to the Microsoft Office suite, or if you can't, just know I won't be paying attention to those posts.
If you have full office on the current POS (Point of sale? Personalised Operating System? Publish on schedule...? ) can't you just install it on the new machine? I have been using office 2010 since... well, 2010 and it has worked just fine on Win XP, 7, 8, and 10 machines... You buy the licence to use the software, if you remove it from the old machine, you are quite entitled to run it on the new. I presume if you subscribe to 365 you are subscribing to a single user licence so, technically, you shouldn't be running it on both yours and your husband's machines simaltaneously?
POS = Piece of Shit Hmmmm, I will have to look into moving my current software over. What kind of credentials do I need to install on the new laptop? Would I need the original activation code? Oh, and Office 365 can be used on up to 5 machines, which is why it would be okay for me to share with Mr. Kelly.
My daughter is a college student, but they provide Office 365 on their school's platform for free as part of her tuition, so I'd be surprised if her bookstore carried the full version.
It looks like I may have an issue moving my version to a new computer, as I had it pre-installed when I ordered it from Dell. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_install-mso_winother-mso_2016/transfer-office-2016-from-old-pc-to-new-pc/98ded6ce-ccb3-4d77-aec9-4f4b21026d2a "Usually, the Office suite which comes preinstalled on the computer would be an OEM License and cannot be transferred to a different computer."
Ah, yeah, if it was pre-installed/OEM I think that would be a gotcha! I was mislead by the "purchase the full version as ususal" bit in the OP, I assumed you had bought a licence somewhere along the line
I was using "full version" as the differentiation between Office physically installed on my computer and a cloud based technology like 365. Honestly until today I didn't know that paying to have it pre-installed gave me different licencing than buying it separately.
Office 365 is a fully up to date local install of Word and the other programs. It saves on your local hard drive, and also in the cloud in OneDrive.
I'm not an early adopter and I like to use old software for as long as I can (why bother learning a new setup when I don't need any of the new functionality?) so I'd prefer to buy the software right off the top rather than paying a monthly fee. Kinda the difference between buying a car or leasing a car. If you're going to want a new car every three years anyway, you should probably lease. But if you're going to drive the thing into the ground, buy it!
I tend to agree (which is why I am still on Win 7 and Office 2010). If it did what I wanted when I bought it, and my needs haven't changed - why would I want to change? I always thought the rule was "if it appreciates, buy it; if it depreciates, rent it!" (much ruder versions of this maxim are available )
The cheapest subscription of Office 365 is just the online services with no local install (they have, by now, discontinued that service for home and personal subscription. It's still there for business.) Also, the installed versions of the subscription and stand-alone versions are on a different update path and differ from each other. And I want to point out again that the Terms and Conditions of the home and personal/student subscriptions are horrible from a privacy and rights standpoint (even if they may not be legally binding in these regards in your specific jurisdiction). If you want to sell your writing, I strongly urge to get a business subscription if possible. The price difference is not enough to justify to agree to the conditions of the home/personal. From the rights and privacy standpoint, it's better to stick with Google services. They're just as horrible, but way cheaper in cash, since free. Sadly, I have not been able to find out the T&C's for the stand-alone version. They do not seem to be there on their respective shop pages, which in turn is quite hidden by itself (you have to specifically search for it). Neither do they tell you the specific differences between the stand-alone and subscription installs. You have to rely on 3rd party reporting for all of that, but the 3rd party reporters often are rather confused which version they refer to or that different versions exist. Microsoft's crappy information habit on their webpages is the main reason I won't get any of their products for the foreseeable future as long as I do not need them. I cannot find out specifics of their products, including on how to get them or what to pay for them! (The latter primarily referring to the German version of their cloud with stricter privacy policies – but also some other products – for which you have to call either their support or a 3rd party vendor.) Microsoft is currently not running their business in a way that I feel comfortable with or trusting.
I have the cheapest Home subscription for Office 365, and it allows me to install everything locally across at least 5 computers (including both Windows and MacOS installs). You keep the most recent version, whereas if you buy Office 2019 outright you'll get updates but not the next major release. That's my understanding. In any event, the $9.99 per month subscription works well for me and can be shared with family members.
I am not able to find the file anymore on the web that I read and found appalling back in March (when MS last changed their Terms). MS has changed their webpages since then, and this particular document does not seem accessible anymore. The current privacy pages have heavily changed language. I am sorry. Feel free to disregard my comment. I should have saved the file... (As far as I remember, this file contained an extremely broad formulated grant of rights on the data sent to MS. As said, I cannot confirm that this formulation is still there – one could possible confirm it when one read the Terms as one signs up for or installs Office 365 which I don't. The current general terms [including all MS products] contains a similar formulation but with strict limitations.)
It probably was something to do with rights. Any service that uses the cloud will have some grant of rights--a royalty free, non-exclusive license, for example--to reproduce a users content. It's usually limited for the purpose of providing the services at issue. Sometimes, new Terms come out and the lawyers seem a bit overzealous. It has happened with Google and Facebook, and they end up posting clarifications. Maybe the same thing happened with Microsoft. All these companies really want is a license to reproduce user content as necessary to provide their services--i.e., keep a copy on the cloud, make them available across devices, etc. They don't really want your content, but the Terms are poorly written sometimes.
I think Spideroak might be safe, from a rights perspective. Everything is encrypted before it leaves your computer, and Spideroak never sees the key. The downside is if you lose your key, nobody can recover it for you,
I'm pretty happy with Office 365, I really bought it for the 1TB subscription to One Drive. But I find the office suite pretty useful. It's always up to date, and I love how well it integrates with OneDrive. HINT: If you need more than one subscription, the 5 license subscription is cheaper than 2 individual subscriptions.
Spideroak is good. These days even Dropbox and Google Drive use both in-motion and at-rest encryption, though you don’t need a separate encryption key for them.
For those of you lucky enough to have .mil email address, you can get full up Office Suite from the Home Use Program for about $10, no restrictions. For another fifteen you can get the CD for easy reinstall if necessary. As to the Cloud, I am gun-shy about saving stuff there, I trust my HD more (with daily backup to a network drive) and I haven't filled up an HD since 1990 or so when the 1GB dives came out.
Does everything you save automatically save to the cloud or can you choose what goes on the cloud? What security is there for accessing the cloud?
With OneDrive, you can opt to use the regular sync folder method that all online services use, or set up the "save space" for some folders, which allows the PC to maintain the file and folder structure, but actually saves the files in OneDrive. It basically treats OneDrive as a local external drive for those named folders. Works great. The Office Suite defaults to OneDrive if available, but the default can be changed as can each instance of read/Save/ Security is handled by your Microsoft Account. NOTHING is foolproof. Life is inherently risky.
