Microsoft raises Mac Office prices, ends multi-license packs

[Rick]

Purchasing a copy of Mac Office 2011 Home & Student (single license) will now set you back about $140, or about $20 more than last year's retail prices. It's well-known that some wines improve with age. Unlike a finely crafted varietal though, software titles don't typically adhere to the same principles of aging, making Microsoft's 10-17 percent price hike for its range of Mac-friendly office suites a curious decision. 

Additionally, it appears Microsoft has also stopped shipping multi-license packs of Mac Office, allowing those once-reasonable deals to disappear altogether from retail shelves.

What exactly prompted this unexpected price bump? It seems ComputerWorld was the first to report on this observation yesterday, but Office 2011 prices jumped prior to February 2 -- an almost sure sign that Microsoft's 17 percent price increase accompanied the launch of Office 2013.

That "17 percent" figure is also a very familiar number -- that's exactly how much more "Home" versions of Office 2013 (PC) cost in comparison to its Office 2010 (also PC) counterpart. Meanwhile, the cost for Mac Office Home & Business was also stretched out by $20 for a roughly 10 percent increase.

Rumors from last year indicated that Microsoft would not be introducing Office 2013 to Macs, which thus far appears to be the case. It's been a month since Office 2013's launch and the rumor mill regarding a Mac-compatible version has been deathly silent. If history serves as an accurate predictor of the future though, a Mac-only "Office 2014" is likely on the way, in hopes to appease Apple enthusiasts. In the meantime, Mac owners may want to look at Microsoft 365, older versions of Mac Office and possibly alternatives like Open Office and iWork.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/51679-microsoft-raises-mac-office-prices-ends-multi-license-packs.html

 

[Jad Chaar]

This is truly ridiculous... I was just thinking of purchasing this for my mac, but now I think I will stick with Google Docs.

 

[Railman]

All the prices seem to be going up even the 2010 versions have gone up! I have started using Open Office and it seems just as sophisticated as the MS offerings. It seems a crazy policy as most folks are strapped for cash and purchase of software must be a low priority.

 

[RubinOnRye]

The subscription server for $100 isn't bad if you have 3 or more machines and they are used for both business and home use. Personally I would do that if I had the need for Outlook. 5 licenses for Office and they work for both PC and MAC.

 

[m4a4]

All the prices seem to be going up even the 2010 versions have gone up! I have started using Open Office and it seems just as sophisticated as the MS offerings. It seems a crazy policy as most folks are strapped for cash and purchase of software must be a low priority.

Ah, but it is not. I have only had Open Office over the years and I do not like it very much...

 

[edvim]

I have only had Open Office over the years and I do not like it very much...

I've had to work with various versions of MS Office for many years now in work situations but at home I started using StarOffice back in 2000 or so, right around when Sun bought it out from Germany's Star Division. Later I switched to OpenOffice.org, and now I use LibreOffice. The entire time I haven't regretted avoiding MS Office for personal use at all.

 

[scorpian007]

Using Office 365 on my PC's and single Mac, seems to work well except Outlook on Mac won't sync in the same way it does on my PC's (and on my Windows Phone). So I've disabled it for now

 

[Buster Keaton]

All the prices seem to be going up even the 2010 versions have gone up! I have started using Open Office and it seems just as sophisticated as the MS offerings. It seems a crazy policy as most folks are strapped for cash and purchase of software must be a low priority.

Ah, but it is not. I have only had Open Office over the years and I do not like it very much...

What is it about Open Office that is not as sophisticated as MS Office? What is it that you don't like about it? It is nearly the same as MS Office. It offers you the option of saving in Open Office format or any of the MS Office formats. Open Office offers the same functionality as MS Office at a much more reasonable price. I have been using Open Office for years with not a single issue that would make me even consider spending a single penny on MS Office.

This price increase is simply an indicator of MS's arrogance.

 

[Railman]

I currently use Excel at work and I use many of the advanced functions, so I could argue that it would be inconvenient to change. However I did start with Supercalc and moved to Lotus 123 so changing to OpenOffice Calc would not worry me.

One great advantage Calc has over Excel is copying data from a table in PDF document to a spreadsheet. It can be done preserving the columns.

 

[Duckula22]

Denial. Thinking they can allow themselves to do something like this. Sometimes you can make something more desirable by making it more expensive, but it might have worked better when more people had more money, not now.

 

[Railman]

It reminds me of the quote 'nobody got the sack for buying IBM'. For the youngsters IBM was a very successful organisation which led the PC industry in the 80's. I wonder if history is about to repeat.