I was charged $129 and I don’t recall seeing an email about the price change. I attempted to cancel and the option for $99 was available once more. Thanks for sharing this.
This is why I finally cancelled 365 and switched to LibreOffice. True, it's slight less convenient (especially since they still haven't got a mobile app), but at least I know they're not scanning everything I do to 'train' AI so that it becomes an even better plagiarizer. I have yet to find anything I was doing in Microsoft 365 that I can't do in LibreOffice. (Aside from cloud storage, and I use ProtonDrive for that anyway.)
"there’s little more than the Office suite keeping me in its ecosystem". And that's the kicker. There is nothing to replace Excel, it's the gold standard and what keeps people tied to their ecosystem.
Try Libre Office. It's got analogs for each of the MS Office suite of apps. Yes: Even Excel. Works like a charm. I even prefer its Word analog to iA's Word analog. If you're used to MS Office, you'll instantly get the gist, and find it very user friendly.
HQ'd in Switzerland.
Unlike the gods of MS, they don't hold your Office files hostage, and make you pay, year to year. I recall the days when my MS Office files were mine. Forever. No yearly fee.
Hard to argue with that. Microsoft B2C AI is so comically bad. But they don't even care so more layoffs and more Azure growth. I can't believe this company funded a competitor and thought they were doing an amazing thing. It's so cringe.
Not to mention, AI is notorious for getting facts wrong. Its only reasonable use thus far, is for creative stuff, and even at that, most users don't like the graphics it comes up with.
LibreOffice is great, but does feel dated. I do a lot of volunteer work helping senior citizens with their technology, and I've found that those who still heavily use MS Office convert to OnlyOffice with almost no friction.
My parents are retired, in their 80s, and still actively editing and translating books from foreign languages. They switched to Linux Mint and OnlyOffice and have found it so much better and simpler than Windows 11 and MS Office. I should have done it years before I did!
I have microsoft 365, recently I can access my onedrive files on android phone and tablet. Spent hours with microsoft and samsung, can get a result. But happily after not being able to sign into onedrive account on old samsung s7, I now can. How about that!!
thanks for the heads up! I pay for a family plan because my retired mother is so used to the Microsoft Suite for her projects and hobbies, I caved in and started paying for it after trying to get her to use the alternatives and play tech support every time 🥲 the price hike doesn’t seem to apply for the family plan yet as far as I could could tell…
I've had a good experience switching to OnlyOffice for personal use, but also for work (qualitative researcher - minimal use of spreadsheets, but writing reports in PPT and occasionally Word). Transition period wasn't really frustrating at all and I never feel the need to go back to Microsoft.
There's a lot of that, "selective" pricing, going on, Paris. I'm annoyed by it, in a variety of online sources. If I so much as shop for anything, next time I check, the items I was interested in, are more expensive. It's a complete rip off. Your example is one of many.
I was charged $129 and I don’t recall seeing an email about the price change. I attempted to cancel and the option for $99 was available once more. Thanks for sharing this.
This is why I finally cancelled 365 and switched to LibreOffice. True, it's slight less convenient (especially since they still haven't got a mobile app), but at least I know they're not scanning everything I do to 'train' AI so that it becomes an even better plagiarizer. I have yet to find anything I was doing in Microsoft 365 that I can't do in LibreOffice. (Aside from cloud storage, and I use ProtonDrive for that anyway.)
I'll be interested in what Paris comes up with, as alternatives to MS Office.
"there’s little more than the Office suite keeping me in its ecosystem". And that's the kicker. There is nothing to replace Excel, it's the gold standard and what keeps people tied to their ecosystem.
Try Libre Office. It's got analogs for each of the MS Office suite of apps. Yes: Even Excel. Works like a charm. I even prefer its Word analog to iA's Word analog. If you're used to MS Office, you'll instantly get the gist, and find it very user friendly.
HQ'd in Switzerland.
Unlike the gods of MS, they don't hold your Office files hostage, and make you pay, year to year. I recall the days when my MS Office files were mine. Forever. No yearly fee.
For individuals creating basic sheets, absolutely agree. For any sort of power use, Excel is the one thing that there's no replacement for.
Hard to argue with that. Microsoft B2C AI is so comically bad. But they don't even care so more layoffs and more Azure growth. I can't believe this company funded a competitor and thought they were doing an amazing thing. It's so cringe.
Not to mention, AI is notorious for getting facts wrong. Its only reasonable use thus far, is for creative stuff, and even at that, most users don't like the graphics it comes up with.
This seems really close to "negative option billing" which is supposed to be illegal in Ontario.
LibreOffice is great, but does feel dated. I do a lot of volunteer work helping senior citizens with their technology, and I've found that those who still heavily use MS Office convert to OnlyOffice with almost no friction.
My parents are retired, in their 80s, and still actively editing and translating books from foreign languages. They switched to Linux Mint and OnlyOffice and have found it so much better and simpler than Windows 11 and MS Office. I should have done it years before I did!
I have microsoft 365, recently I can access my onedrive files on android phone and tablet. Spent hours with microsoft and samsung, can get a result. But happily after not being able to sign into onedrive account on old samsung s7, I now can. How about that!!
thanks for the heads up! I pay for a family plan because my retired mother is so used to the Microsoft Suite for her projects and hobbies, I caved in and started paying for it after trying to get her to use the alternatives and play tech support every time 🥲 the price hike doesn’t seem to apply for the family plan yet as far as I could could tell…
Exactly what happened to me earlier this month. I cancelled. Liking LibreOffice so far!
I've had a good experience switching to OnlyOffice for personal use, but also for work (qualitative researcher - minimal use of spreadsheets, but writing reports in PPT and occasionally Word). Transition period wasn't really frustrating at all and I never feel the need to go back to Microsoft.
There's a lot of that, "selective" pricing, going on, Paris. I'm annoyed by it, in a variety of online sources. If I so much as shop for anything, next time I check, the items I was interested in, are more expensive. It's a complete rip off. Your example is one of many.