The Microsoft Office Rental Program

LWATCDR writes "Yes, it looks like Microsoft is going to a rental program for Office. From the article, 'The software bundle, which also includes Microsoft's Live OneCare computer security software, will be sold at nearly 700 Circuit City stores for $70 per year.' Well I for one will be happy to stick with OpenOffice for now. From Microsoft's point of view it means a constant flow of money. For the customer it means you only have to pay a little each year instead of a lot every few years. I don't think this will save the average user any money and I wonder about problems with 'activation.' So will this fly, or will it give a big push to OpenOffice?

Comments

Bloat issue

[michaelwigle]

This has been mentioned before but running on the assumption you aren't trolling I'll update you a bit. OO.o does still have some bloat issues (primarily during launch, once it's running it's very quick). However, you can turn on an option that loads a small TSR on boot-up which eliminates that lag. Admittedly, it's a bit kludgy, but to be honest, I'd wager MS only gets away with a fast start to Office because part of it's core is in the OS so it seems a fair trade.

As a side note, the startup process has improved enough that I don't bother with the TSR on newer machines but for the very impatient it's a nice feature to turn on. Give the latest OO.o a spin and see what you think. It's still not fancy but it's a great workhorse, gets the job done, and is free. What more could you want? :)

Re:A "lot" every few years

[poetmatt]

Open Source Onenote?

Yes, one you don't have to download, and one you do.

On Linux: Basket Notepads
On windows: Zoho Notebook (no software required for that one)

Good Idea for Certain Users

[Admodieus]

Included in this package is not only Microsoft Office, but also Windows Live OneCare among other services. Let's see how the math breaks down over the next few years:
Traditional Purchase Model
-Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student - $150
-Windows Live OneCare (with one year subscription) - $50
-Next year's OneCare subscription - $50
-Following year's OneCare subscription - $50
-Microsoft Office 2009 Home and Student - $150
Total for three years: $450

Under the new Equipt Model
-Microsoft Equipt (first year) - $70
-Microsoft Equipt (second year) - $70
-Microsoft Equipt (third year, includes upgrade to Office 2009) - $70
Total for three years: $210

Now, this is assuming that the user continues to subscribe to OneCare and eventually would upgrade to Office 2009 - however, assuming they do, the savings are pretty clear. Since this is being offered side-by-side with the traditional purchase model, I think this is a good move by Microsoft. Also, there is no alternative anywhere in the software universe that comes close to OneNote.

Re:It's just a matter of time

[Shotgun]

Careful with those comparisons.

How much of MSWord is loaded at boot time as part of the "operating system"? That will make it seem to load faster and use less memory, because it has hidden large parts of itself in other places.

OO.org used to have a "pre-load" option that should make the two equivalent, at least in the loading time.

Re:Mod parent +5 insightful

[afidel]

Huh? PDF IS an open format, the specs is available here and it's been submitted as an ISO standard, and not in the MS Office XML way, but as a fully documented standard with multiple compatible implementations in the wild.

Re:A "lot" every few years

[pwizard2]

The best notetaking software I've ever used is called Freemind. It's a hierarchical mindmapping tool that provides good structuring and quick notetaking since everything is bound to a key without having to navigate menus (of course, you can do that too, if you want)

I'll go so far as to say that Freemind should be standard issue for every student.