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Microsoft "Albany" Offers Office and Security as Subscription
News.com is reporting that Microsoft has confirmed a subscription service is in the works for the next consumer version of their Office Suite. "Code-named Albany, the product has a single installer that puts Office Home and Student, OneCare, as well as a host of Windows Live services, onto a user's PC. As long as users keep paying for the subscription, they are entitled to the latest versions of the products. Once they stop paying, they lose the right to use any version."
Once they stop paying, they lose the right to use any version.
So, an office suite linked to a security product and you lose both if you stop paying ... does this sound at all unpalatable to anyone else?
(Apparently; currently the survey on the page says 41% prefer the traditional way of buying Office, 38.5% would rather not buy it at all, and 20.5% think it sounds better).
I suppose the deciding factor is the price -- value for money. And as we know Microsoft has never failed to deliver on that one...
How will Linux compete with such a move?
It does not exist yet and you lose it if you quit paying your subscription. Though you never really did own Windows or the computer running it, this takes vaporware to the next level.
I am a name troll of Westlake. Visit my homepage to learn why.
Microsoft debuts baloon made of lead!
Up here, it's illegal to make it impossible for a person to access their own data. Therefore, while they are allowed to prevent you from making new documents, spreadsheets, etc., they cannot disable the "read-only" features of the software.
Kevin Smith on Prince
We'll charge nothing at all for linux and open office, and you're entitled to all upgrades for free.
This is Microsoft's way of demonstrating once and for all that you don't "own" the software you purchase. I hope this doesn't catch on and become the primary distribution model. If we don't own the software we purchase then the manufacturer does not have to guarantee any proper functionality.
Let me see, I need to type my college papers, christmas letters, and an occasional sales poster. Let's see the benefits of the magnificent MS Office Live RX over the OpenOffice, or Symphony...
Stupidass Microsoft... (And stupidass people paying for that crap...)
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
the state capital of NY, it'll cost a lot of money, spend years trying to accomplish anything, and work only part of the year.
I will never use a subscription based product that creates and manages data. Essentially, M$ will be holding your data hostage. Don't pay and you can't access your documents.
That's bullshit.
Perfectly timed, just after OOXML is approved, wouldn't you say?
the end of Microslop
By clicking on this link you agree to remunerate his holiness George W.Bush the sum total of 1,000,000,000 Billion Euro per annum>
Who sells more songs, iTunes or Napster?
I heard the MS Albany branch is worse than Scranton!
If an officer ever threatens to taze you, say you have a pacemaker.
Actually, let's just think about this for a second.
You currently pay $300 for the standard Microsoft Office 2007.
If all they're doing is spreading out the payment over 3-4 years, with a small premium thrown in, that's not such a bad deal. I'd happily pay a $25-50 premium on software like Office in order to receive constant updates. So if what they want is $115 annually instead of 300 at once, that's fine by me. These products don't usually have more than a 3-4 year life-cycle anyway, and this way instead of being stuck with a single version, you get something which improves over time.
Obviously, the question of how they implement it, what they charge, and how good the "free upgrades" really are will determine uptake of this product. But if you take off your microsoft-bashing hat for a second, this isn't as stupid as it looks.
Funny thing, too - it's totally free, I can download and use a copy locally, and I can use it on as many computers as I want to.
My security is also free, is updated regularly, and is pretty secure the way I have it configured. BTW, it's Linux.
Microsoft? Naahhhh...
I hope this doesn't catch on and become the primary distribution model.
I hope it DOES catch on - for a while.
It will give consumers a financial incentive to switch to FOSS - every time a bill comes due. B-)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I can't think I'm the only one getting tired of the subscription model for everything. I remember thinking at one point that I'm going to need to start figuring out what I can afford to have and not, simply because everything seems to be moving in that direction.
Cable, phone, utilities all seems standard to us at this point, but now we have music subscriptions (stop paying, lose your music), radio subscriptions (love that satellite radio), game subscriptions (WoW addicts unite), and now more and more software subscriptions (I'm sorry, licensing).
I can perhaps forgive it for something like antivirus software where you are constantly downloading updates (glad my Mac doesn't need that yet), but Office? When do they slip Windows into that model? Would you like to boot today? Your subscription has expired, please enter a valid credit card.
I will shred my adversaries. Pull their eyes out just enough to turn them towards their mewing, mutilated faces. Illyria
...the balkanization of software.
Fleur de Sel
Microsoft didn't used to be so out of touch with its customers. What happened to these guys? Just when you think they can't get any stupider ...
Given the wildly unsuccessful way that people took to subscription music services, I can see this being as successful as, say, the Zune.
I think Linux will compete by snagging more disgruntled ex-Microsoft users.
Microsoft has really screwed up and doesn't seem to know where to go or what to do now that Vista crashed and burned. It will be hard for them to overcome the bad rap they earned on that one.
And Linux being free means that anyone that wants to try it out just needs to download it or copy CDs from someone else. They can try it whenever they want and if they like it, they keep right on using it.
Microsoft's days are numbered. Probably with big numbers right now, but numbered nonetheless.
Too bad this isn't like a software maintenance plan. In those cases, you at least own whatever the current version is if you stop paying the licensing.
For all the alarmists out there, how is this different from what Microsoft already does...? They install a "host of services" onto your PC (bloat). Then you stop paying for it, losing the "right to use it on your PC" (which you never had to begin with, read their EULAs). This means you have a bunch of junk sitting on your box, having spent a bunch of money, for stuff you can't use. Seems like many Office+Windows experiences already out there...
Interesting.
I don't even have to read the details to bet that you need an internet connection open every single time you open Office so it can contact the licensing server. If the time limit was kept locally, that'd be too hackable. So what about laptops? I guess you can't open your word documents if there's no wifi in your hotel. That'll go over great. Btw this whole process is about 10x more hackable than what they use now.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
I have a legitimate fully paid for version of MS Office 2003 that absolutely will NOT install a single MS Update, ever. And it hasn't for more than a year. I suspect this is a stealth version of something like that where MS determines who gets what and when.
I'm not thrilled with the snappiness of the performance of Open Office but clearly this is the way I will go the next time around.
Other than XP, MS Office and some tools related to scanner and digitizer tablet hardware (which is essentially free once you buy the hardware), I have cost free software on all my machines.
Freespire (Ubuntu) here I come!
Google docs ftw (hosted and now it is also desktop app)
I've already pretty much decided to never use Windows again once I can no longer run XP on the two systems I have it installed on at home. I use a Mac at work to manage a number of linux & solaris systems. Nobody in my department uses Windows. I also know more family members & friends who are perfectly happy with Windows XP and have no desire whatsoever to upgrade to Vista. They're also perfectly happy with the versions of Office, etc. that they currently have. If MS really tries to force people to switch to a rental model for their software I can only see it alienating more of their customers and convincing them to look to Macs & linux systems a a cost-effective replacement.
I stopped reading at the part where you talked about their suppository continuing to inch upwards. I don't care how great a piece of software is, but that is a definite no-go. Ouch.
...it begins.
(Cue "DUHN DUHN DUHNNNN" music.)
It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
I've never run any tests, but to me OO feels pretty speedy in a Linux environment but pokey under Windows. Is this psychological or does MS just not play nice with OO code?
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
Why are you talking about suppositories anyway?
I hate grammar Nazi's.
One of the underlying goals of Agile software is to get away from the "big number release" type of mentality that leads to unhealthy software development practices (why worry about memory consumption when the product isn't go to ship for another 2 years? ...) and instead move developers into a mindset that their software should almost constantly be of ship quality.
/. a lot longer than @ MS!), everything I say is my own opinion and does not reflect the opinions of Microsoft.
Agile development also allows the quality of the software to be under constant incremental improvement. But this has a downside as well: it becomes very hard to pick a point in time to stop releasing patches and instead tell customers "now you have to buy a new version", especially since the next version that the company releases is "just" another incremental improvement over the previous release.
So basically agile development practices can spell death for the "Shiny New Version" business model, and thus an alternative revenue stream needs to be found.
Agile software allows developers to consistently and continuously release incrementally improved versions of an application. It therefore makes sense for companies to continuously pay incremental amounts for use of that software.
Selling the concept of "it will get better over time" to who ever is making business purchasing decisions may not be easy, but in the end, if some sales person can pull it off, it will be to everyone's benefit.
Customers will be able to have a more direct and immediate interaction with software companies, and software companies will be able to practice the software development methodologies that they KNOW they should be practicing.
Note in my defense:
Some people may take offense that agile software means no more big new versions, but I'd argue that it feels intuitively 'wrong' to fix a software bug that is annoying many users, but is too low priority to make the cut for a service pack, and then sit around knowing that users will not get to see this trivial fix for years, just because of the common business model that is used to sell big box software.
Disclaimer: I'm a Microsoft employee (been on
(Besides, I've been here under a year and I work in mobile compilers!)
Need help treating your acne? Come here!
I think the connection to Onecare is an interesting touch. Microsoft, among other "enterprise" software types, has had fair success getting corporate customers paying for subscription or quasi-subscription products for a while now(Software Assurance, anything with a mandatory support contract, some site-licence flavors, etc.); but the idea rubs individual users badly. Even if the economics are actually favorable, software with a self-destruct system just doesn't feel right. People like owning stuff.
Antivirus, though, is the closest thing to an exception(well, that and MMORPGs). People are neither happy nor efficient about it; but they often do end up paying for their subscription.
Connecting a product whose subscription feels "natural"(virus signatures are a service, and are pay per unit time) with a product whose subscription feels "artificial"(Office suites can be priced as services; but nothing about them makes them so) is an interesting tactic. I wonder if it will work.
Microsoft has wanted subscription software for years, so this isn't too surprising; but it may well have gained urgency from the push toward really, really cheap computers. Full upfront software cost is a hard sell on cheap hardware; but you might be able to make it palatable by stretching it into a subscription(plus, there will finally be a way to exterminate those pesky Office 97 users!).
The idea makes me a bit nervous, though, because it points to a model of computer use very, very similar to today's cellphone model. Cheap hardware, low upfront cost; but continual, tightly controlled, nickel and diming throughout the life of the product. Unfortunately, for all the progress they have achieved, cellphones are a really miserable lesson in why the openness of the PC world is so vital.
You have to like getting fucked by a monopoly to BUY any kind of microsoft product.
You have to be incredebly stupid, and still a total masochist, to even think about RENTING it.
Jeesus, please save us from all this ignorance.
NO SIG
This bears repeating.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
This could be nice for individuals who only use the software occationally. That way you would only need to activate for a month here and there and hopefully save on having to buy the whole package.
Still, I'd rather use OO.o, as I rarely use the office package, and its free to use.
If their prices are reasonable this could prove to be a much better value for some of their existing customers, and at the same time provide a great reason for their other customers to look into OpenOffice.
Everybody wins. Go Microsoft!
Well, we ARE talking about Microsoft.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Hey man, did you get a permaban, or is someone actively downmodding you? And why?
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
Most of the services you are touting are already provided or are more generous for previous versions. Free updates? by most reasonable software vendors, yes. Install on more than one computer? Not the subscription model. Price? Well, if I was dumb enough to pay the full $400 for M$ Office and installed it on four computers, I would not feel as raped and I'd get to keep using it as long as the computers are bearable and I'm not sick of rebuilding them. Or ... I could just use Open Office and get something with zero restrictions at no cost. The subscription model is going to fail them because they are competing with free by trying to chisel every last nickel out of their customers.
No calls now, I'm
Don't do it. It spreads the "arbitrarily changing format blackhole disease."
I've been happy with OpenOffice for several years while MS Office has produced interesting, and embarrassing, format failures between editions. One example, on a Vista laptop, tried with both Office 2003 and 2007, failed to accurately render many company Powerpoint slides that had worked with Powerpoint 2003 on XP, for important meetings. As much as one would like to dismiss MS Office users as drinking Purple Kool-Aid, a self curing problem, recognizing them as plague spreaders would be closer to the mark.
Would you like to boot today? Your subscription has expired, please enter a valid credit card.
You can imagine the mechanism will be hijacked right away and your credit card details will go to some server in Albania. Not that that's much worse than your Microsoft set of subscriptions is now.
No calls now, I'm
Inventor of the LOLbalrog meme.
Consider Albany being the capital of NY, one of the most taxed states. All those taxes go to Albany. It is a microsoft tax
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
OpenOffice.org is a free, open source, cross-platform office suite available for a number of different computer operating systems. It supports the ISO standard OpenDocument Format (ODF) for data interchange as its default file format, as well as Microsoft Office '97-2003 formats, among many others.
You can use it whenever you want, wherever you want, for how long you want, all for free. Nobody is going to take it away from you.
http://www.openoffice.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org
>"There is a customer segment that really enjoys this always-on,
>always up-to-date aspect of the service," Microsoft group product
> manager Bryson Gordon said.
Indeed we do. We're called Ubuntu users. The little orange icon lets us know when ANY of our programs have updates available and then DOESN'T pester the crap out of us if we don't install them right away.
And our subscriptions are always paid up.
1 in 4 Maine children in struggle with hunger.
I can't believe no one else has said this one yet...
The obligatory:
"Nice computer ya' got there. It'd be a shame if anything happened to it."
Selling security updates as a SERVICE? It may be legal. It may make good business sense and maximize returns to stockholders, but dyn bach, it's unethical in my book.
I did find that the most important change is that the menus got all confusing. For the rest, Outlook still does a piss-poor job at matching names in the address book, Word still can't handle bulleted lists very well and stupidly still hasn't "paste as unformatted text" as the default, and VBA is still about as non-complete and non-orthogonal as it gets. Still, it was nice of MS to offer...
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Actually, the Mafia starting using this as a business model long ago. As long as users kept paying for the subscription, they were entitled to the latest versions of Bodily Functionality. Once they stop paying, they lose the right to use any version of Kneecaps, Arms, or Legs.
He has a reputation for being a rather... rabid Microsoft-hater. He's getting better, but some people still don't like him. I don't think that the inventive use of words like "Microtards" is helping, either.
This has been in the works for a long time. They announced this several years ago in fact. I think its a good idea for businesses, as the cost would be associated direcly with the amount of people that use it within an office instead of buying a ton of licences that are hard to manage and may not even get used. It would allow a user to access the full office suite at home using the same subscription, which I could see some use in. Obviously it would have to be reasonably priced.
I do not think this will fly at all in the consumer market, however. If MS tries to get people on subscription based services the will be forcing the entire market to search for an alternative. The downloads of OpenOffice for windows will jump 1000 fold in a matter of weeks, or they will see the same thing they saw with vista where 90% of the market is using the old version several years after the new versions release.
Let me see, let's crunch the numbers [in open office mind you]
1. Purchase for roughly 300.00
2. Resale Value roughly 150.00 [based on Microsoft Office 2003]
3. Price Of Service Packs [Free, but add in internet connection costs]
4. IRR [Internal Rate of Return] > 0%
Rent:
1. Renting Price X
2. Resale/Salvage Value 0
3. Adding Price of Internet Connection to Receive Updates: 30-35/Mo
4. IRR [internal Rate of Return] 0%
Analysis:
Depends on what your MARR [Minimum Acceptable Rate of Return is]. If it's negative, go ahead and rent software. If it's positive, then go ahead and buy it.
This will solve piracy for Microsoft. An idea this dumb, with so many free alternatives out there, won't be worth the effort to pirate.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
.....that this "perpetual pay" model is Microsoft's thank you to those nice ISO people for adopting OOXML?
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Soooo, they weren't so evil after-all.
It isn't much difference to what they ( and other companies, just to be fair ) do to enterprise customers already.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Did anybody think about this updates for free aspect? It took MS 5 years to update XP to Vista. You could have 5 years of non-existent Office updates given Microsoft's recent track record -- but they'll all be for free!
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
especially if it sucks as much as office 2007 (does anyone like the new UI in office... I mean anyone?)
I'm not going to give them my cc every month for the pleasure of typing a document.
I have office installed just cause my g/f is use to it and outlook and I haven't felt like forcing the issue and having her move to openoffice and thunderbird.
personally I love thunderbird and haven't used outlook for over 2years now.
I see my company buying into something like that in a flash. Predictable, fixed costs for software over the lifecycle of a desktop machine. No worring about huge, expensive version upgrades and all the cost and installation headaches that go along with them. The luxury of being able to plan hardware refresh on a stable schedule. CEOs,CFOs, and CIOs should love it.
Profanity - The sign of a small mind trying to express itself.
Or it could be less motivation to do a good job porting to Windows.
Oh wait, this is a twitter sockpuppet account. One of five. Nevermind.
If your karma gets bad enough, your posts wind up with a default -1 score.
Having multiple accounts that shill each other will normally result in that, though the twitter account itself fell out of grace of the mods a long time ago. For the same toxic bullshit he thinks is promoting free software somehow.
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
Wasn't this concept already proven as an abysmal failure by the RealPlayer? Who wants to 'rent' the software that they will be relying on for their documentation for the rest of their lives?
This just makes me ever happier that I don't use any Microsoft software on a regular basis.
I don't mind the idea of Microsoft sinking itself, but I do mind since our application runs on Windows. These people are just plain stupid. They already have the world. They want more. When Gates worried about the company that should bring down Microsoft, he shouldn't have worried about some as yet unknown upstart in a garage or Google. He should worry about his own people determined to kill the Goose that laid the Golden Egg.
free to bring those files ... or use the long existing free "Viewer" versions
But, not edit them or otherwise legitimately salvage your data.
It's easy to brush the idea that Microsoft holds your data hostage. Just don't think beyond your current PC. It doesn't bother you, but some of us WANT to open our children's mishmash of pictures and letters when we are old and gray.
This is the classic strategy where dumb money thinks it's wise to pay month-to-month.
I forsee upgrade problems that require extra support that one must pay for among a whole slew of gotchas.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
Transgaming has been doing this with Cedega for years.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
On the same machine, MS Office, which loads a bunch of gorp at boottime takes 2-3 seconds at most to open the first blank Writer page. OO will take up to 10. I think if I used the fast start option I'd see something like parity though.
If I've learned one thing from watching Law & Order, Albany and Prison go hand-in-hand.
Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
keep paying until you cover the cost of the product and/or once you stop paying (after a set value) you get to keep one of the versions (most likely not the most current version). Another option would be to get a large discount when you stop paying and choise to buy out the product. This way you walk away with something that you had paid for.
I load MS Office on a foreign computer every now and then, but haven't noticed it that much snappier than OO.org? How much faster is it? relatively speaking.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
twitter is to free software what this is to martial arts movies.
And the activation keys don't expire.
The last subscription model they went to was for windows upgrades. And to beat the "contract" they rushed Vista out the door - late and crappy. If they already have a steady stream coming in, there's no motivation.
Also, remember all the people who thought napster would be a good idea - keep paying until you don't want it, then it stops working. Not exactly the same thing, but I think some consumers will remember this type of stuff.
Businesses on the other hand get to lease software instead of buying - always attractive, since they don't have an initial outlay. And if your employees get reduced, you can reduce your software spending in line. That's the only reason this will work, and it will drag consumers along with it until they wise up in large numbers.
Isnt this how microsoft always ship office, you have to pay $200 every x years so that your documents can be read by the rest of the people in your company. But now there using a standard they need a new model, so it'll be $20 every x months. .docs)
(it also allows them to keep messing with the competition now theyve got so good at decoding
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
That you don't "own" the documents you create with "their" software, either.
You only license access to them, for a limited time.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Ubuntu.
The Enterprise version of your Linux Server OS comes with unlimited client licenses . As many clients can access the server as it's capable of serving. Also the Linux Datacenter Edition comes with unlimited CPU licenses, so you can run it on a server with as many processors as you like.
Sure, the server Enterprise version costs four times as much and the Datacenter version eight times as much, but when the base price is zero that's not too bad.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Paytard. twitter's new favorite word. Also applicable to 11-year old children. Don't use "freetard" though, that's idiotic.
I think I can see where this may have made sense at some level. But, like all good ideas, this probably got corrupted in a committee.
First, forget that you're a geek. You just need a computer for the basics: e-mailing friends and colleagues, writing papers for school/work, a presentation every other month or so, and maybe a spreadsheet for crunching numbers for the boss (or keeping tabs on your CD collection -- your geek friends keep telling you about how this is a horrible misuse and you should put together a database, but, hey, it works). Oh, and a game or two: FreeCell and Sudoku.
I have a number of friends and relatives who fit this profile. More often than not, they can't even keep this working as expected: their systems are littered with every virus known to the virus checkers out there and then some; the free version of Norton on their system expired years ago (but is still happily hogging resources, too). The system came with Windows 98, but a friend "who's good with computers" tossed a copy of XP Home from his system on there. Those WGA messages are real, which also means security updates haven't been applied since the first season of American Idol.
Many of these folks would gladly shell out $25/month if it meant that their computer "just worked." They don't care that they don't "own" the rest of the software on their machine as long as they can get their work done.
The vendor -- in this case, Microsoft -- sees an appealing monetary model here. That's $300/year per customer. Compared to the bargain rates they charge HP, Dell, etc., for XP and Office (say, $100-$200?) and a three-year lifespan of a system, this is a huge cash cow.
However, they're forgetting something: the system has to "just work" if the customers are going to buy this. Without severely tightening down what can be done to the OS (and risking likely anti-trust issues with that), this will involve a lot of tech support to get it working. The more likely alternative: frustrated customers who don't see any reason to continue paying what really amounts to a monthly tax for the same old broken computer.
I'll watch.
... for this is the first step in the fall of Microsoft!
Ah, so when you lose your job and you need to rely on your computer to write resumes or even to build a business that might bring you revenue again, and you can least afford to pay for it, they can't be gracious. Kind of the "fairweather friend" approach. Mmmmm. Good.
I wonder how long it will be before you can buy a more expensive subscription during the good times (when you can spare the extra dough) in order to get the special extra added bonus feature that if you can prove you've lost your job, you'll not be brutally cut off as long as you e-mail once a week offering digitally signed proof that you've been out faithfully looking for a job so you can pay for more subscription soon... and, of course, promising you won't even consider those freeware alternatives.
Kent M Pitman
Philosopher, Technologist, Writer
AV software still works if you don't pay for the subscription, it just doesn't get updated. Yes, it may be worth less without the latest sigs, but it's not entirely worthless.
Using Preload your linux apps can be preloaded much like Vista's SuperFetch. Start times will go down by about half with larger apps you use a lot. You can also use the tips below. People on Ubuntu Forums seem to like it. Preload is in most libraries so you would install it the same way you install all your free software.
On Windows you may want to try these helpful tips.
In either case you've saved a rental fee.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Microsoft has an incurable case of medusanitis. I predict everything they touch turns to stone for the foreseeable future until they are reduced to an SCO-like non entity. I just hope I live long enough to pop the cork when it happens.
Once Albany populates the search engine indexes, it is going to be really fun looking for things locally!
"Albany window repair"
"Microsoft Albany repair corrupt files <technet.microsoft.com>"
"Hot dogs in Albany"
"Albany is about as useful as a hot dog dropped on the floor <technet.microsoft.com>"
"Used Cars in Albany"
"Microsoft Chairman Gates is now selling used cars after the failure of Microsoft Albany <slashdot.org>"
Do you think the Microsoft-dependent economy can handle subscription services? Between this and Windows 7, if every person has to pay mandatory fees to use their own computer(s), we'd see one computer per household, and much less computers in the workplace. Getting crucial things done would be much more difficult, including everything from home shopping and banking to doing your job at businesses of all sizes.
"Linux on the desktop" will never happen. It's not about how easy or hard Linux is for the average Joe. It's because ten years ago, it was marketed in regular bookstores when it was even less stable, less compatible, and less mature.
And Mac still refuses to lower their prices. If Mac ditched the "cult following" elitist mentality and lowered their prices to compete with Dell et al., Windows would be DEAD.
If you think the economy/stock market/gas prices/gold/oil/inflation/unemployment is bad NOW, wait two years when this stuff goes into effect. It will be WAY worse!
While he was in the Texas School Book Suppository, I was on the Grassy Knoll.
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
This is no surprise. On the subject of the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray battle Gates said it doesn't matter because everything will move online soon. The subscription model is shit. It's bad enough software companies get away with writing up EULAs that basically say everything will always be your fault and you can't even read it until you buy and open the software. But if you disagree and try to return it then you're labeled a thief. The whole software model is set up around fucking the consumer over and this just takes it one step further. Why can't people realise this and start standing up for their rights rather than be a bunch of terrorist fearing sheep?
OO takes loooooooong time to load. I run Office 97 on my other AND OLDER machine -- it loads instantly.
:). Why improve already good product? in fact, not just good, but almost perfect, as far as I'm concerned.
Frankly I don't understand all the talks about "updates" to Office. What updates? Every single feature that I need already was implemented in 97
This whole idea of updates make developers sloppy. Who needs to deliver quality code the first time, when you always can update it later?
Word viewer, Excel viewer, Powerpoint viewer.
What's purple and commutes? An Abelian grape.
Heck No (at least for me personally)! This could finally be the straw that broke the camel's back and convinces governments around the world that M$ is indeed too expensive. Can anyone say Google portable apps......
More likely your Office is deployed with customizations (such as automatically dropping in the CD key) using their office resource kit, which for some anal reason requires you to have updates deployed in a similar manner, i.e. either through group policy or downloading the executables. It won't work through microsoft update.
Starbucks, Harbuckle of Breath.