Yep, written for the Mac BY Microsoft. So that's who needs them?
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Microsoft Launches Office 2024 for Mac and PC
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Meh. The subscription is so cheap you’re not saving much unless you’re content with using an outdated version for several years after the next comes out. Like my cheapskate employer who has us on Office 2013 🙄
I think everyone should give Libre Office a shot though. The interface isn’t as polished but I haven’t found a single feature I use in Excel that’s missing from Calc. Even text-to-columns and Solver are there.
I think everyone should give Libre Office a shot though. The interface isn’t as polished but I haven’t found a single feature I use in Excel that’s missing from Calc. Even text-to-columns and Solver are there.
Yeah, I prefer the subscription. Had no idea Outlook costs 100 bucks by itself.
Because the branding decision was locked in, but then they took extra time in working so hard to ensure that it can be 100% guaranteed to be free of bugs at launch
Maybe Google Sheets would be a better solution for him?
They usually restrict these one time licenses to one machine, and if you change machines, you can't move the license (last I looked).
The 365 version allows for installation on up to 5 'mobile' (laptop) and 5 desktop computers.
At least that's how its been working on the windows side of the fence.
The 365 version allows for installation on up to 5 'mobile' (laptop) and 5 desktop computers.
At least that's how its been working on the windows side of the fence.
Depends on what you mean by “use”. Yes, you can open/save files. However the simultaneous collaboration features will not work (multiple users in the same file at the same time). Also you will get updated “features” more slowly, or not at all, which can cause compatibility problems (esp with formulas in Excel).
But for general use, most users won’t encounter these issues.
The reality is that the Microsoft bean counters have the pricing figured out; I’ve found that, by and large, customers are actually better served by the M365 subscription over, say, a 3-year period. Counterintuitively. Especially if you shop wisely and pick up M365 sub licenses at a discount, which happens a few times a year. The one benefit I’ve found with these licenses is with multi-user computers, as the license is per-PC, not per-user, so all users on the PC share the same license (which gets much more complicated/expensive to do otherwise using the M365 subscription model).
Alternatively you can pick up legit licenses of Office 2021 for less than $40 from several vendors nowadays. And Woot had M365 Personal 1-year for $30 the other week. You can pay $30 3 times, stack, and have the up-to-date version of office for far less than this 2024 license cost. And get the benefit of the 1TB of cloud storage. Microsoft took away their Personalized Email feature (being able to use your own domain), which was a shame, add the subscription a great value. (Apple iCloud now is the sole provider that offers ‘custom’ email using your own domain name. Both Google and Microsoft have pushed that to their business-class product tier.)
I pulled up a Mac running Mojave the other day and found it still had a working copy of Office 2007. Opening Word with that UI/UX instantly gave me a bump of joy but I can't say why.
I have Office 365 on my laptop and about the only thing I notice over 2016/etc is a few extra Excel functions (e.g. XMATCH).
hmmmm...after paying for O365 for years, I might buy this. I'm retiring this year so don't really need the elaborate capabilities anymore
Who knows, I might just crack open Apple Office apps for the first time in about 25 years.
Who knows, I might just crack open Apple Office apps for the first time in about 25 years.
This is true.
ALTHOUGH, if you’re willing to waste hours of your life, I have had success calling Microsoft and getting them to re-activate the license on a new computer (just tell them your old Mac died and you got your new Mac as a replacement from Apple under AppleCare).
Personally, my time is more valuable than that. And I try to avoid headaches. And make no mistake, talking with MS licensing support is headache-inducing. Really, good luck in getting ANYWHERE with them.
Yep, and that's why we have LibreOffice, the free for ever open source alternative.
No bloatware, no subscriptions, clean and tidy interface, and works on every platform.
LibreOffice also supports all major filetypes, even .doc and .docx
I have been using it for many years and it's a breath of fresh air.
They have always had this option. 2024 is just he latest version of the stand alone, for both Mac and PC. It is replacing the 2021 version for both. It is just not widely advertised.
I do not understand why anyone would buy this from them. There are lots of very cheap and legit keys you can buy on the internet for Office 2021 and probably 2024 that work. Also lots of alternatives that work for 99% of people, like Libre Office, or Apple's apps. Even Google Doc's if you pay for their storage works just as well for 99% of people.
I do get there are some people that have to have Excel as its unique to those people and often has 3rd party support that the others do not have, but mostly for the Windows version.
If Numbers is sufficient then skip it and just use Notes math instead.
"locked in time" versions...wow! that's a crazy way to put it. Sure they are locked in time but software was mostly that way until companies realized an ongoing "smaller" payment each month better hits their financial statements rather than hoping to cash in every year/every-other year/or longer.
2019 from StackSocial will be my choice. Just 30$ and official endless license. Got it that way for Windows, works like charm. Was thinking on pulling the trigger for Mac too but though that I won’t be using it that much
Half of the world still relies on 2003-2007 .xls sheets, thus not much of need to buy newest version. Hopefully MS not planning any crackdowns on this behavior and one can still open and work with ancient files
have a tech scared friend.hmmmm...after paying for O365 for years, I might buy this. I'm retiring this year so don't really need the elaborate capabilities anymore
Who knows, I might just crack open Apple Office apps for the first time in about 25 years.
years ago we helped him buy a cheap Windows laptop.
naturally it died from slowdown... so gav him a 10 year old MacAir I had spare.
instead of buying anew O365 sub, tried opening his books in Word format in Pages... and it worked a treat.
a day of getting used to the new (but fairly similar to Win7 he was used to) interface and he is up and running successfully. no cost apart from a little time and training.
Pages is more capable than I gave it credit.
And in some ways, just nicer.
having recently retired and no longer needing MS files to open at home, I might try the same thing and get off the subs merry go round.
ZERO UPDATES?? HAHAH. Okay so this for those folks who MUST stand-their-ground and OWN their software. They’ll pay the annual required (Apple macOS updates can break third party software and require updating) $250 to get an updated version versus $100 subscription. So, they can proclaim from atop the mountain… “BUT I OWN IT!!!”
And for those saying to use Apple’s versions of the MS apps? Or even older versions of Office? This is not practical or even possible in some cases, for those using the software for business or in a WFH setup. Where you’re tightly integrated into the OFFICE ecosystem. Even as a contractor, I look for monthly subs where ever I can. I then turn them off when no longer needed. Much like streaming TV services.
And for those saying to use Apple’s versions of the MS apps? Or even older versions of Office? This is not practical or even possible in some cases, for those using the software for business or in a WFH setup. Where you’re tightly integrated into the OFFICE ecosystem. Even as a contractor, I look for monthly subs where ever I can. I then turn them off when no longer needed. Much like streaming TV services.
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No reason to even use MS Office as the Apple equivalents are more than adequate and for 99% of the people better than Office if only because of the simplicity. For the occasional need to pass a file to a Windows user I just export to Word.
A big improvement to the Office Suite would be to have a simple version that pulls out all of esoteric and overly complex features. Could pull this off with a preference setting. The other thing would be to use the same interface as other Windows App and that the oddball one they use.
A big improvement to the Office Suite would be to have a simple version that pulls out all of esoteric and overly complex features. Could pull this off with a preference setting. The other thing would be to use the same interface as other Windows App and that the oddball one they use.
I've always been curious: To those of you who use MS Office on your Mac, what makes you decide to use those programs oppsed to Keynote, Pages, and Numbers?
I appreciate them offering a standalone version for purchase
I would also be doing this if there were a way to have my Apple photos library using the storage on my phone/pad/mac
Just wondering; does that mean that multiple users on the same Mac can use the software? thanks.