...if you love to pay monthly fees that add up to way more than a one-time purchase.

[blogs.office.com]

But wait! Unlike Adobe, MS is giving us hope
Office 2016 for Mac will become available as a one-time purchase option this September.

Though I'm not sure if that will get the same updates as the subscription version. 'cause
And the best news is that Office for Mac will continue to see ongoing improvements over time. We plan to release updates and new features for Office 365 customers at least once per quarter.

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Totally depends on your use case.

Office 365 licensing is generally cheaper than an Open license for a 3-year refresh cycle (typical Office for Windows refresh cycle). Retail/OEM licenses are cheaper, but are tied to the machine they're first installed on. Obviously Mac users don't buy a new Office every 3 years, because there hasn't been a new product for 5 years.

My (work-provided) Office 365 subscription covers Office on my Mac, my personal Windows machine, my work Windows machine, and my iPad for a single subscription account. That's probably the best deal for individual users...get your employer to get Office 365, then use one of the 5 installs on your personal machine for free.

Office 365 academic--if you qualify--is a bargain; three installs (two Mac, 1 PC in my case). Roughly $25/year for 4 years.

Quote
J Marston
Office 365 academic--if you qualify--is a bargain; three installs (two Mac, 1 PC in my case). Roughly $25/year for 4 years.

I'm not so sure. My son uses almost all Google or Apple apps. He can spend this $100 more wisely on other things.

Quote
sekker

Quote
J Marston
Office 365 academic--if you qualify--is a bargain; three installs (two Mac, 1 PC in my case). Roughly $25/year for 4 years.

I'm not so sure. My son uses almost all Google or Apple apps. He can spend this $100 more wisely on other things.

The ladies.

Before buying the Academic version, check with the school. My son's college supplies all students with a subscription to Office 365.

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Quote
John B.
Totally depends on your use case.

Office 365 licensing is generally cheaper than an Open license for a 3-year refresh cycle (typical Office for Windows refresh cycle).

I'm struggling to find a use case where that's true. Retail vs retail, even if you pay for Office 365 annually that's still $300 for three years. Office for Mac, retail, starts around $140. So the subscription service is still $160 more expensive. For me, the last time I got office was 2008. So I've gone seven years. If I had been paying $100/yr all that time, I would have paid $700 instead of the $150 or so I paid.

Quote

My (work-provided) Office 365 subscription covers Office on my Mac, my personal Windows machine, my work Windows machine, and my iPad for a single subscription account. That's probably the best deal for individual users...get your employer to get Office 365, then use one of the 5 installs on your personal machine for free.

But how much does your employer pay for your seat? Just because you're not paying for it doesn't mean there's not a cost. If your employer has a corporate license with MS, you're likely eligible for the Home Use Program. It's a one time fee of $10.

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I laid out the Office 365 optimal use case. It's corporate use with Windows machines on a 3-year Office refresh. And I disclaimed that Office Mac users would not be the optimal case as Office Mac does not refresh that fast. For my customer base, buying Open licenses from a Microsoft reseller (not even including Software Advantage), licensing Office for Windows through Office 365 is cheaper. That's not including add-ins like hosted Exchange or SharePoint or the ability to deploy on multiple machines. Buying retail Office in a corporate environment means that Office license dies with the machine it's installed on, and right now you could buy Office for Windows 2013 and have an outdated version in 2-3 months when Office for Windows 2016 ships (unless you buy Software Advantage)...365 users get the upgrade.

At least Microsoft offers the option to buy or subscribe. Adobe is subscribe only now. And Intuit has their model with QuickBooks where even if you buy, add-in features like payroll and credit card processing die when the software is 3 years old and you have to upgrade.

I pushed our small business to Office 365 to get off of our old local mail server. We got licenses for Office on desktop machines and iPads. It has worked well for us as people come and go and I don't need to keep track of licenses for departed folks.

It makes sense for some folks.