Future Microsoft Office Versions Look to be Subscription Only

[yogurt_21]

Of course, enterprises usually prefer to own things instead of having them in a rent model,

...uh no they don't. Users prefer to own. But Enterprises have been moving away from ownership of nearly everything since the 90's.

Buildings: They used to build them, now they rent.

Office car fleets: Used to purchase, now they lease.

Employees: Used to be all full time, Now some Full time + lots of Contractors.

Servers: First it was Purchase, then it was Lease, then it was Virtualize, now they host on AWS, Google, or Azure.

Microsoft Licensing: Used to be perpetual, now its 3 years + annual True-Up. IE even on the enterprise office version they were paying based on the license model, not the perpetual.

Essentially Enterprises want to be able to calculate expenses against profits. When they have to purchase outright it created irregular cash flow. When they can simply pay a monthly fee, cash flow is pretty stable.



Users (for the most part) prefer one and done as far as payment as it is less draining on monthly finances and they can always schedule big purchases around holidays, birthdays, bonus time at work, etc.

 

[Vayra86]

i see it as inevitable.. it all fits in with the six monthly upgrades and windows as a service concept which we are being conditioned into..postponing as long as possible

trog

FTFY

Correct. Just relating what MS has been saying.

MS has specifically called this Microsoft 365. Not Office 365.

Whether this is even related to Office is just guesswork in the first place, and I honestly don't see why it would be. They already have that going. You can also find permanent Office 2016 and 2019 keys online for as little as 5~15 bucks. My care factor is just about zero to be honest.

Whether WaaS (Windows as a Service , in Dutch Waas means 'haze') is going to take off soon or ever, I'll see it when that happens. Won't be overnight anyway, more than enough time to adjust. But when it does, I'm out. They can put their cloud where the sun don't shine

...uh no they don't. Users prefer to own. But Enterprises have been moving away from ownership of nearly everything since the 90's.

Buildings: They used to build them, now they rent.

Office car fleets: Used to purchase, now they lease.

Employees: Used to be all full time, Now some Full time + lots of Contractors.

Servers: First it was Purchase, then it was Lease, then it was Virtualize, now they host on AWS, Google, or Azure.

Microsoft Licensing: Used to be perpetual, now its 3 years + annual True-Up. IE even on the enterprise office version they were paying based on the license model, not the perpetual.

Essentially Enterprises want to be able to calculate expenses against profits. When they have to purchase outright it created irregular cash flow. When they can simply pay a monthly fee, cash flow is pretty stable.



Users (for the most part) prefer one and done as far as payment as it is less draining on monthly finances and they can always schedule big purchases around holidays, birthdays, bonus time at work, etc.

True. And who are leading in tech these days?

The owners. Take some time to think about that In many cases not owning anything is a question of penny wise / pound foolish. It just takes time to realize that, and when you do, its actually to late to turn back. You've lost all the ingredients to make ownership a success by then (mostly people and loyalty). It happens in governance too, putting more and more critical assets on the 'free market' with some misplaced illusion that will create profit. In Europe we are now slowly waking up from that dream. Very slowly. Healthcare is a great example.

 

[GoldenX]

If this happens, LibreOffice will be the new standard.
Plus that KMS thing... I've heard there is something that can be done about that.

 

[opojare]

Got free Office365 from my university. Even when i already graduated its like they never bother to revoke it. So... yeah whatever

 

[Easy Rhino]

When you don't own anything you are not an actual person. The trend to a completely service oriented society comes with it is some very dangerous side effects.

 

[TheDeeGee]

I like to have my OS legal, but if this is going to happen i will no doubt find an alternative way to get my Windows.

Especially if it's going to be €9,99 a month.

 

[rtwjunkie]

permanent Office 2016 and 2019 keys

Good luck in perpetuity with that. MS specifically said earlier this year that Office 2019 would have the same EOL as 2016. It’s a sh** move but also went along with them transitioning to a pure subscription office after.

Here’s a much more down to Earth writing about the job announcement, and seconds what I have been saying that there is no indication or clue anywhere that and subscription would involve the OS.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/332...or-consumers-without-or-without-xbox.amp.html

 

[Paganstomp]

Lack of innovation = death.

Nice knowing you M$.

 

[the54thvoid]

When you don't own anything you are not an actual person. The trend to a completely service oriented society comes with it is some very dangerous side effects.

Ownership of stuff does not validate the individual. What absolute guff. By your definition, the more you own, the more of a person you are?

 

[GoldenX]

If you don't own what you work and pay for, why even bother? You are one legal move away of having nothing.

 

[GlacierNine]

Ownership of stuff does not validate the individual. What absolute guff. By your definition, the more you own, the more of a person you are?

What he means is that from the perspective of a large business, someone who rents a product is of objectively less worth than someone who pays a higher price for a lifetime license to the same product.

This is because from the perspective of a business, when a product is sold on a rental model, the consumer is assumed to be part of a single nebulous mass of users who ebb and flow. Many are trialling the product and never returning. Some are longterm users who make no demands on the product at all. Most are in some small way unhappy with the product but not enough to look for an alternative.

Compare that to a person who is buying a single product, once, at a higher price - You have to convince this person to pay the initial entry fee, so trial versions become a high expense item that drives retention at a cost - rather than a short term subscription, which makes you money even if the customer leaves immediately.

Also, in a subscription model, your only impetus to provide a useful upgrade to your product would be to prevent a competitor from stealing your subscribers. If there's no realistic competition, then you can continue to make bank while doing nothing. Compare that to a purchase and ownership model, where to continue making money, even without competition, you either have to find people who don't already own your software and sell it to them, or you have to find ways to convince existing owners to upgrade. That's hard to do when you're selling a product like Office, that already does THOUSANDS of complex and useful things that 99% of users simply don't require.

He's phrasing it weirdly, I agree, but he's right in spirit - Subscription models rather than purchase models, dehumanise the consumers of your product and reduce their power of choice while reducing your costs as a business.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Ownership of stuff does not validate the individual. What absolute guff. By your definition, the more you own, the more of a person you are?

It might not validate you as an individual, it validates you as a person in a society where money exists...

 

[R-T-B]

bringing Office 365 subscriptions to consumer land.

I mean, hasn't it always been?

 

[rtwjunkie]

I mean, hasn't it always been?

I phrased badly. As part of their MS365 for consumers. It’s the only known entity in there, since the rest of the business model is not likely to work for consumers. I linked an article that lays it out.

 

[Vayra86]

Good luck in perpetuity with that. MS specifically said earlier this year that Office 2019 would have the same EOL as 2016. It’s a sh** move but also went along with them transitioning to a pure subscription office after.

Here’s a much more down to Earth writing about the job announcement, and seconds what I have been saying that there is no indication or clue anywhere that and subscription would involve the OS.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/332...or-consumers-without-or-without-xbox.amp.html

Ive been using OfficeXP pro up to this day with zero issues... not seeing how Office 2016 is any different.

Thx for the link

 

[R-T-B]

This would be FUD if one of us members wrote it.

The OS part may well be. Isn't the rest established?

 

[GlacierNine]

The OS part may well be. Isn't the rest established?

I'd go so far as to say the OS part almost definitely is. There's literally nothing in the job posting that supports the title of this thread, and I honestly hope it gets changed to something more reasonable - perhaps "Alarmist tech sites fear Windows Subscription Model on Horizon despite total lack of evidence"

 

[Easo]

This is grasping at straws. Overall, yeah, it looks possible for MS to go this way, but because of a single job posting? No.
P.S.
Enterprises prefers to rent nowadays, OPEX vs CAPEX, etc.

 

[TheGuruStud]

No consumer should be paying a cent for MS baloney. Literally, just say no and spread VL activators far and wide.

 

[Vayra86]

I'd go so far as to say the OS part almost definitely is. There's literally nothing in the job posting that supports the title of this thread, and I honestly hope it gets changed to something more reasonable - perhaps "Alarmist tech sites fear Windows Subscription Model on Horizon despite total lack of evidence"

There only is as far as the branding goes. M365 is the total package for enterprise.

M365 may become a different total package for consumer. A package where obviously Office is only part of the deal. Which makes sense, because why sub something you barely use (most avg consumers).

 

[Nkd]

I guess if they ever do a monthly subscription for windows people would simply stop updating and stick to what they have. I know I will be fine with the current version of windows lol. Yea for office I understand, but I think it's dumb to charge for it monthly. They will just drive more people to Mac. For office though I get the idea.

 

[GlacierNine]

No consumer should be paying a cent for MS baloney. Literally, just say no and spread VL activators far and wide.

Don't cut yourself with that edge there boy.

There are plenty of good reasons to criticise Microsoft, but honestly, blind hate is silly.

I want telemetry gone too. I want proper package management to become the norm and the registry to be better managed. I want updates to be optional, I want less disconnect between the new settings panels and the old control panel, and less duplication of functionality. I want there to be better support for VPN within the OS, instead of the gimped support the OS presently has. I want to be able to use Linux-esque workspaces, I want them to return proper user management to sub-pro SKUs of windows, so that families with disabled children fan properly limit the damage said children can do to the OS with errant clicking - Win10 home is awful for this. I could even request that windows restore were made capable of booting a static snapshot of a single user's account so that no matter what, that disabled user always has the same experience when logging in - do you have any idea how helpful that would be for autistic children who have that need for routine?

But ultimately, the alternatives I could have instead of windows either don't address these shortcomings either, or they come with huge drawbacks that prevent me from recommending them either. Fedora Linux for example, is a great OS - but compared to windows, it is in the STONE AGE when it comes to installing GPU drivers, and its installer wont run on my system unless I unplug 3 of my hard drives first. Is that a very niche issue? Yes. But it's one that Windows has never had and Fedora does.

If that changes then fine, but until it does, I have two choices - I either use MS products to do what I want to do - or I don't do what I want to do.

 

[TheGuruStud]

Don't cut yourself with that edge there boy.

There are plenty of good reasons to criticise Microsoft, but honestly, blind hate is silly.

I want telemetry gone too. I want proper package management to become the norm and the registry to be better managed. I want updates to be optional, I want less disconnect between the new settings panels and the old control panel, and less duplication of functionality. I want there to be better support for VPN within the OS, instead of the gimped support the OS presently has. I want to be able to use Linux-esque workspaces, I want them to return proper user management to sub-pro SKUs of windows, so that families with disabled children fan properly limit the damage said children can do to the OS with errant clicking - Win10 home is awful for this. I could even request that windows restore were made capable of booting a static snapshot of a single user's account so that no matter what, that disabled user always has the same experience when logging in - do you have any idea how helpful that would be for autistic children who have that need for routine?

But ultimately, the alternatives I could have instead of windows either don't address these shortcomings either, or they come with huge drawbacks that prevent me from recommending them either. Fedora Linux for example, is a great OS - but compared to windows, it is in the STONE AGE when it comes to installing GPU drivers, and its installer wont run on my system unless I unplug 3 of my hard drives first. Is that a very niche issue? Yes. But it's one that Windows has never had and Fedora does.

If that changes then fine, but until it does, I have two choices - I either use MS products to do what I want to do - or I don't do what I want to do.

They've nearly destroyed PC (and gaming). Quit paying these incompetent idiots. Their business practices alone earn them zero dollars from anyone I know. Every time they get paid for this junk, it's a clear sign to keep the status quo and adventure into dumbass territory.

 

[GlacierNine]

They've nearly destroyed PC (and gaming). Quit paying these incompetent idiots. Their business practices alone earn them zero dollars from anyone I know. Every time they get paid for this junk, it's a clear sign to keep the status quo and adventure into dumbass territory.

So let me get this straight - you don't know ANYONE who uses Skype or windows, or plays minecraft, or uses linkedin, or office, or github?

That's strange, since your profile, recent posts, and every thread you've submitted to this forum all confirm you're a windows user. Not only that but you don't seem to have ever posted anything about Linux and your system specs say "Fuck OS X too".

Sounds to me like all you're doing is trying to justify piracy instead of even looking into whether there are other options for what you want to do. I didn't know that "fighting the status quo" meant "never talking about alternatives to it"

I mean hey, far be it from me to suggest that piracy isn't a valid form of protest against a corrupt or exploitative industry, but would it kill you to at least pay lip service to some of the alternatives available so that you don't seem like such a colossal hypocrite?

Edit: I would also absolutely love to hear your rationale for MS being the downfall of PC Gaming. That's just gotta be some grade A moon logic considering there are fewer console exclusives this generation than in any previous one, yet more games released than any previous generation.

 

[Soler25]

I wonder if they're even allowed to go on subscription for an OS? The EU would likely argue it to be unfair under competition law given most store bought PC's come with an OS by MS. Until games (and all other software) is 100% transferable to other OS, I can't see it being allowed (if to use software 'X', you need to also pay MS a monthly fee).

Sounds like a "perfect" case for MS to start shipping with a "lite" version of the OS. Where you can only install certain apps, and such. But in order to use the full OS you must either pay a monthly fee, or open loot boxes.