Can Microsoft Really Convince People To Subscribe To Software? 297
curtwoodward writes "For most consumers, monthly subscriptions are still something for magazines and cable TV. With Office 365, Microsoft is about to embark on a huge social experiment to see if they'll also pay that way for basic software. But in doing so, Microsoft has jacked up prices on its old fee structure to make subscriptions seem like a better deal. And that could really leave a bad impression with financially struggling consumers."
Hope this works. Ad supported is not what I want. (Score:0, Insightful)
Consumers expect free - due to open source movement. That means we are headed to ad supported model which is BAD. I'd rather pay for my tech. I'll sign up.
Of course they will (Score:1, Insightful)
Most customers will pay 1200 for a 600 phone as long as they can pay it month to month in stead of all at once. Welcome to modern consumerism.
Re:Why has the slashdot MS symbol changed? (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe because Slashdot finally realizes that no one else in the world but hopeless Linux fanbois associate Gates with Microsoft for about the last five years.
Could Slashdot finally be ready to grow up? Let's hope so. Steps in the right direction was getting KDawson and CmdrTaco out of here, maybe this is a good next step to moving back to being a tech site and not a garbage dumb for raving lunatics with a chip on their shoulder.
Hopefully no (Score:5, Insightful)
Going back to the time-sharing days is not something most of us would like. The PC revolution was all about empowering the user, the subscription/cloud model is all about giving control back to big companies.
I hope it won't happen, but after seeing the queues to buy a overrated, expensive toy this Friday and assuming there are that many ready to part with their money in exchange for a locked system, I really don't expect it to fail. There are many that will trade freedom for (assumed) convenience too easily.
Why would a home user want Office? (Score:2, Insightful)
The last Microsoft Office product I bought was Word 97. I've been using OpenOffice, then LIbreOffice, since about 2002. It's a OK word processor, a mediocre but adequate spreadsheet, and a better draw program than Office. What's in Microsoft Office that a home user would need, let alone pay for monthly?
why subscribe again? (Score:5, Insightful)
So, my Office suite was purchased back in the latter half of 2000 (maybe first half of 2001, don't exactly remember). It still works fine, and I haven't spent a dime on it since then.
Back in the bad old days, when we were forever reaching for that next release of the OS or that next release of Word in the hopes that it would crash less often and we could actually get some work done, Microsoft built a business model based on expensive incremental releases (a similar game to what Apple is playing now with hardware) and we all went along with it because we needed something that worked.
To a certain extent, Microsoft is now a prisoner of their own success. For the great majority of users, Office stopped progressing over a decade ago, and Windows stopped progressing in 2002 (xp sp1). There is no longer any need to go out and buy every new version. Hasn't been for awhile.
The problem is, Microsoft relies on that new release income to function, and I'm sure they're worried. Now comes a new paradigm -- software rental -- that guarantees it. I'm sure that seemed like a great idea, and I'm sure the person who came up with the idea of jacking up the prices of their non-subscription products got a big ol' raise.
The thing is, there are fewer and fewer reasons to stick with Microsoft products, and more and more ways to migrate off them while maintaining backwards compatibility. If you stick with the mindset that "we are microsoft, and people will buy from us for that reason only", the strategy makes sense. But I wonder if the premise is true anymore. Personally, if and when I can't use my old crufty copy of Office anymore, I will actively seek one of the free solutions before allowing myself to be locked into a Microsoft solution. It's just self-preservation.
Re:LibreOffice (Score:5, Insightful)
What Microsoft really appears to fear is the fact that MS Office versions N-1,N-2, and often even N-3 also take care of everything most people need to do.
They aren't simply adding a subscription option, they are nontrivially bumping the price of the perpetual license options...
Re:Hope this works. Ad supported is not what I wan (Score:5, Insightful)
You can use it until they 'upgrade' the format. At some point few enough people will be using the older formats that they become effectively unusable.
And there's more .... (Score:5, Insightful)
And considering how terms and conditions change on the fly, to lock myself into a subscription that can be turned off at anytime because I refused to go along with the new terms is just asinine.
As it is, my Office XP license is perfect for me, but already MS is playing games with that. I have a license that I bought in '02 and it worked fine for YEARS, then one day, MS sneaked in the Genuine something or another (that's what I get for being zealous about keeping my system up to date and continuously checking that my selection or unselection for the Genuine whatever STAYED uncbecked) and it still said it was OK. then one day for some reason, the Genuine fucker decided that NOW my license is illegitimate? WTF, MS?! - I get the pop-up and whatnot but I ignore it - fuck'em.
My point? I don't trust them - or ANY software vendor with a subscription. I think some of those people are working there because they were fired for ethics issues with the cable companies.
Cracks and Hacks will abound, and M$ will loose $! (Score:3, Insightful)
If such a scheme is introduced, it will cause/fuel a renewed proliferation of Crack and Hacks that will really cost M$ serious money in the long run.
Since older versions still abound, and I am quite confident that there are more than a few of us that will simply hold on to those versions until it is simply impossible to do so any more. By then, there will be a Free alternative, and M$ may have learned its lesson.
Sure (Score:2, Insightful)
As for folks liking FOSS, it's still there. If FOSS was that good*, MS would not sell as much as they do.
*I'm an old *nix guy. I ~do~ dig FOSS, when it's appropriate. Currently, MS Office is the defacto standard in the business world.
I know it's cool to gripe about MS and Bill Gates. I prefer to waste my time on other things. And, I've ~never~ been accused of being cool.
Re:Hope this works. Ad supported is not what I wan (Score:5, Insightful)
Only dirty open source hippies expect things to be free.
Consumers expect free. Not because of open source, because of the internet. Facebook is free, news is free, Google docs are free, everything is free.
Of course, businesses are willing to pay if it gives them a competitive advantage or improves the bottom line, and Microsoft makes most of their money from b2b sales. So the question is whether Microsoft can get them on a subscription basis.
Re:Hope this works. Ad supported is not what I wan (Score:5, Insightful)
But it's hard to believe that people, and especially businesses, will actually fall for this scam.
Actually the subscription thing is primarily driven by businesses, not consumers.
If you need to install 5000 computers you could be looking at 5 million dollars in cash outlays just for software licences. And as other people point out, when you need to upgrade you need to upgrade a lot of your IT, that can be 5 million dollars all at once. With a subscription cost it makes your expenses less bursty.
The other thing with businesses is that a subscription plan defers some of your IT responsibility away from in house, that's actually good for small shops. Trying to navigate the various upgrade paths, support options, and trying to stay compliant with volume licencing arrangements costs money.
It also means, when you layoff staff, that you aren't stuck holding investments in software that you don't need anymore.
You're right, most consumers don't care, but that's where you want to find a value added service to tack on that you're charging for. Cloud storage and synchronization sort of stuff usually.
Re:why subscribe again? (Score:5, Insightful)
You hit the nail on the head. Office reached good-enough stability, and good-enough feature set, several years ago. They have more recently gotten into the "change for the sake of change" phase, and have been redoing GUI, etc, just to have something to promote with the product. Now imagine if customers like you and I (I'm using Office 2003 on my Windows 7 laptop - as my primary work machine has died and been replaced several times over the years, I've just moved my Office license along with me) didn't have the opportunity to have "bought" and owned Office a decade ago. Instead we had to pay a never-ending recurring fee. I think it's exactly users like us that Microsoft no longer makes money off of, and going with a subscription model is the only way they can try and prevent this from happening in the future.
Granted, they aren't going to get many of us in on this new scheme - we already demand a "fair" method of owning software licenses that have value in the long term future, and most of us will simply switch to other alternatives. However there is a new generation of users coming of age, who are more "plugged in" and used to things being connected to the "cloud", or totally web based, or software at least checking online for "updates" and "synchronizing" when it starts up. There are a large number of iOS / Android games which, even though they SHOULD be able to run happily 100% offline, will only function when they have network connectivity and the user is signed in. What this is doing is conditioning a new generation of software consumers to a new level of control, connectivity and oppressive DRM.
Re:Few consumers use open source. (Score:5, Insightful)
Nothing new for some of us (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a personal technet subscription, which is effectively renting MS products (annual fee, access to latest software, and other goodies)
Work has enterprise licencing, which is not much different.
so... some of us have been renting MS software for years.
Re:Why would a home user want Office? (Score:4, Insightful)
You might be surprised. Many people do more with their home computers than just Farmville and porn.
People volunteer for non-profit organizations, join the board of the PTA or their homeowners' assocation, start a small business, help with their kid's little league, work on a master's degree, and more.
Google Apps, Libre Office, and the other suites out there... like you said, are mediocre. Yes, you can write a letter and track your DVD collection. And it's also true that a ton of people barely use 5% of what Word, Excel, and the rest of Office can do.
But then you have this whole subset of "home users" who are professionals using Office at the home for more than just their shopping lists. They need the features (and ease of use, and support, and templates, and clip art, and and and) that Office offers. The features that they use when they're at work -- creating complex budgets, slideshows, long documents -- all get used at the home as well.
And so I don't buy the argument that Office doesn't have anything that a home user needs. Because for a lot of people, home users are doing a lot more than you're giving them credit for.
Re:Hope this works. Ad supported is not what I wan (Score:5, Insightful)
This is why businesses should push very hard to use nothing but open formats. Tying yourself to a single vendor for hardware or software is just asking for trouble. A company can abuse their customers much more if it's difficult to switch products.
Re:Hope this works. Ad supported is not what I wan (Score:3, Insightful)
You know a decade ago it seemed IE 6 was going to be the future forever as people hated change and websites optimized just for that one browser. Things did change though and finally forced MS to make an IE that doesn't suck and starts behaving like everyone.
Perhaps that can change with Office but right now Open/LibreOffice is not as good and there is no reason to change. Firefox was much quicker in version 1.5 Firebird than IE 6 and had new things like tabs. It still took nearly 4 to 5 years before people who are not geeks gradually switched in force to today where most people left IE.
The same is true with Office. We need something faster and has more functionality than Office before enough people will change. Corporate users are always last to change as some still use IE 6 today and plan to use it for decades more in Citrix virtual machines. Corps will change 5 to7 years after everyone else. Only then will standards win with a file format. The government can do all it wants but no one will take the risk of looking incompetent or losing customers with a messed up doc being emailed.
So geeks, think of things to add or write your own suite that is leaps and bounds better and offiers things no one else has and can run very fast. Then the problem will solve itself in time.
Re:Hope this works. Ad supported is not what I wan (Score:3, Insightful)
This is some sort of alternative timeline thing, right ?
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hope this works. Ad supported is not what I wan (Score:4, Insightful)
> Only dirty open source hippies expect things to be free. The rest of us are perfectly willing to pay for things
Don't kid yourself. Windows users steal anything that isn't nailed down and then pass it around like party favors.
Microsoft's market share was built on this.
A Linux "freeloader" is far more likely to acknowledge that there is a license.
Re:Hope this works. Ad supported is not what I wan (Score:5, Insightful)
We need something faster and has more functionality than Office
"More functionality"? Office is a bloated pile of crap because of the excessive and redundant features. What used to be a pretty useful wordprocessor back about 1992, Word 5, is now so feature laden that hardly anyone uses or even knows a tenth of its features.
I edit books and authors send me files in Word. I have yet to see one -- whether a businessman, doctor, or university professor -- that knows what a Word "style" is. They one and all treat it like a typewriter. Few of them seem to be able to spellcheck.
The only reason anyone upgrades is because they have no choice when they buy, or they have to be able to read the file format. My daughter demanded I get it for that reason, as her teachers distribute files in various MS Office formats. I installed Ubuntu on her laptop and she now uses Libre Office. It works, it's free.