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Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

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Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#61

Post by hypeatei »

gary_0 wrote: post #33

They can set whatever price they want. Most customers have no choice but to pay; there is no competitor with anything approaching full compatibility or a similar feature set. Companies like Microsoft and Adobe have maintained a business software monoculture for decades. Nobody has invested significant resources into competing products, just tiny companies and open source volunteers putting out niche alternatives. Mic…

> They can set whatever price they want

Then why don't they? I think it's precisely because they don't want anyone "investing significant resources into competing products"

There's a line for everyone and current prices obviously aren't too much for a majority of people, including me. I just don't stay subscribed when I'm not using it.

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#62

Post by hoistbypetard »

embedding-shape wrote: post #42
boh wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Open Office, Libre Office, Only Office to start.

I want to love these, mostly because they're FOSS and Office/Google Spreadsheets seems to get more and more bloated, and subsequently slower. But the UX is just a lot worse, and it isn't easy to go from one application to another because they're slightly different enough that your productivity takes a hit from all the small papercuts. I'm waiting for some FOSS spreadsheet solution that doesn't just try to copy Office…

Have you tried grist[0]?

It's self-hostable (and the community version is FOSS I think), and really useful in a way I find better than just a spreadsheet.

It's no good for importing complex excel things, but I've found it very useful for new work.

[0](https://www.getgrist.com)

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#63

Post by gtirloni »

zkmon wrote: post #9

While businesses definitely don't need all those features, I guess most use it for compatibility sake - to work with existing files and to collaborate with others who use MS Office. What's current state of open-source alternatives that can work with the MS file formats?

> most use it for compatibility sake

Which kind of is on Microsoft for not fixing the situation and just carrying cruft every release. They could have a separate tool to fix/migrate to whatever modern format they are using nowadays (or to some "light" format that doesn't allow all the features 99% of users don't care about).

Their subscription could be much cheaper.

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#64

Post by TheJoeMan »

They also are actively decreasing the value by sunsetting Publisher in October 2026 [0]. Hilariously, the suggested replacement is PowerPoint, despite it being unable to natively open .pub files. The solution for that? Run a powershell script to convert all your publisher files to (uneditable) PDF.

There are many memes about inserting photos into Word, and the content flying around and breaking. My pet theory is that the younger generation never realized Publisher existed or was included in M365, and used PowerPoint as an everything-is-a-hammer crutch, and have now gotten jobs at Microsoft and are sticking with it.

Also, as far as I can tell, Publisher is the only application where the color-picker includes Pantone colors which is a must for professional poster production. I assume Microsoft is paying a licensing fee for this, and I wonder if they'll remember to cancel it.

Perhaps Affinity can eat their lunch and release a word-processor.

[0] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/microsoft-publish...

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#65

Post by bachmeier »

Aurornis wrote: post #40
_lvbh wrote: post #7

This feels like a dangerous game they're playing. Yes, there is some lock in, but competitors exist and are better than ever. The new "features" they're justifying this with (Copilot) isn't even something that most people want

Business basic goes from $6 to $7. Business premium is unchanged from $22 to $22. Price increases are normal. (I’ve been on HN long enough to remember when “raise your prices” was treated as the best startup advice around in HN comments) These price increases aren’t excessive relative to inflation for other services in a business context. I don’t see this as a dangerous game. > The new "features" they're justifying t…

> Their average customer is probably demanding it and at risk of switching products if the AI integration is not as good as a competitor’s.

There's no substance to this comment. It's pure speculation. If you actually want to look at evidence, look at the recent news that Microsoft has cut AI sales targets in half.

> The Venn diagram of their customer base and Hacker News commenters doesn’t have much overlap.

Ironic that you posted this as a comment on HN.

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#66

Post by noosphr »

bix6 wrote: post #18
puttycat wrote: post #6

Is there any reason to use Office nowadays except for being able to open documents sent by institutions where secretaries still use Word/Excel/PPT? (universities, etc.)

Do you know anyone who does serious financial work in anything besides Excel?

Do you know anyone who does serious financial work in Excel?

I know plenty of people who think they do. I know a few that cost the world economy about a trillion dollars: https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-excel-spreadsheet-error...

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#67

Post by jjgreen »

Aurornis wrote: post #40
_lvbh wrote: post #7

This feels like a dangerous game they're playing. Yes, there is some lock in, but competitors exist and are better than ever. The new "features" they're justifying this with (Copilot) isn't even something that most people want

Business basic goes from $6 to $7. Business premium is unchanged from $22 to $22. Price increases are normal. (I’ve been on HN long enough to remember when “raise your prices” was treated as the best startup advice around in HN comments) These price increases aren’t excessive relative to inflation for other services in a business context. I don’t see this as a dangerous game. > The new "features" they're justifying t…

Business basic goes from $6 to $7

So a 16% hike when current US inflation is 3-4%?

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#69

Post by lousken »

puttycat wrote: post #6

Is there any reason to use Office nowadays except for being able to open documents sent by institutions where secretaries still use Word/Excel/PPT? (universities, etc.)

Sharepoint and office is the modern version of cancer. Nobody wants to manage onprem AD and mapped drives because cLoUd is the solution. Doesn't help that Microsoft stopped caring about onprem.

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#70

Post by mc32 »

ambicapter wrote: post #28
sneak wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no foss competitor to Excel.

Google Docs works fine for most people though (not FOSS, but most Office customers don't care).

It’s about the same price without the AzureAD stuff or AV integration even if substandard. Also Google emasculated its Google sites.
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