Office 365 or Office 2016? (Do you still print on Paper?)

Warning: Office 365 is so called because you have to pay for it again every year. It's not like an anti-virus program where you stop getting updates - Office 365 stops working almost completely when your licence expires. All you can do is view files you've created - you can't edit them or create new ones until you've renewed. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't buy it, but it's something you need to be aware of.

Office 2013 sounds like a good bet if you need to edit PDF files, but as I already have Acrobat - which came at a bargain price when I bought a Dell laptop - I shall stick with Office 2010 (unless there's some other compelling reason to upgrade).

 

Office 365 is the monthly subscription online only package you don't install software on your computer. It will constantly update to the latest version and so you are always current, however as Peter says if you stop paying you stop being able to use it. You can however store your files locally or on Microsoft's OneDrive technology which is like Dropbox and SkyDrive etc so it's not entirely online.

Note also that for many people Office 365 will be the better bet, as the monthly subscription cost with free upgrades is perhaps more affordable than buying the full product with its upfront cost, and as Norman said whilst I was typing this you get a lot more than just the latest version of office with Office 365 you also get a lot of storage and other benefits.

Actually OneDrive is something people will hear a lot of with Windows 10. OneDrive is the default place to save files in Windows 8.1 and is the default in Windows 10. You can of course change this default but many people won't and will end up using Microsoft's cloud service without realising it.

Also worth being aware that this autumn Microsoft will launch Office 2016 so for anyone looking to purchase Word/Excel etc it might be worth holding off to get the latest version if you still hanker after a locally installed copy. Office 365 users will be upgraded for free of course.

 

You can however use it from your browser. Basically it is a small core app that connects to the program on the server. Locally installed components are tiny compared with a full blown Word/Excel install. That's one of the selling points you don't need such a hefty machine to run it. Not that Office was that demanding anyway.

I understand from literature too that some components of Office 365 require you to be online?

 

Thanks for that. I wonder what exactly it was I saw demonstrated a few years ago then. The participants were both just using IE to connect to "Office 365" and were both editing an Excel document simultaneously. They specifically made the point that you could do it with just a browser and you didn't need a full install which is why I thought that's the way it worked. Thanks for the info.

I'm currently contemplating whether we should at work replace our Office 2010 with Office 2016 or Office 365. The off putting thing was the thought that users would be stuck if we had an internet connection issue. If they have full blown program locally then this is no longer an issue and Office 365 with its auto upgrades seems like a cheaper solution. I'll have to investigate if the corporate licences come with OneDrive storage too or not. BAH more work!!! No seriously though thanks for enlightening me.

 

Hmm yes there are online only versions that are cheaper than the full install. Interesting Norman that you have Office Household do you need it installed on 5 PCs? There is a cheaper version that installs on a single PC. The various home pricing plans are here.

 

We're going with Office 365, if that helps at all

 

Does that include online email?

 

Email is MicroSoft Outlook, IM is Lync, and we use VOIP.

 

Wow, you must be a real old-timer to remember the camel case version of their trademark - haven't seen it written that way for years!

 

Guilty, I've been rumbled!