Microsoft Phasing Out Office Starter Edition 132
nk497 writes "Microsoft has started phasing out its Office 2010 Starter edition, ahead of the arrival of Windows 8. Office Starter was included in the OEM pre-installation kit (OPK) of software sent to manufacturers, and included ad-supported versions of Word and Excel, but not Outlook or PowerPoint. That will be replaced with an Office 2010 Transition OPK, which will instead push users to download a trial of the Office suite and offer a link to buy the full version. The free Office Web Apps will also be available for users not wanting the full version."
How useful is Office, really? (Score:3, Informative)
I have LibreOffice of course, but don't actually use it much. Word processing seems antiquated. I use text editors and browsers for my writing. Most of my writing is programs, documentation, posts, and emails, not letters. Good riddance to all those empty forms one is expected to know and follow in letter writing.
Spreadsheets are sometimes useful. But I often find programming languages more flexible for heavy duty calculation.
If I do a lecture, I work from notes and use a chalkboard or a whiteboard. One problem with a presentation is it's too static and linear. Fairly easy to skip stuff your audience already knows, but not so easy to whip up new slides on the spot for the other way around. A talk is constrained enough for a slide show, but that also makes them of limited value. Everyone has been in useless, boring meetings dominated by PowerPoint presentations.
What else do office suites do? 3rd rate database management, drawings, and...?
Awesome news for LibreOffice (Score:5, Informative)
If Microsoft doesn't want to cater to this audience, LibreOffice [libreoffice.org] is more than happy to step up and provide a high-quality, powerful, free (and Free) office suite.
I've installed LibreOffice on dozens of machines, and many friends of mine now rely on it for opening a variety of files that MS-Office can't (or won't) open for them. It'd be great to hear from any OEMs who are considering installing it as a part of the base package on their machines.
Re:Who cares? (Score:4, Informative)
Office Home + Student costs around $99 OEM version (includes Word + Excel + Powerpoint + OneNote). That seems like a pretty reasonable price.
You're used to it seemingly :-( Software took another turn recently... The new Mac OS Mountain Lion costs $20 [engadget.com] for instance.
Restricted license (Score:5, Informative)
You 're not allowed to do commercial things with that. Why would I need office for home use? No, I'm not a student, so what exactly do you propose to do with it?
Send a letter to my sister congratulating her with her birthday? Put all my recipes in a spreadsheet (after all, it's a database, right?). Maybe make a presentation so I can convince my girlfriend it's better to watch sports on television tonight than Jersey Shore?
Keep in mind that many companies already have a license where it's legal for their employees to run full office at home and that many charities get a "free" license from MicroSoft so their volunteers can use it. There isn't a lot of situations left where you would actually have to buy a license if you really wanted to use MS Office and not be able to do so already, or use the Starter Edition, or Libre Office. Only there the "Home" license would be required.
Oh, now I see, you want to use full blown Outlook because you like the features (I despise it with a vengeance myself). Sorry, that's not in Office Home, you need to buy the full package for that
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Informative)
Or $20 each for the individual apps on the App Store...
Which seems better, because many people I know would use one or two, but not all three...
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Informative)
(1) Includes revenue from iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Pro sales.
(2) Includes revenue from MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro sales.
(3) Includes revenue from iPod sales.
(4) Includes revenue from sales from the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore in addition to sales of iPod services and Apple-branded and third-party iPod accessories.
(5) Includes revenue from sales of iPhone, iPhone services, and Apple-branded and third-party iPhone accessories.
(6) Includes revenue from sales of iPad, iPad services, and Apple-branded and third-party iPad accessories.
(7) Includes revenue from sales of displays, networking product, and other hardware.
(8) Includes revenue from sales of Apple-branded and third-party Mac software, and services.
(9) Includes amortization of related revenue deferred for non-software services and embedded software upgrade rights.
Apple makes almost as much money in iPod (2.5) hardware than they make in Apps, Media, and software sales (2.0+ 0.8) combined. The iTunes revenue also includes iPod accessories as well. And any revenue from the App or Media or Mac App store to Apple is only 30% of reported revenue as they have to give the original content owner their 70% cut first. Bottom line: Apple makes most of their money from hardware. This isn't hard to look up.
Re:Who cares? (Score:4, Informative)
Home and Student, with three licenses, is usually ~100€. Around 30€ per license is a very good deal for anyone who doesn't use it for "revenue-generating activities". If you need something beyond Word, Exce, Powerpoint and OneNote, you can buy the individual program (in practice, two licenses - one for a desktop and one for a laptop/tablet).