Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 29th Jan 2013 23:32 UTC, submitted by Adurbe
Microsoft has released Office 365 Home Premium. Ars has a review up: "Just like Windows 8, this cloud-tethered version of Office may have a hard time convincing home users it's time to upgrade. There are many useful new features in some of the most heavily used applications of Office, and the new add-in apps provide a useful way to pull external content into documents and presentations. The real question is whether customers - especially consumers - will buy into the service format." You're looking at EUR 100 per year for Office 365 Home Premium. Sure, it's for five PCs - but one, who has that many PCs these days other than families, two, even among those families, how many need Office for five PCs, three, who doesn't buy Office once and just installs it on all PCs in the house, and four, you can't use it for commercial stuff. In other words, virtually everyone is better off buying regular, non-subscription Office 2013 Home & Student. You pay EUR 139 once (instead of EUR 100 every year), and it's yours forever. I really don't understand who the subscription service is for - it's screaming for a single-license, EUR 25 per year option. Also, lose that ridiculous non-commercial bullshit.
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RE: A traditional MS license isn't so great, either
by mahiyu on Thu 31st Jan 2013 21:39
in reply to "A traditional MS license isn't so great, either"
Member since:2010-08-06
"...virtually everyone is better off buying regular, non-subscription Office 2013 Home & Student. You pay EUR 139 once (instead of EUR 100 every year), and it's yours forever."
No, it's not "yours forever." You have LICENSED a product, not bought it. Your license is subject to many restrictions. For example, you can not legally move that product to a different machine once you've installed it, nor move it to a new computer if you buy one.
No, it's not "yours forever." You have LICENSED a product, not bought it. Your license is subject to many restrictions. For example, you can not legally move that product to a different machine once you've installed it, nor move it to a new computer if you buy one.
My understanding was that the European Court of Justice had ruled that software licences could be sold on, so logically there should be no problem transferring the licence to another PC, at least in the EU.
It would be interesting to see how well a lot of these "legal" licence restrictions would hold up in a court of law.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.More Features »
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2008-05-03
"...virtually everyone is better off buying regular, non-subscription Office 2013 Home & Student. You pay EUR 139 once (instead of EUR 100 every year), and it's yours forever."
No, it's not "yours forever." You have LICENSED a product, not bought it. Your license is subject to many restrictions. For example, you can not legally move that product to a different machine once you've installed it, nor move it to a new computer if you buy one.
"I really don't understand who the subscription service is for."
It's for Microsoft, of course. Since when have they ever kept the customer's interests in mind?