Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

office365itpros.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 593 posts

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#111

Post by basch »

TheJoeMan wrote: post #64

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…

What's crazier is that it actually stops working if installed.

Of the last two times I had to make a flyer, one of the two I pulled up PowerPoint to accomplish. It's not a completely outlandish direction. They should add a Publisher mode that transforms the interface for print document design.

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#112

Post by quietbritishjim »

mosura wrote: post #81
TheJoeMan wrote: post #64

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 reality is DTP outside of pro sectors (i.e. these days InDesign) was rendered worthless by how ubiquitous the tooling was. In any sector where the barriers to entry are destroyed you either have to go really big or go home.

Sorry but what does this mean? I can't quite parse it. What tooling was ubiquitous?

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#113

Post by basch »

emadb wrote: post #15
_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

Other than Google, what are other competitors that worth evaluating?

Canva is a go to over Microsoft and Adobe for a huge crowd of people

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#115

Post by chris_wot »

TheJoeMan wrote: post #64

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…

Install LibreOffice.

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#116

Post by chris_wot »

sneak wrote: post #75
hoistbypetard wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For legacy spreadsheets, you're 100% correct. I'll need to keep a version of Excel around forever. If they price me out of 365 by making me pay for Copilot shit I don't use or want, a perpetual license to Office 2019 runs about $20 and will do that job for me. For new work that I might have otherwise done in Excel, there are good options. Collabora works. Libre Office works. Google sheets works. And Grist is quite go…

None of the things you listed are suitable replacements for Excel. None. It has nothing to do with existing files/compatibility. Excel is unparalleled.

Can it open Quattro Pro files?

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#117

Post by preisschild »

emadb wrote: post #15
_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

Other than Google, what are other competitors that worth evaluating?

Collabora Online

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#118

Post by _fat_santa »

lewisjoe wrote: post #91

At this point Microsoft office suite is practically a monopoly. Governments around the world rely on it. Every big enterprise and every business needs it. The spec for office documents was authored by Microsoft( and approved by Microsoft!). The spec is basically the docx datastructure published publicly as a standard - which makes building competing office suites even harder. Given the situation there isn't much cust…

> At this point Microsoft office suite is practically a monopoly.

There are loads of competitors in the space. Google Docs, LibeOffice, OnlyOffice, WPS Office, and I'm sure there are many others in the space that are lesser known. All of these are compatible with Office formats.

Re: Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

#119

Post by insane_dreamer »

The only reason people still need office -- other than a niche of advanced Excel users -- is because no one, despite the last several decades, has managed to make a 100% compatible DOCX editor (not LibreOffice, not Apple Pages, not Google Docs). I'm guessing it's because there are aspects of it that MSFT keeps secret?

The only reason I still use Word is because I don't want to have to deal with random layout incompatibility issues when sharing docs with colleagues.

In general, I find Apple Pages much more pleasant to work with and by far my favorite word processor (and I have used them all extensively on Win/Mac/nix).

Post reply on HN