Microsoft Office 2010 is Free, Allowing More Users Than Ever to Make Ugly Powerpoint Presentations
Hey, you know Microsoft Office, that thing you’ve been downloading illegally for free all these years? It would seem that Microsoft’s finally catching up with the current state of computing – in June, they’ll be offering it for free, for real.
In a move more than likely inspired by Google Docs’ sudden usefulness to people who want to be able to use one set of tools across the cloud, Microsoft will be releasing a free, ad-supported, online version of Office along side a more robust, un-free version in June. The hope is that, as approximately 90% of Office users are business users, they’ll prefer the traditional, expensive, fancy-pants Office anyway – after all, the last thing a high-powered exec wants is to have to look at an Evony ad while typing up a financial presentation.
[Via Seattle Times]
The conclusion is exactly what I thought of. Why would I want to see ads when I am seriously preparing presentations or writing project proposals? But, I think, MS thinks other wise and latching onto the Google Model would be easy.
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The irony is truly amusing. To the immediate right of your article is a cleavage-filled Evony ad. Nothing like deriding Microsoft for an offense of which you are equally guilty. Hypocrisy, thy name is Dunitz.
OpenOffice.org is still better and doesn’t have the bloatware or bugs of MS Office. Open source is always better.
Open source may be better for some thinmgs, but business analysts and other folk (like me) tend to use the programming object library and VBA functionality. Until open soure can make VBA style interaction as simple as office only the ‘front end users’ making simple spreadsheets and powerpoints will prefer the much more basic open source…
Unless they’re high ups in the SEC…then they may prefer the version with the Evony ads.
Doesn’t really affect me until they release the mac version for free but Hooray MS is actually doing something good for once!!
Hopefully Apple does the same with its own iWork. Yay for competition!!