Alternatively

you could just install LibreOffice (takes only a couple of minutes, no 5 use limit and you don't need to remove it when you're done). If that's too heavyweight, try Google Apps for free.

By WebWomble on 31 Oct 2012

@WebWomble

Good point. You could even shared your documents between multiple devices using Dropbox or a similar service.
I would say Office 2010 is better than 2007, but I can't see any reason for upgrading in the future, and I think MS know this. Hence the subscription model to keep the revenue stream going.

By tirons1 on 1 Nov 2012

?

Which article did PC Pro post that complained that Windows 8 provided ZERO training for new uers? OF course it's been weeks so I cannot find... .

I found the posters thoughts quite silly as they were based on a preview and the final release featured a quick introduction with the full package, retail, including instructions. Just thought I'd point that out.

By rhythm on 1 Nov 2012

One subscription for the Entire Household

Good article. Although I am confused (still) on this : MSFT clearly has trumpeted "One Subscription for the Entire Household" paradigm. I even have the URL:
http://blogs.office.com/b/office-news/archive/2012
/09/17/the-new-office-365-subscriptions-for-consum
ers-and-small-businesses.aspx

This seems to contradict somewhat this article point on the same subject ?

By dbjdbj on 1 Nov 2012

Office on a Rental Model ?...

They've been doing Office on a subscription for a while.
We've been using the Open Value Subscription for 1-2 years now.

By JmLing on 1 Nov 2012

What's harder for power users?

What is supposed to be harder for power users in recent Office versions?

If you mean the Ribbon Bar, it's brilliant. Some people hate change.

By cooloox on 3 Nov 2012

What's harder for power users?

What is supposed to be harder for power users in recent Office versions?

If you mean the Ribbon Bar, it's brilliant. Some people hate change.

By cooloox on 3 Nov 2012

The bigger picture

I accept the subtelty of Microsoft moving to a subscrition model. The "million dollar" question for most businesses and individuals is "am I happy for Microsoft to own my data"?

By milliganp on 3 Nov 2012

I will stick with Office 2003; the supposed advantages of 2007 and 2010 have completely eluded me, and still cause me endless annoyance when I try to carry out the simplest of operations. That 'ribbon' is a disaster. What amazes me is the meek acceptance by the global business population when Microsoft imposes this sort of rubbish on them.

By Whiskybreath on 5 Nov 2012

COM integration ?

I've only glanced read this but what are the implications for COM based integration with office products ?

By MiniEggs on 5 Nov 2012

Great for first world internet connections, not so good elsewhere - could put a crimp in M$ turnover, unless of course this market isn't that important to them.

By JohnIScream on 5 Nov 2012

COM integration ?

I've only glanced read this but what are the implications for COM based integration with office products ?

By MiniEggs on 5 Nov 2012

COM integration ?

I've only glanced read this but what are the implications for COM based integration with office products ?

By MiniEggs on 5 Nov 2012

The price is crucial

As far as I'm aware MS has remained a bit tight-lipped about the UK prices for these products.

I'm currently running the 'Preview' on my PC, and the final version on my Surface.
I'm very happy to move to a subscription-based service, so long as I can afford it. The package of software & associated services is compelling.

I am already a convert to Hosted Exchange for email, ,so this is simply another step towards the goal of tight integration between all my digital devices and their contents, whether literal or virtual.

I do share various concerns about the location, security, confidentiality and 'ownership' of my data, but ultimately I suspect that it will simply be a trade-off between convenience and 'privacy'.

By wittgenfrog on 5 Nov 2012

I like "owning" rather than renting. Same with my TV - I buy rather than rent because unless you upgrade every year buying is usually cheaper.

Plus assuming I'm a home user - say a pensioner - on a limited monthly budget. I'd probably buy office once and make it last for the next 7 years - making it more cost effective than a subscription model.

Finally I don't trust the cloud! I use dropbox but not for anything I don't mind going public.

Come back in 10 years when everyone is on the cloud and I'll bet hacking and stealing of cloud data will be a regular event without some major security updates.

By cyberindie on 5 Nov 2012

Something else to think about is what happens if you fall on hard times?

Lets assume the world has moved to just a subscription only way of buying software. Each month your subscription bill is £250.

Suddenly you lose your job - money is tight - something has to give. Is it the heating and food? Or the MS Office subscription?

If you'd bought it outright when times were better and you had the money this won't be an issue.

But under a subscription model you can only keep wordprocessing as long as you keep up the payments....

By cyberindie on 5 Nov 2012

I have to agree about the data...

@milliganp has already made the point, but it's worth emphasizing it again. Cloud computing is all fine and dandy, but the status of data held on somebody else's servers is still very much in question. I am nervous of Google's amazing licensing terms in this respect, and see no reasons not to be nervous of Microsoft's as well. Now you could - not unreasonably - argue that billions of us trust third-party mail servers with our data, most often in non-encrypted format, with all sorts of commercially confidential goodies lurking in attachments in all kinds of formats. And this is a good point. But actually storing your stuff on Somebody Else's servers on a more-or-less permanent basis is a big step. And this is where I think Microsoft's Big Move is more than a little premature.

By MadaboutDana on 5 Nov 2012

@MadaboutDana

You don't have to use the cloud, you can still save locally and use the cloud as a back-up or sync between machines...

By big_D on 6 Nov 2012

Interesting ... and expensive: I'm passing

1. The app. streaming is great ... pity us mere consumers can't manipulate it ourselves.

2. The subscription price is lousy, amounting to an anual fee not much than purchasing Home and Student. Yes I know there are a few other goodies ... but the additional applications would rarely be used ... and have you got 5 power PC's in your household? Office 2007 has does me still. Still it might be good for some groups.

3. I am steering clear of subscriptions - it's a lock in strategy.

4. Contrary to a few other posters, I don't think your data HAS to ALL stay in the cloud. Indeed using Skydrive for work in progress ... and then moving to your archive sounds very useful.

Summary: the big issue is the subscription lock in. I'm passing. (I might go for the 'buy Office 2010 now and get one free Office 2013 later' offer, providing I keep 2 Office 2010's and one Office 2013).

By Jacko55 on 6 Nov 2012

Interesting ... and expensive: I'm passing

1. The app. streaming is great ... pity us mere consumers can't manipulate it ourselves.

2. The subscription price is lousy, amounting to an anual fee not much than purchasing Home and Student. Yes I know there are a few other goodies ... but the additional applications would rarely be used ... and have you got 5 power PC's in your household? Office 2007 has does me still. Still it might be good for some groups.

3. I am steering clear of subscriptions - it's a lock in strategy.

4. Contrary to a few other posters, I don't think your data HAS to ALL stay in the cloud. Indeed using Skydrive for work in progress ... and then moving to your archive sounds very useful.

Summary: the big issue is the subscription lock in. I'm passing. (I might go for the 'buy Office 2010 now and get one free Office 2013 later' offer, providing I keep 2 Office 2010's and one Office 2013).

By Jacko55 on 6 Nov 2012

Interesting ... and expensive: I'm passing

1. The app. streaming is great ... pity us mere consumers can't manipulate it ourselves.

2. The subscription price is lousy, amounting to an anual fee not much than purchasing Home and Student. Yes I know there are a few other goodies ... but the additional applications would rarely be used ... and have you got 5 power PC's in your household? Office 2007 has does me still. Still it might be good for some groups.

3. I am steering clear of subscriptions - it's a lock in strategy.

4. Contrary to a few other posters, I don't think your data HAS to ALL stay in the cloud. Indeed using Skydrive for work in progress ... and then moving to your archive sounds very useful.

Summary: the big issue is the subscription lock in. I'm passing. (I might go for the 'buy Office 2010 now and get one free Office 2013 later' offer, providing I keep 2 Office 2010's and one Office 2013).

By Jacko55 on 6 Nov 2012

Help wanted !

Jon said,'Since those pioneering days, Office has become bigger, more bloated and arguably more difficult to use for power users.'

Spot on. Word - which was never good (just google 'Word Irish Elk'), but tolerable - has now become a hackers' paradise. As one of the reviews of 2007 said, 'Styles, which have always had issues, are now broken for ever.' Personally I've spent years getting styles to behave predictably as I deal with very large complex documents; every version of Word has changed the way they work. 2003 introduced 'Table Styles' which were quickly dismissed as 'They needn't have bothered'.

The Ribbon is a disaster for power users - it contains loads of junk you'll never need, unless your a hacker and prefer to locally format rather than design a document with consistency in mind.

For years I've used floating toolbars with all the commands I need at one click of a mouse. Sadly I've been unable to reproduce that in any of the open source type equivalents.

Then there's the instability - pictures jumping about from page to page every time you open the document. Send a complex document to a friend - get him to open it and send it back with no changes. It won't be the same document.

Then there's Excel. As one ex-Microsoft programmer wrote, 'Have you noticed the way the clipboard works in Excel is different from any other MS product?' Why? I've lost count of the number of macros I've had to write to make Excel behave as any sensible person would want and expect it to function

After 30 years in software, desperately looking for a viable alternative.

By Acorner on 6 Nov 2012

Churn

That's the goal of Microsoft since Bill took a back seat. Balmer is a stooge to his CFO,and shareholders.

I agree with Mr Honeyball that Office really peeked at 2003, then has begun a bloated and steady decline.

Open Office now safely nestled in the Apache stable after being kicked around by SUn and Oracle is starting to get some momentum behind it.

The Ribbon, the recent switch to lo-fi windows 8 interfaces all represent logic U-turns performed only to give the impression of change or improvement and to prep for easy network transfer and replication in the cloud.

I don't dislike where Microsft is trying to get to with cloud subscriptions, but we all know the price is going to be a little too greedy for most user's comfort.

The biggest gain for Microsft with subsctiption based services will be finally gaining the upper hand on the pirates duplicating and profiteering from VLK copies of Office.

Hacking in the cloud, ABSOLUTELY INEVITABLE.

I'm sure if you read the terms of service they will have already covered themselves so you cant sue when it all falls down.

By Gindylow on 7 Nov 2012

The cloud

I laugh when I hear about people not trusting the Cloud. For all of our lives we're happy to save our money with banks and trust that their statements sent to us are honest and true. We no longer own bank books, we trust electronic input.How many people check these, really? Why is the Cloud any different?

By Patricu1 on 17 Nov 2012

^^Patricu1

On a base level if you find it so funny you have nothing to worry about?

The root of the problem doesn't lie in the electronic nautre of Cloud transactions, or for that matter banking transactions.

It relies on the vulnerabilities and holes which inevtiably will be found in the security models at all the usual levels...for both the public or the private cloud the complexity and diversity of what machines and networks can be running is huge, and the human element of usernames and passwords comes into the mix with social engineering.

Much of "the cloud" will be dark, and not publicly visible on the Net so less exposed to risk but not immune.

To think that the Cloud wont be compromised at some time and in some way is like thinking that the DNS system, or your ISP cannot be hacked, which would be false, it happens regularly.

In terms of "trust" your concerns about breach will relate to what if anything you choose to put on it either on a personal level, or an employer's level, or indirecty what if any of your information will end up on the cloud as a result of interations with other companies and agencies.

By Gindylow on 18 Nov 2012