Sunday, June 24, 2012

Microsoft Dropping Office Starter Edition

Just read that Microsoft will be phasing out Microsoft Office Starter Edition. It will not be available on Windows 8 machines. The stated explanation is a a bad experience on the new OS.

Let's be honest here. MS was hoping that once people used the starter edition, they would upgrade to the overly expensive full version. That didn't happen. I use Excel mostly, & it works fine. Yeah, it has a rotating ad at the bottom, but I barely notice it.

So Microsoft is suggesting the web apps. Really? The poor man's Google Docs? No I like having my stuff actually on my computer. Not "in the cloud". But again, this is a way of forcing people to spend $150-$200 on a full version of Office, which is the cash cow of Microsoft.

Even MS says I can keep my starter edition. But if I want to upgrade to Windows 8, then I lose it. Well, I really don't want to go to this silly tile based OS anyway. And if it's necessary, Open Office or Libre Office.

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