Microsoft is discontinuing the Office brand name
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Astyanax
guess that means 2021 LTSC is the last one
Kaarme
Quite weird to let go of a well-known brand of many decades. I wonder if this is a sign of discontinuing entirely the permanent license sale of Office, leaving only the annual subscription service, known now as Office 365, but I guess Microsoft 365 in the future. I mean, 365 clearly refers to a year, but if you could buy a product you can use as many years as you dare, assuming it's still compatible with the OS, it would be strange that call it 365.
If that's the case, Office 2021 might be my last Microsoft collection of office software.
Reqruiz
Just why? What's the point? So many people know Office and their first thought hearing "office" regarding software, is obviously Word, Excel etc. So easy to remember, so easy to say. Instead of simple "office" we got now microsoft-threehundred-sixty-five which sounds like weather channel or something. 😕
Alessio1989
Microsoft should discontinuing Nadella as CEO.
Kool64
I'm still gonna call it Office
schmidtbag
That's not just shooting one's own foot, that's like getting a scope and aiming at the foot.
The "Office" brand was basically free advertising. That would be like AAA renaming themselves to ZZZ - they chose that name because it put them upfront in the phone book so they were always the first thing you'd see. MS Office is ubiquitous to the point where virtually all competitors use the word "Office" in their product name.
dragonlord
Precisely. It's asinine from every perspective. Only a recent MBA grad without a clue to their name would do something so incredibly stupid.
It's like Coke renaming itself...
MonstroMart
That was only a matter of time tbh. It was very predictable that they would move to a sub model named Microsoft 365 with different tier having more or less apps. It's strange that they drop the Office name completely as well as the physical media but not strange that they move away from Office 365 to incorporate it in Microsoft 365.
Horus-Anhur
I bet that Microsoft saw Intel changing the Pentium and Celeron brand to "Processor", and said hold my beer and watch.
Exodite
If Microsoft hasn't already decided upon a replacement branding I'll offer "The application suite formerly known as Office." free of charge.
MonstroMart
Well "Office" is already kind of the equivalent of "Processor". So i think to counter Intel they should rename "Office" to something that doesn't make sense in greek like dunno "Parakalo 365".
anticupidon
What? What the actual ...Clipper?
But they still hold the brand name as an asset.
Loobyluggs
It is a dark day, when Microsoft will not allow people to buy a software product and run it, instead forcing you to pay a subscription charge.
Glad I got my MS OFFICE 2021 PROFESSIONAL + MS VISIO before they descended into madness.
I really am not liking this 'gym membership' psychology that people in marketing have got, like, everything is a subscription...no one actually buys anything any more, they just pay for the right to temporarily use it.
Mufflore
I'm not sure I care.
My ISP decided to not allow any version of Outlook to connect to their email servers citing security concerns. wtf MS?
I use old versions of Word, Access and Excel, they do everything I need.
Even if there is a credible upgrade, making the office suite online is a big no.
Anything I create is mine to do with as I please. no control or access to it should exist outside my computer.
MS have been going in the wrong direction for a long time.
anticupidon
Well, there are alternatives. Not entirely perfect, but good for SOHO.
aufkrawall2
There are exactly zero alternatives that can open real-world documents, presentations etc. without alignment, formatting, font etc. issues.
mackintosh
This is stupid. One of the most recognizable brand names in software. Incredible hubris, too.
anticupidon
https://www.onlyoffice.com/
aufkrawall2
It instantly failed with the first PP presentation from my university I opened in it, slide titles were placed overlapping other elements etc.
anticupidon
Be that as it may, no software is ever perfect. Even PP fails, and all MS products fail and have quirks.
It is known. Anyway, use whatever fits your computing needs.
