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Microsoft Will Block Desktop 'Office' Apps From 'Office 365' Services In 2020 (techradar.com)
An anonymous reader writes:
Microsoft is still encouraging businesses to rent their Office software, according to TechRadar. "In a bid to further persuade users of the standalone versions of Office to shift over to a cloud subscription (Office 365), Microsoft has announced that those who made a one-off purchase of an Office product will no longer get access to the business flavours of OneDrive and Skype come the end of the decade." PC World explains that in reality this affects very few users. "If you've been saving all of your Excel spreadsheets into your OneDrive for Business cloud, you'll need to download and move them over to a personal subscription -- or pony up for Office 365, as Microsoft really wants you to do."
Microsoft is claiming that when customers connect to Office 365 services using a legacy version of Office, "they're not enjoying all that the service has to offer. The IT security and reliability benefits and end user experiences in the apps is limited to the features shipped at a point in time. To ensure that customers are getting the most out of their Office 365 subscription, we are updating our system requirements." And in another blog post, they're almost daring people to switch to Linux. "Providing over three years advance notice for this change to Office 365 system requirements for client connectivity gives you time to review your long-term desktop strategy, budget and plan for any change to your environment."
In a follow-up comment, Microsoft's Alistair Speirs explained that "There is still an option to get monthly desktop updates, but we are changing the 3x a year update channel to be 2x a year to align closer to Windows 10 update model. We are trying to strike the right balance between agile, ship-when-ready updates and enterprise needs of predictability, reliability and advanced notice to validate and prepare."
Microsoft is claiming that when customers connect to Office 365 services using a legacy version of Office, "they're not enjoying all that the service has to offer. The IT security and reliability benefits and end user experiences in the apps is limited to the features shipped at a point in time. To ensure that customers are getting the most out of their Office 365 subscription, we are updating our system requirements." And in another blog post, they're almost daring people to switch to Linux. "Providing over three years advance notice for this change to Office 365 system requirements for client connectivity gives you time to review your long-term desktop strategy, budget and plan for any change to your environment."
In a follow-up comment, Microsoft's Alistair Speirs explained that "There is still an option to get monthly desktop updates, but we are changing the 3x a year update channel to be 2x a year to align closer to Windows 10 update model. We are trying to strike the right balance between agile, ship-when-ready updates and enterprise needs of predictability, reliability and advanced notice to validate and prepare."
If you run the other popular operating system, full installs of Pages, Numbers and Keynote come with it.
I think you meant - if you run one of the other popular operating systems, Docs, Sheets, and Slides come with them.
The operating system you refer to is not "popular" by any current stretch of the definition and you might as well suggest LibreOffice. And while Keynote may soundly thump PowerPoint there are things that Pages cannot do compared to Word, and no way no how can Numbers keep up with Excel.
Nobody in their right mind would use LibreOffice and especially Linux desktop. Crap piled on top of crap.
Microsoft and Apple have their problems, but at least their software works and isn't hacked together by amateurs.
I used Open Office for years to type court transcripts. Best day of my professional life was the day I tried MS Office. Open Office is a steaming pile of crap by comparison.
Just try to do something as simple as change a header partway through the several hundred page document is Open Office. Do it 3 times for every witness, do it for the submissions of each lawyer, do it for the reasons for judgement and reasons for sentence. And you'll want to shoot the first open office dev you see because you think the murderer in the courtroom is getting off easier than you are. Then do it in MS Office. It's a world of difference, a total pleasure by comparison. Shortcuts for commonly used phrases and the participants names (usually using autocorrect) was a glitchy disaster in Open Office. In MS Office it just works.
Either you are an anti-MS troll or you've never used open office for more than updating your resume and you think that's all anyone does.