 KramerPremium,Mod
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1 edit | [Info] Microsoft Office Users, Price Going Way Up Microsoft Office, Prepare to pay more
»www.computerworld.com/s/article/···ub_plans
Microsoft has finally released some pricing information on Office 2013 and it isn't pretty. They have raised prices significantly. I have to wonder if this move will not backfire on them. Let's look at a typical home user who previously would have purchased a copy of Office Home and Student for around $150 with 3 licenses. Now lets look at the new costs. First you could buy 3 copies of Office Home and Student (a really bad move). That would cost you $140x3 or $420. or just under a 300% price increase. There is a catch here and it is the reason why the price has gone up so much. Microsoft is pushing Office 365 subscription plans and they too increase your costs, but for some it will be a better deal. For $100 per year, they will give you access to pretty much all the software that is now included in Office Professional. That software will be licensed for 5 computers. Lets say you don't need it for 5 computers, but only 3 to be fair in comparing it against the old price and the new price. Over 4 years, you would pay $400 for that software. Originally you would have only paid $150, but you wouldn't have been able to use Outlook, Access or Publisher. That's pretty much the break even point at 3 users. With 3 users or less and no need for the additional software, it makes sense to keep the perpetual license and pay them all up front. If you need the additional software and have 3 computers or more, the subscription starts to make sense. Either way, a typical family is going to pay a lot more to use Office.
Computerworld looks at the costs for a 5 year ownership period and obviously the more licenses you use, the cheaper it gets. Let's just compare 3 license costs today and then early next year when Office 2013 comes out. Today, for Office Home and Student, the cost per year now is $150/5years/3 computers= $10 per computer per year. If you want a perpetual license for the same 2013 version it will cost you $140*3= $420/5 years/3 computers= $28/computer/year or a price increase of 280%. The subscription plan which includes all the additional software is $500 during that same period of time for 3 computers (really five computers but we need to compare apples to apples and this family only needs 3 licenses). That works out to $33/computer per year for a lot more software and the ability to use it on up to 5 computers. Obviously a better deal for a lot of people. This is exactly what Microsoft wants. They want to end the perpetual license scheme and force people to economically consider a subscription plan where you become an annuity for Microsoft.
For businesses the picture isn't much better if it isn't worse. I'm not going get too deeply into those prices for now. If someone else would like to attack those, feel free. Lets just say that from what I read, the 365 Home Premium License is not applicable in a business and you must purchase a license for $150/year/user. That's right.. it is per user. That user can then install Office on up to 5 devices, but they will only have one account, so cheating will be discouraged highly. For businesses the perpetual licences only go up by a small amount (less than 20%), but anyone that took advantage of the fact that the retail disk version of Office Home and Business 2010 included 2 licenses, is going to be disappointed. For you the increase is over %100.
I'm wondering if now wouldn't be a good time to buy some retail versions of Office 2010 Home and Business. At about $270 each or $135/license, it is a really good deal. Office 2010 Home and Student is $150 or $50/license. That's a really good deal too. |
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Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
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kudos:4 | I just want Word. Last time I bought Word it was a part of Works Suite 2006 and the entire suite (Dell OEM) cost only $65. I don't want the ribbon either. I don't need anything else from Office so in cases like mine Microsoft loses because I simply will do without Word. I loved the other software in Works Suite. I own three different versions of Works Suite over the years from 1999-2006. But I won't buy anything now from Microsoft since they got rid of Works Suite. I've been told that Word 2003 works on Windows 8 and it sells cheap at EBay.
I looked at that 365 Home Premium as Dell has a link to it on this new computer. I wouldn't touch as it is not a real license. It is in the cloud crap. I'll do without rather than go that direction.
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 PhoenixDown-- Wants FIOSPremium
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kudos:1 | reply to Kramer
I'm a big fan of MS Office.
Work related stuff is pretty obvious but I prefer it for personal use too.
Outlook may be overkill but it keeps a backup of my contacts in case something goes crazy in the cloud.
Excel ... there is just no substitute for anyone who really uses this imho. This alone sold me.
Word, -- I use it occasionally but it works well and I'm used to it.
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| reply to Kramer
[Info] Buy Office today, get the next version free
Buy Office today, get the next version free |
said by Kramer:...
I'm wondering if now wouldn't be a good time to buy some retail versions of Office 2010 Home and Business. At about $270 each or $135/license, it is a really good deal. Office 2010 Home and Student is $150 or $50/license. That's a really good deal too.
• Buy Office now, download the next version free:
»office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/o···640.aspx
• View offer details:
»office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy-o···O_Suites
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| reply to Kramer
Re: [Info] Microsoft Office Users, Price Going Way Up
I love the stuff but hate the pricing already.
Hope they understand there are other options out there, and to suggest the extra cost and "cloud" office......really this is getting ridiculous.
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KramerPremium,Mod
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| reply to Gone Fishing
Re: [Info] Buy Office today, get the next version free You bring up a great point. If you buy at today's prices you will save at least 10% and possibly a lot more if you ever plan to upgrade to 2013. I doubt however the number of licenses will transfer over. Otherwise, if you buy the $150 version of Home and Student today, that would include three installs. When you upgrade that to 2013, that would only include 1 install. To be fair, Microsoft would have to give you three copies of 2013, something worth $420. I doubt they are going to do that. |
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KramerPremium,Mod
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| reply to norwegian
Re: [Info] Microsoft Office Users, Price Going Way Up said by norwegian:I love the stuff but hate the pricing already.
Hope they understand there are other options out there, and to suggest the extra cost and "cloud" office......really this is getting ridiculous.
Today, I don't think pricing for home users is that bad, unless you use Outlook. It works out to about $50/PC for a perpetual license for 3 PCs. In two months that goes up to $140/PC. I'm really curious as to how Microsoft promotes this on new PCs. Now when someone goes to Staples and buys a PC it is most likely going to be loaded with a single license version of Home and Student that is going to expire unless the owner pays Microsoft 120 bucks. The question I have is whether or not Microsoft is going to continue to do things this way at $140 or shove the purchaser into an annual subscription plan that costs $100/year? I suspect it will be the former, but I really don't know.
Microsoft's bread and butter business is Office. They make a lot of money with it. I get the same feeling you do about the pricing. It should be going down, not up. If I were Google, I'd be looking to take advantage of these hikes with something far more substantial then Docs or GMail. I doubt they are doing anything and the Microsoft domination of the market will continue and we will continue to bend over. Businesses will absorb these increases, but I doubt home users will pay much attention. Home users are not where Microsoft makes the money. |
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 BlackbirdBuilt for SpeedPremium
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Microsoft is doing the price hike simply because they think they can. If a large number of users in the marketplace responds significantly by choosing alternative office software, work-arounds, old versions, etc., the price may come down as MS's sales dollar volume falls out of their targeted "sweet spot". In the end, the only buyer recourse for attempting to achieve lower pricing is buyer restraint, as with any marketplace (whether gasoline, blenders, or whatever). If most buyers think they absolutely must have product "A", don't expect product A's price to fall...
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 DrStrangeTechnically feasiblePremium
join:2001-07-23
West Hartford, CT
kudos:1 | reply to Kramer
I hope Microsoft is planning on giving away a lot of software to nonprofits to keep their market share. The subscription model isn't going to fly in organizations with limited budgets.
There are free, open-source alternatives that don't have the annoying ribbon etc. and are less problematic to use. |
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| reply to Kramer
There's been a lot of questionable decision making at Microsoft lately, but this one has to rank right up there. |
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| reply to Kramer
At this point, I think they'd rather push everyone onto their hosted (now called "Cloud") versions of Office. A price increase on the non-rented versions helps this along. |
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 JohnInSJPremium
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| reply to Kramer
The only thing you seem to be missing comparing old and new prices is that the non-subscription price is for a single version/release, and doesn't include upgrades to future versions. Subscription-based pricing is for ongoing access to the latest release(s) - there is no "upgrade"
Put another way, if you're happily using Word 2007, you won't find this a compelling price offer. If you're buying office 2013 after buying office 2010 after buying office 2007, this might be a more attractive way to go.
And let's not forget the free office web apps in Skydrive. Not for everyone, but pretty competitive with google web apps, if you are so inclined.
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| reply to lorennerol
said by lorennerol:At this point, I think they'd rather push everyone onto their hosted (now called "Cloud") versions of Office. A price increase on the non-rented versions helps this along.
There's little doubt that's exactly what they are doing. Consumers don't always like to be pushed, though, especially when what they are being pushed towards is not clearly superior to what they already had.
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steven sPremium
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| reply to lorennerol
said by lorennerol:At this point, I think they'd rather push everyone onto their hosted (now called "Cloud") versions of Office. A price increase on the non-rented versions helps this along.
That seems like a great way to push basic users into using Google Docs instead of Office. |
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| reply to Kramer
I don't want any of my data in the Cloud! Too much chance to lose access to your data through internet outages, phone outages, etc. Just look at the Sandy survivors. No communication ability in a very wide area. |
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KramerPremium,Mod
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| reply to BillRoland
said by BillRoland:said by lorennerol:At this point, I think they'd rather push everyone onto their hosted (now called "Cloud") versions of Office. A price increase on the non-rented versions helps this along.
There's little doubt that's exactly what they are doing. Consumers don't always like to be pushed, though, especially when what they are being pushed towards is not clearly superior to what they already had. Exactly. They clearly need to up the ante on the perpetual licenses to make the subscription model more enticing. I really can't think of anyone that I do business with that is going to buy into the subscription model. Most of my users buy OEM licenses with their computers and stay with the same version throughout the life of the computer (typically 5 years). A typical purchaser who today pays Dell about $230 for a computer-life license to Office would be forced to pay for a lot of software they don't want or need, not to mention installs on computers they don't have, $750 for those 5 years. Basically a 300% price increase with the subscription model.
The Home subscription model would be a decent deal for businesses. With that model you are getting Office Pro for 100 bucks a year for 5 machines/users. I know I could talk some small businesses into that deal were it to be legal, which it isn't from what I read. That would save them a small fortune. I wonder how they are going to prevent small businesses from using that option? If you set up a system that you have to police, you need to sharpen your pencil.
I agree with you regarding Microsoft decision making. It has been very questionable lately. This one really has me scratching my head. Just when everyone seems to be finding ways around buying your products and finding new ways of communicating without your products, you stick them with a price increase. If I were a stockholder (sold all my MS stock in 1999  ), I'd be wanting Ballmer's head. Maybe Sinofsky saw what they were doing and couldn't keep his mouth shut |
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amungusPremium
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| reply to Kramer
Hmm, I just gave away a copy of 2010 (home/student) to my dad. Got it as part of a promo for a laptop and didn't really want it. Terms of use are also about as stupid as I've ever seen for such a thing.
I still have Office XP (Pro) that I paid out the nose for back in 2002. At least the licensing terms are slightly less ridiculous. Somehow, I'm just not sure I'm up for buying into another copy anytime real soon, especially with this news.
Thing is, my "ancient" copy of Office XP (2002) is still useful to me. It still accomplishes some basic things if I ever nee to install it (should probably do that, just to make sure it still freaking activates).
Currently, I've got Libre Office on my home machine and it almost never gets used. |
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 AVDRespice, Adspice, ProspicePremium
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Onion, NJ
kudos:1 | said by amungus:Hmm, I just gave away a copy of 2010 (home/student) to my dad. Got it as part of a promo for a laptop and didn't really want it. Terms of use are also about as stupid as I've ever seen for such a thing.
I still have Office XP (Pro) that I paid out the nose for back in 2002. At least the licensing terms are slightly less ridiculous. Somehow, I'm just not sure I'm up for buying into another copy anytime real soon, especially with this news.
Thing is, my "ancient" copy of Office XP (2002) is still useful to me. It still accomplishes some basic things if I ever nee to install it (should probably do that, just to make sure it still freaking activates).
Currently, I've got Libre Office on my home machine and it almost never gets used.
how many people can't figure out .docx extensions?
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| reply to Kramer
Why would anyone pay a lot of money for Office when there is Open Office which is free?
»www.openoffice.us.com/openoffice-writer.php
Just look at the screenshots and see all the things that you can accomplish with Open Office.
»www.google.com/search?q=openoffi···&bih=754
One thing that irritates me the most about Microsoft Word is the default line spacing when you create a new document. Why don't they let me do my initial line spacing without them having to guess what I want? And just look at Office 2013; it's just as ugly as Windows 8. |
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 Sandman5Premium
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Strafford, MO | said by SilentMan:Why would anyone pay a lot of money for Office when there is Open Office which is free? Probably compatibility.
For the most part, I don't think Office is that great, but I really like Outlook and have never found a suitable replacement.
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