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Office 365 is now on Mac App Store

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Re: Office 365 is now on Mac App Store

#91

Post by brianpgordon »

illumin8 wrote: post #88
brianpgordon wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can disable autoupdate and manually check for updates occasionally. Also, any time an application is available from both inside and outside the App Store I always prefer the outside one. The sandboxing that the App Store imposes is a massive pain. There's also no reason in my mind that Apple deserves a fat slice of my license payment.

I automatically prefer the App Store one because: - I know it will be updated automatically - Sandboxing prevents many dark patterns that apps use to sell advertisers data

Funny you should mention updates. The problem is when the developer wants to keep adding features and release a paid upgrade to make that possible. If you bought through the app store, you're going to have to buy the new version all over again, because there's no way for the developer to offer an upgrade discount.

As for sandboxing, yes it does prevent unscrupulous apps from doing shady things, but it also prevents apps from doing their jobs. The MacOS image viewer that I use is a great app called Xee3. I made the mistake of buying it through the app store instead of through the developer's website. So now when I open an image and hit pagedown to browse to the next image in the directory, I have to click through a popup granting it access to read the directory, which is the app's way of working around the sandbox restrictions. So the app store version is strictly worse.

Re: Office 365 is now on Mac App Store

#92

Post by brianpgordon »

FajitaNachos wrote: post #84
brianpgordon wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can disable autoupdate and manually check for updates occasionally. Also, any time an application is available from both inside and outside the App Store I always prefer the outside one. The sandboxing that the App Store imposes is a massive pain. There's also no reason in my mind that Apple deserves a fat slice of my license payment.

Who ever manually checks for updates on the 20+ apps they have installed?

It's not something you have to do every day. For Office I check for updates every couple of months. It makes little difference to be a bit behind the latest release.

Re: Office 365 is now on Mac App Store

#94

Post by walterbell »

ixxivvix wrote: post #76
walterbell wrote: post #18

Can you pay to use the app for only one or two months? Or does it requiring subscribing and cancelling?

You have to subscribe and then unsubscribe manually. Apparently the Mac App Store version only offers yearly subscriptions, but the iOS version still offers monthly options so you can use your phone if you personally don’t want to pay through Microsoft’s store

Thank you for documenting the fine print.

Re: Office 365 is now on Mac App Store

#95

Post by Arn_Thor »

ld00d wrote: post #79
killion wrote: post #26

I'm wondering if it's worth uninstalling Office and reinstalling. If it uses the App Store update mechanism instead of Microsoft Autoupdate I would prefer it. Autoupdate presents a window almost every time a launch an Office application.

My favorite is when autoupdate is done updating, it runs a check to see if anything needs to be updated, and then it reports to me that there's nothing to update.

Apple software does the same on Windows..

Re: Office 365 is now on Mac App Store

#96

Post by brianpgordon »

zapzupnz wrote: post #86
brianpgordon wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Office365 There's your problem right there. Just buy a perpetual Office license. The awful Adobe-style subscription model for desktop software that barely ever changes is ridiculous .

There are other aspects to Office 365 that are quite valuable to people, like a huge increase in the size of their OneDrive storage quotas, the ability to install Office on multiple devices rather than just one (which is pretty common; people install Office apps connected to their 365 accounts on their mobiles, tablets, etc.), Skype airtime, technical support beyond the first 60 days of purchase, and with certain pla…

Well, maybe two different things have gotten conflated here. What I'm calling ridiculous is the fact that Microsoft is charging a subscription for Office. The flexibility to install on multiple devices is something that shouldn't be tied to a subscription license in the first place. And neither is more OneDrive space (why you'd want OneDrive space in the first place is a separate issue) or Skype airtime. It also doesn't make sense to me why you think it's a good thing that your Office account is the same as for AD and SharePoint and Teams... this is an offline desktop office suite - what does a Microsoft account have to do with it anyway?

I feel like Microsoft noticed how Adobe was making money hand over fist by moving Creative Suite to a subscription model and wanted in on the action. Of course everyone hates Adobe's awful subscription model, but it doesn't matter- if you have to have Photoshop then you're going to pay whatever they ask. But this is not a good thing.

Basically what I'm saying is that rushing to defend Microsoft's licensing model doesn't make any sense. This is a step back in every way from the world where you buy a license and don't have to keep paying the vendor month after month for them to do little more than refrain from shutting down access to software already on your computer. If you want Skype and OneDrive (again, why?) then fine, but the fact that that's bundled is not a good thing.

Re: Office 365 is now on Mac App Store

#97

Post by fxfan »

npunt wrote: post #56

Big move. I see this potentially as groundwork for the eventual integration of Mac and iOS App Stores, which you have to imagine is something Apple wants in the years ahead as platforms converge on common software stack and UX. It's also a signal that the App Store team may now be willing to do the deals necessary to attract MacOS apps back toward this larger strategic initiative (vs just trying to maximize revenue).…

> Now that Windows is sidelined

Only available on 83% of Desktops worldwide. hmm..

Re: Office 365 is now on Mac App Store

#98

Post by deca6cda37d0 »

This very good for Mac admins of any kind of organisation that uses MDM. Finally just push those apps to the users from the server. If Adobe Creative Cloud could be downloaded from the Mac App Store it would be perfect.

Now I use homebrew to install lots of software and fonts internally.

Re: Office 365 is now on Mac App Store

#99

Post by microtonal »

killion wrote: post #26

I'm wondering if it's worth uninstalling Office and reinstalling. If it uses the App Store update mechanism instead of Microsoft Autoupdate I would prefer it. Autoupdate presents a window almost every time a launch an Office application.

I just did that. Luckily I installed Office with Homebrew Cask, so removing was just

    brew cask uninstall microsoft-office
away. For me the app store version has many benefits:

- Microsoft sneaked OneDrive into the Office installer. I do not want OneDrive on my system

- All the applications are sandboxed per app store requirements.

- Indeed no more pesky Microsoft Autoupdate.

Re: Office 365 is now on Mac App Store

#100

Post by gaius »

Arn_Thor wrote: post #95
ld00d wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite is when autoupdate is done updating, it runs a check to see if anything needs to be updated, and then it reports to me that there's nothing to update.

Apple software does the same on Windows..

I got my iTunes on Windows via Microsoft’s App Store ironically. It’s seemingly the only way to get iCloud working properly on Windows, they share certain common components.
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