Office 365

The most interesting thing I have heard out of Redmond is the new licensing model for Microsoft Office. The latest version is called Office 365. This is a yearly subscription model. Looks like you download the software over the Internet. You get charged a yearly fee to get access to the latest version of the Office suite.

The real kicker is the pricing, especially when compared to the old style product. The cost structure almost forces you to go the subscription way. The retail shrink wrapped one-time product purchase is becoming a bad value compared to the subscription costs. Ouch.

I might just sit this one out. My current version of Office is good enough. However the low cost subscription offer is a hard one to pass up. I think this is the Microsoft plan.