Shall I upgrade from Office 2010?

[Wirko]

Yes it's a public link, and it only doesn't work sometimes. It's tied to specific eshop it seems. This for example https://www.bike24.com/p2642393.html?sku=2188362

Excel 2010 in Windows 11 Pro shows this, consistently:

Sorry, use bike29 or bike7 instead. Both work. I'd almost bet that stupid Excel is attempting to convert "bike24" to (or from) date, time, number, or whatever.

 

[Octopuss]

The bizarre thing is it sometimes works, and it works with other links from the very same eshop. It feels mostly random, so I have no idea WTF is going in.

 

[Octopuss]

Is Office licence still specific to a language, or not anymore? I am not sure, but I think at least with 2010, you have to use say czech installation image with czech licence key.

 

[P4-630]

Is Office licence still specific to a language, or not anymore? I am not sure, but I think at least with 2010, you have to use say czech installation image with czech licence key.

There may be "Global" and Language specific keys, just like you have with windows keys.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[PLAfiller]

There may be "Global" and Language specific keys, just like you have with windows keys.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I think you are right. I've seen "Global" written. I always get the cheapest one's with phone activation currently on office pro 2021.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Is Office licence still specific to a language, or not anymore?

"Still?" I am not aware it ever was.

See this: How to Change Language in Microsoft Word and Office (lifewire.com)

 

[Calenhad]

2010 have so many security holes by now, the wise decision is to upgrade. All you have to do in Office 2010 is open a malicious spreadsheet or document and you got yourself a nice infection in your pc.

Modern Office lets you specify both program language and spellchecking language(s) during install, at least if you use a script to install it. After that there are language controls in the program settings. I have not run into any regional restrictions with keys. But I have not tested every key in the world either.

 

[Bill_Bright]

2010 have so many security holes by now, the wise decision is to upgrade.

It is well beyond "End of Life" and is no longer supported. That alone is reason enough to upgrade.

 

[mplayerMuPDF]

It is well beyond "End of Life" and is no longer supported. That alone is reason enough to upgrade.

or decide to switch to another office suite.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Just got a bundle win-10 pro with office 2021 pro plus off godeal24
Also got ashampoo pdf pro 3 all for my laptop
All for about 50.us no issues activating any of them.

No reason to get anything but 2019 pro plus the 2016 version is harder to find but they popup every once in a while
I did snag a couple little over a year ago same place.= cheap.

 

[mama]

Ok, but I don't need the full suite and I hate subscriptions. And I hate Microsoft spying on me even more.
I should have specified I was looking for a standalone licence that cost a few cents (=can't be arsed if it cannot be bought with a few clicks or cost exorbitant amounts considering my needs), which is why I briefly looked at 2016.

If you hate subscriptions then stay with Office 2010. I did hold out for a long time until I started getting glitching in Word documents when I opened other people's created Word documents. The formatting would incurably change (not sure why to this day). That was the straw that broke this camel's back and forced me to jump.

 

[Bill_Bright]

or decide to switch to another office suite.

True. But sadly, there are some organizations that only accept documents created by Office even though OpenOffice or LibreOffice (as examples) documents are fully compatible. The public schools in my area insist on that. HOWEVER, and in their defense, they also provide Office to their students so it is not like they are forcing anyone to pay anything for it.

If you hate subscriptions then stay with Office 2010.

Why? There are stand-alone (one-time or "perpetual license") versions of Office 2016 (which I have), Office 2019, Office 2021 and even the new Microsoft Office 2024 will have a perpetual license version,

catering to those who prefer to purchase the product once and have it forever.

 

[Octopuss]

I ended up buying secondary (or so they claimed) Office 2019 Home+student licence for about €10-15 equivalent. It's difficult to tell the legitibility of these eshops. The source of the licences could be anything. Phone activation worked though, so I guess I'm fine.
Compared to 2010, the interface is FUCKING UGLY though. I just don't understand where did this flat design came from, and why are they making it even worse every year (looking at you, Android).

 

[Bill_Bright]

You likely got a legal, but unauthorized license. That is, the license is legit but the seller was not authorized to sell it.

What happens is a company buys, for example, a 500 "volume license" package for their company, but only needs 400. The license agreement they made with Microsoft says they are not supposed to break those unused 100 licenses out of the "volume license" package, but they do anyway (perhaps unknowingly by someone in their IT department).

In the US, UK and other countries, that is not legal and "auditing" software is in place to prevent it. But in many countries, it is not illegal, so there is no real, accurate control. Somebody ends up with those extra 100 keys and sells them off dirt cheap. Microsoft's database simply sees the keys as one of the legit keys out of the 500 they sold to the company.

Microsoft could invalidate your key "IF" the learned you did not obtain it through authorized channels. But that is not likely since no auditing software is in place. But even if they did, by chance (or by some whistleblower), find out, it is unlikely they would invalidate your key for fear of unwelcomed publicity.

As far as you not liking the UI, had you gone from 2010 to 2016 and then to 2019, the changes would have been more subtle.

 

[Octopuss]

No, the eshop claims the licences are secondary (I'm sure there's a specific word in english for this), as in used, but no longer used. I really don't know how it works; my only experience with 2nd hand licences were times when you could buy physical Windows stickers taken from discarded PCs). I had to use phone activation, because trying to activate it from within Office gave me the usual "already installed on maximum number of machines" or whatever error.

 

[mb194dc]

I'm always surprised by 365. MSFT have zero innovation with office since 2010. Yet people are paying per month for it these days and they're raking in more $ than ever before..

 

[Deleted member 57642]

It's so odd to me - to hear about paid office apps close to 2024 (it's as if someone's talking about a paid internet browser). There's just... so many free alternatives with modern features integrated - where compatibility issues are a thing of a distant past - that Microsoft would have to pay me to user their office.

 

[Bill_Bright]

No, the eshop claims the licences are secondary

Yes.

Even if it was previously installed on another machine, at that price, it is clear it was part of a volume license and should not have been sold separate. But since you don't live in the US or other country where there are laws in place, Microsoft authorized your copy.

I'm always surprised by 365. MSFT have zero innovation with office since 2010. Yet people are paying per month for it these days

There have been many changes and improvements since 2010. Whether you deem them as "innovations" or not is simply a matter of your opinion.

I personally don't understand paying a monthly fee for it either. That would be yet another bill and I already have too many. But that monthly fee ensures Office is always current and if something goes wrong, you can call tech support. Many people find those significant advantages.

 

[neatfeatguy]

I use 2016 at home. Zero issues with it when I need to use it. Before that I was on Office 2003 or something like that. At work I use....hell, I don't know what version/year it is.....I need to look now. Okay, the app for excel on my computer says 2010 on it, but when I open it up it shows that it's actually Office 365.

I don't like 365, it feels very slow when compared to 2016. It's hard to explain, but very easy to see when using it in person. Office 365 sucks and I'd never suggest for anyone to use it, let alone pay for a subscription for it. 2016 also looks a lot better over 365.

Hopefully your 2019 key proves to be good until the end of your time using the program. Just remember, don't use 365, it sucks.

 

[Octopuss]

But since you don't live in the US or other country where there are laws in place

Um, excuse me?

 

[Bill_Bright]

Um, excuse me?

??? It says Czech republic under your username. Is that not right?

Do note my comment was not a criticism. There are many countries, including the EU, where breaking out unused keys from volume license is not illegal. That is, there are no laws in place that say it is illegal.

 

[chrcoluk]

I use 2016 at home. Zero issues with it when I need to use it. Before that I was on Office 2003 or something like that. At work I use....hell, I don't know what version/year it is.....I need to look now. Okay, the app for excel on my computer says 2010 on it, but when I open it up it shows that it's actually Office 365.

I don't like 365, it feels very slow when compared to 2016. It's hard to explain, but very easy to see when using it in person. Office 365 sucks and I'd never suggest for anyone to use it, let alone pay for a subscription for it. 2016 also looks a lot better over 365.

Hopefully your 2019 key proves to be good until the end of your time using the program. Just remember, don't use 365, it sucks.

365 for me is way faster than 2009 was. However I did a bulk move from combo of Office 2009 and Win 8.1 to Office 365 and Win 10 at same time. Some of that boost is from the new font cache service in 10, but even with that service disabled its still faster than 2009 for me.

I believe however when I first moved to 365 it was actually based on Office 2016 or 2019 instead of whatever latest was at the time, I am pretty sure I posted about it on TPU at some point asking why they wasnt using the newest binaries. Never specifically used 2016 standalone version though.

On the price I moved my google drive subscription to Office 365 (which includes one drive) which kind of made it cost neutral for me. For someone who has no need for cloud storage I think its a hard sell though.

 

[mplayerMuPDF]

??? It says Czech republic under your username. Is that not right?

Do note my comment was not a criticism. There are many countries, including the EU, where breaking out unused keys from volume license is not illegal. That is, there are no laws in place that say it is illegal.

"But since you don't live in the US or other country where there are laws in place" is most easily interpreted as "But since you don't live in the US or other country where there are laws in place at all", i.e. "Since you live in a lawless hellhole". It is not hard to understand how people could take offense to that, especially since American exceptionalism and ignorance of other countries is a thing.

 

[nomdeplume]

This entire thread played out exactly the same way it has for me attempting to solve it in real life.

Right down to the [redacted] derailing worthwhile additions that might deliver closure.


Höhöhö and a merry höliday season to you Octopuss. May all your Office be fully licensed.

 

[mb194dc]

Yes.

Even if it was previously installed on another machine, at that price, it is clear it was part of a volume license and should not have been sold separate. But since you don't live in the US or other country where there are laws in place, Microsoft authorized your copy.


There have been many changes and improvements since 2010. Whether you deem them as "innovations" or not is simply a matter of your opinion.

I personally don't understand paying a monthly fee for it either. That would be yet another bill and I already have too many. But that monthly fee ensures Office is always current and if something goes wrong, you can call tech support. Many people find those significant advantages.

I'd argue similar for Windows Server and the desktop versions of windows. In the former case, they've actually made some functionality harder or required extra commands and they've only just added new technology like TLS 1.3 in the 2022 version. Embarrassing frankly from a technical point of view. I live in fear that their updates are going to break something critical on the server side (it's happened before...).

I actually use Office 2010, 16 and 19 in various different places, as well as Server 2016 & 19 and various versions of Windows 10. In fact in the likes of outlook they've actually dumbed down the configuration options since 2010 in the likes of outlook.

A lot of organisations cant' stick on the older versions of office because lack of updates. In terms of actual functionality, there's zero reason to upgrade for any of the use cases I've seen, anyway. I guess there might be some niche ones where it's worth it. Anyway similar to Apple, Microsoft stock is possibly worth owning but if I had any choice I'd migrate out of all their products.

If I were op and there isn't some feature they want in anything newer definitely stick to 2010.