rolling out new software to corporate PCs.
It's great if you're away from your PC and need more power than the existing Office Web Apps, but it should also ease enterprise adoption and the tricky mix of managing legacy documents and add-ins vs.
You simply sign in to and start streaming a version of Office 2013 on a Windows 7 or Windows 8 computer without it affecting an existing installation of Office on the machine. A new on-demand version of Office 2013 is available in Office 365 and it's nothing short of stunning. The company knows people are familiar with boxed copies of Office, so it's keeping the containers around in order to gently guide consumers over to the new subscription-based world. Microsoft is betting on the cloud world here. Microsoft bets on a future of subscriptions and the cloud subscription leaves consumers with a choice between two worlds. If you're a heavy Office user, particularly with a number of devices you need to use the software on then the Office 365 subscription makes a lot of sense. The pricing is a clear effort to convince users that subscribing to Office is cost effective, and Microsoft will also throw in free upgrades to the latest Office software when it becomes available as part of the subscription.
The top-priced bundle, Office Professional 2013, costs $399.99 and includes access to all of the software provided in Office 365. Office Home & Student 2013, separate to a subscription and available at $139.99, only includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote - nixing the popular Outlook email software found in the subscription package. If you're not a fan of annual subscriptions then the monthly option is $9.99 or there are standalone bundles.
Microsoft is also bundling 20GB of additional SkyDrive cloud storage and 60 minutes of Skype calls per month. A $99.99 per year subscription to Office 365 will provide access for five installs of Office 2013 on Mac or PCs with access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access. Much like Windows 8 and Adobe's Creative Cloud, Microsoft is attempting to reinvent its Office software for 2013 and the years ahead. Some emerging markets will still offer DVD versions, but the majority of users will be downloading Office this time around. Microsoft is simply boxing up product codes in familiar packaging for Office 2013 and Office 365, allowing users to go online to download the software. However, there's a big change this time: in the US, UK, and other developed markets, those boxed copies won't include a DVD of the software. Starting today, boxed copies of Office 2013 and Office 365 subscriptions will be available in retail stores across 162 countries and online at. It's an important change for the company, but convincing users to pay an ongoing monthly or annual charge for its latest Office is going to be a hard sell, and the company is very much aware of that - treading carefully in its march towards the cloud.Ī boxed copy won't include a DVD, it's online only The software giant, synonymous with Office and Windows, is aiming to turn users over to a subscription package with its latest offering: Office 365.
Microsoft is taking the wraps off its most ambitious Office project today.