back to article Microsoft: You want Office for Mac, fanboi? You'll pay Windows prices

Microsoft has increased the price of Office for Mac by up to 17 per cent, another move in the software giant's territory battle with Apple in the personal computing market. The new pricing structure, which was not officially announced by Redmond, asks Mac users to hand over around the same amount as users of Office 2013 for …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Competition

    Are Apple going to abandon their product ? iWork was significantly updated in 2009 - embarrassing.

  2. dkjd

    2013 windows bound to PC

    According to danish website office 2013 license is tied to particular PC, so when your PC dies you have to cough up for a new license: http://epn.dk/teknologi2/computer/article5210229.ece

    1. graeme leggett Silver badge

      Re: 2013 windows bound to PC

      "consumer" version - doesn't mention change for Pro version (yet?...)

  3. Avatar of They
    Coffee/keyboard

    Funniest concept ever.

    "Microsoft Surface is competing with the Ipad."

    Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

    New keyboard please.

    1. John Savard

      Re: Funniest concept ever.

      Why, yes it is. And so is Android. Android is doing quite well, thank you. As for Microsoft's Surface - competing doesn't have to mean competing successfully.

  4. Fred 4
    Stop

    Missing the forest for the trees

    all of this talk about Office 365, Google Docs, and other cloud services -

    is missing a very important issue -

    THERE IS NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY

    with any cloud based service. If you (collective you) are a Gov't, or business putting your daily correspondence and business documents in a cloud service is ASKING for trouble. Gov't (inter agency as well) spying*, competitor spying*, police spying*.

    This is not to mention the issue of directed adverts, looking at you Google

    * spying - in this instance, reading copying documents/information that the originator did not intend to for the 'spy' to see/read/have.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yep.

      I work for an EU-based multinational whose IT department moved all corporate email to Outlook 365 six months ago. Now the specific EU government with whom we have some defence development contracts is very pointedly asking our corporate lawyers why on earth they thought it was legal to store EU government email on US-controlled servers...

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Yep.

        Now the specific EU government with whom we have some defence development contracts is very pointedly asking our corporate lawyers why on earth they thought it was legal to store EU government email on US-controlled servers...

        Yup, this is the kind of stuff we clean up on a daily basis.. We have also done some interesting research on the legality of Google services, and the conclusion is that not only is there quite a risk using Google for an EU company, looking at the *cough* "help" offered by Google, it appears Google itself may know full well they are on the wrong side of EU law.

        The problem with *business* use of Google is that you inherit that liability as a company..

      3. El Andy

        Re: Yep.

        Then someone in your company screwed up, since you can requests that your Office 365 data never leaves EU servers if you require it.

        1. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

          Re: Yep.

          you can requests that your Office 365 data never leaves EU servers if you require it.

          That illusion only lasts until you read the US PATRIOT Act *properly*..

  5. HamsterNet
    Paris Hilton

    Who actually pays for MS software other than businesses?

    I sure never have and probably never will... I can always find a hacked copy, black copy (genius MS versions with no copyright in them), or a spare key from any number of places. Some of the keys I have used are even legal.

    Last time I used a Mac (was it slow leper?) the office software didn't require any activation, just downloaded and installed.

    Paris - as some things in life are not free.

  6. Herby

    This just in....

    Apple announces that Libre Office will be installed on all shipping Macs. Documentation book to be priced at $20. Apple also announces that they will be participating in the development and improvement of Libre Office in the near future.

    Well, we can hope!

  7. Bill Gould
    Windows

    Mail

    Most people posting seem to stop their consideration of Office before reaching Outlook. Integrating mail and calendar better than any other app I've tried (most of them). Oh but Google Docs is... blah blah blah. GMail interface is ass unless you connect via IMAP from ... whoops, Outlook.

    While email is falling into the legacy area for most personal use, in a corporate and SMB environment it's still the king. The increasing uptake of BYOD programs* means that people want/need a real mail client that talks to their Exchange clusters**. Or they're just like me and want to keep a good calendar integrated with a solid email platform.

    Anyway, do what you will.

    * In which they should only be using applications via Citrix anyway and ignoring their local apps for work use (small business is a special case, and they need helmets).

    ** Exchange, because lulz Domino.

    1. Quxy
      Thumb Down

      Outlook?

      Well, I guess that it works well in comparison to any web-based solution, particularly (shudder) Microsoft's own OWA. But Mac's own mail and calendar applications now integrate seamlessly with corporate Exchange servers and Outlook 365, so it's hard to think of a reason for using Outlook on a Mac, unless you're a long-time Outlook user who doesn't want to switch.

      Mail.app may not have as many features as Outlook, but filtering rules are easier to set up and (I would argue) more powerful; and best of all, it handles email formatting properly, properly implementing Internet (RFC 3676) quoting (which has been completely broken in Outlook since 2003) and avoiding the line wrapping errors that Outlook is so famous for.

    2. Admiral Grace Hopper

      Re: Mail

      Yes, that and the dead weight of the business logic encapsulated in the VBA and macros embedded in more Excel spreadsheets and Word templates than I would care to count, analyse, debug and re-implement.

      For corporation-wide email nothing is as integrated or effective as Exchange. For everything else there is a viable no-Microsoft alternative, but not for Exchange. As soon as there is, then Microsoft is hosed.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Access.

    Access has never been available AFAIK. So this completely puts Office Mac into the more casual user market.

    So if they're charging more and not making it available then it's a swizz.

  9. This post has been deleted by its author

  10. Cyfaill
    Linux

    LibreOffice 4 was just released.

    Use it.

    There is no Microsoft, unless you look for it.

  11. Lallabalalla

    Which alternative?

    Do Open and Libre Office both require Java? Because prominent on Neo's website is the interesting fact....

    • New Cocoa code replaces Java

  12. Lallabalalla
    Gimp

    "...as Microsoft begins to compete with Apple in the hardware market. Microsoft's new Surface..."

    HaHa! In your dreams Redmond. In your dreams.

  13. John Savard

    Although it's a price increase

    Isn't most Mac software much more expensive than corresponding software for the Windows platform, because of the lack of competition? So this doesn't seem like too much of a disaster for Mac users. Who, of course, can always use Open Office, just like everyone else, since it's available for the Mac as well as for Windows and Linux.

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