Avoiding Microsoft 365 price rise

[paranoid marvin]

I've often found with software subscriptions that it is far better to buy a yearly subscription from a store like Argos. For example, buying Mcafee costs about £10. Online to buy or renew, you are looking after 4 or 5 (or more) times that amount.

BIzarrely, the one time (during Covid) that I did renew Mcafee (for about £40), rather than adding 365 days onto my subscription, it uninstalled the programme and then reinstalled it. Why? The same programme? Why not just extend the subscription period.

So the experience between buying a new copy for a tenner from the shops was just the same as buying online for £40.

 

[wazz]

I've often found with software subscriptions that it is far better to buy a yearly subscription from a store like Argos. For example, buying Mcafee costs about £10. Online to buy or renew, you are looking after 4 or 5 (or more) times that amount.

BIzarrely, the one time (during Covid) that I did renew Mcafee (for about £40), rather than adding 365 days onto my subscription, it uninstalled the programme and then reinstalled it. Why? The same programme? Why not just extend the subscription period.

So the experience between buying a new copy for a tenner from the shops was just the same as buying online for £40.

I would implore you to stop paying for Mcafee altogether! It is almost malware itself.

 

[KGeo777]

I like LibreOffice myself.

 

[Foxbat]

I’m another adding my preference for LibreOffice. Been using it for a couple of years now in place of Word and Excel and found no problems with compatibility. I stopped using MS when it went subscription. If I can’t buy the software, I refuse to rent it. I’ve also stopped using Photoshop because it’s gone subscription. Now using Gimp. A bit more fiddly but it’s free and quite effective so can’t complain.

 

[J Riff]

Im on win7, will go to win10 shortly and stay there until win12 is at least a yeaR or two old. Absolutely no reason to ever pay microslop for anything whatsoever. Check out risc-V to see what's coming in future/ Presently the market is monopolized by X86 (Intel or AMD) and ARM, both require payment, which I really enjoy not doing. )

 

[Matteo]

Now using Gimp. A bit more fiddly but it’s free and quite effective so can’t complain.

Umm...okay...

Seeing a side to @Foxbat that I haven't seen before...

 

[Foxbat]

GIMP

GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program: The Free and Open Source Image Editor

www.gimp.org

I present my Gimp to @Matteo

 

[Brian G Turner]

If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, you've probably had a recent email announcing a hefty price rise. Mine went from £59.99 to £84.99. Their justification for this seems to be that henceforth their standard 365 product will include their AI, Copilot.

If you don't want Copilot, though, there is a hidden way to revert to the existing product and price. Go into your Microsoft account and cancel auto-renewal. You will then be given the option to buy 365 "Classic" at your existing subscription.

Thank you!

 

[Brian G Turner]

Thanks - although programming is way beyond either of our capabilities! And I've no idea what "macros" are

It will just be for writing, and ppt presentations. With some "excel" stuff. So what you say about it being more compatible is interesting.

I have a work laptop with MS Office so not a problem for me.

Microsoft 365 aka Office is still the best IMO.

My experience of Libreoffice and Openoffice is that neither had the same default features I used. They would also introduce terrible formatting issues in supposed compatible files if you tried to open them with actual Microsoft software.

Also, as mosaic points out, 365 has useful mobile apps - I do a surprising amount of editing on my phone nowadays.

 

[Foxbat]

They would also introduce terrible formatting issues in supposed compatible files if you tried to open them with actual Microsoft software.

I've found certain things to be a bit more awkward but never had an issue with formatting.

My biggest issue when I changed was my reluctance (and laziness) in having to learn how to use a new piece of software. But, hey, it's rent free

@ Matteo once you get the hang of them Macros are pretty straight forward. You don't need to be a programmer (I'm not). I used to automate photoshop using macros. They are usually only two or three lines long and I'd imagine most applications will have a 'how to' in the manual or help section.

Just for fun, I'd take a few seconds of film, extract a four or five thousand frames and stick it through a filter (something like watercolor or sketch filters). I'd set it running using a pre-made macro (it would have taken hours to do them individually) and then stitch the end results back into a short piece of film (with the chosen filters applied).

 

[Danny McG]

Just for fun, I'd take a few seconds of film, extract a four or five thousand frames and stick it through a filter (something like watercolor or sketch filters). I'd set it running using a pre-made macro (it would have taken hours to do them individually) and then stitch the end results back into a short piece of film (with the chosen filters applied).

I suspect that yours and my definitions of fun differ somewhat

 

[Astro Pen]

I've just gone from Open Office to Libre Office. (Thanks for the advice to do that @Elckerlyc )
Open Office has not been updated for a long time and so does not write or save in as many formats as the up to date Libre Office does.