MS Office 365 Discounted 50% for Some Users
Microsoft is offering a half-price deal for its Office 365 subscription package. However, some tight restrictions mean the offer will only be available to a specific group of users.
Office 365 is a way of using MS Office applications (Word, Excel, etc) without having to pay the full purchase price outright; instead customers pay a monthly fee. The subscription covers access to the latest editions of all the applications, meaning Office 365 subscribers will be able to use all the features in the latest edition of MS Office without having to pay for an upgrade if and when it becomes available.
The new deal is for a half-price subscription to Office 365 Personal edition. This allows installation of the software on either one PC or one Mac, plus remote access on one tablet and one phone. The deal doesn't apply to Office 365 Home (which allows installation on five computers, five tablets and five phones), or any of the Business editions. (Source: office.com)
Deal Requires Up-Front Payment
The half-price MS Office deal only applies to users who pay for a one-year subscription up front rather than on a month-by-month basis. That reduces the price from $69.99 to $35.98. Once the year is up, customers who want to carry on using the software will need to either pay $69.99 for another year or switch to a $6.99 monthly charge.
Not all users are able to take advantage of this special offer, however. Firstly, it's only available to those running Windows 10 (which is a free upgrade for many users). Secondly, the deal only applies to those who already have a legal copy of Office 2010 or earlier on their machine. It's not available for Office 2013 users, which many users will find unfair. (Source: windows.com)
Special Get Office App Needed
To take advantage of the deal, users must open a special "Get Office" application that is pre-installed in Windows 10 and should be in the Start menu. This application also allows a free month's trial of Office 365 in most cases.
If you're uncertain about whether to give the Office 365 service - and more specifically Office 2016 - a try, check out our report on the new MS Office 2016 features.)
Alternative to MS Office 2016
As an alternative to MS Office, Infopackets is currently offering 30% off Ashampoo Office 2016 (deal expires September 25, 2015 - which is tomorrow). It's compatible with MS Office 2016 and yet its footprint is much smaller, which means it runs very quick even on older PCs. Check out screenshots here. The regular price is $79, but with the discount it comes to $55 - and best of all, you can run it on up to 3 PCs and there is no recurring subscription fee. This is an excellent deal, indeed. Proceeds support our website - thanks for your support!
What's Your Opinion?
Would the half-price offer tempt you to get Office 365? Does a subscription service make sense for your needs? Do you think it's fair that Office 2013 users are excluded from this deal?
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Comments
Nope
Dennis and all - I believe I read that Office 2010 and older will NOT work on a Win 10 machine. If so, an Office 2010 user will HAVE to make a change. An Office 2013 user can continue on as is.
Options - Install a desktop version of Office 2016 or another "Office" suite, or
Buy a subscription to Office 365/Google Apps for Work, or
Only use the free (but limited) web-based MS or Google office product.
For a home user, the last option is probably acceptable. For business use I am not on the "rent my software" bandwagon yet, even though that is exactly what I am doing with my use of Google Apps for Work along with MS Office on my desktop.
Doing the math, buying Office 2016 for the desktop is cheaper than the Office 365 subscription if you intend to keep your current computer for more than 2 years. If not, and assuming you can't (legally) move Office 2016 to your new computer, a subscription could be a better value.
Or have the rules of the game changed again while I was sleeping?
New
Hi Dennis, is this a global offer or, once again, limited to U.S. users only?