Office 365 blows past one million subscribers, latest Office 'best-selling' yet

[Dave LeClair]

In spite of the uproar caused by Microsoft moving in a cloud-based direction for Office, it appears as though the subscription model is actually quite successful for the company. In a blog post, Microsoft just announced that it has moved past one million subscribers in just over 100 days since it was released. Office 365 grants users access to the popular productivity suite for $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year.

Microsoft is calling the latest version of Office its most successful version to date. The company says that more than one copy of the software is sold each second since it launched earlier this year. 

Of course, a big portion of those sales comes from companies signing up large enterprise licenses. Still, the quick uptake Office 365 is seeing definitely shows that people are willing to sign up for a monthly service in order to access to a piece of software they find useful.

Adobe also making a move to the cloud. The company recently passed one million subscribers, but unlike Microsoft, they're not offering a stand-alone version of their software anymore. Earlier this month, Microsoft said it feels that not all consumers are ready to make the move just yet and thus it decided to keep both options.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/52733-office-365-blows-past-one-million-subscribers-latest-office-best-selling-yet.html

 

[roxxas2]

It's nice to see at least SOME Microsoft products are succeeding

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Rate of uptake seems reasonable. I would think with large organizations that a discounted (who knows how far) subscription rate and the management of so many user upgrade issues shifted off to the cloud would sell well.

As an individual who uses this kind of software once a month and does not get a discount, it would feel like a rip-off.

 

[captaincranky]

This will have the nasty side effect of encouraging and emboldening Adobe's subscription only plan even more.

 

[Rinzler]

Having a number of SMB clients Office 365 is a great affordable way for them to get exchange, sharepoint, lync without needing to invest in a 10k $ server plus licensing. So I really like it and my clients couldn't be happier with it.

 

[Hyrax]

Are they counting all paying subscribers or the people that are trying it out as well?
Because both are required to have a subscription

 

[Guest]

If past experience is any reference. It would behove you to not enrol and create a Microsoft account of any kind. I have a Skype account, live account and Xbox account. Non of them can be cancelled if you ever wanted to close them. Bait and switch, if you like the idea of paying for future products that you will never own and dealing with constant updates and aggravations, then by all means pay these tyrants.

 

[tipstir]

Office 2010 don't even use all of it's features. At least I don' t have to pay extra for subscription. Where is Microsoft thinking today? More in-line of profit margins..

 

[avoidz]

I still find 2003 does everything I need.

 

[cliffordcooley]

For everyone that don't see a problem with this.

How many items do you have in your house? Now picture paying a subscription for the opportunity to use them.

• I think I'm gonna spend the weekend watching TV, I'd better send 5 bucks to Samsung or I will only be able to see the program listing.
• It's nice to be on vacation, I'm glad I remembered to bring my camera. I only wish I didn't have to spend ten cents every time I capture an image.
• My picture frame are outdated, PictureFramesRUS will be here tomorrow to replace them. After all I'm paying a subscription to keep them current.
• Houses and automobiles are expensive which pushes the masses into payments. There is still the option to buy, no one wants the option to subscribe for a place to stay. However this is exactly what rental places are, but you do have options outside of renting/leasing. Now that everyone pays a subscription for housing, society will be the better for it. Our homes/automobiles will stay current and in top condition. We no longer have a choice of when or how we are to pay. This is the price to pay for technological progress.

Is this the future you want for yourself? Lets make it happen, the sooner the better. Just think of the opportunities to exploit our friends and neighbors, if we had to pay for everything we do or use. The very thought reminds me of the Ferengi on Star Trek. And no I'm not blowing this out of proportion, because this is exactly where business wants to be. The question is how far we as a people will let them go.

Please someone stand in and say my comment is irrelevant to software subscription. That software updates are completely different than hardware update/remodel/maintenance. Then tell me you want to pay a subscription for all your home appliances to stay current to date and functional. It's a nice concept but hardly practical unless your name is Bill Gates. But yet people like Bill Gates wants you paying them monthly/yearly.

 

[Rinzler]

How about seeing the positive? Not the one person home user subscribing to Office. Im not saying Office 365 is great for all situations but for small companies that wants exchange functionality without paying 15k for a server this is a great product. Renting exchange from a 3rd party hosting exchange would cost about 4 times as much as office 365. Same arguement goes for sharepoint and lync. If you have a network with 5000 users obviously you wont be getting any cost savings from Office 365.