Office 2013 or Office 365 : Which is better for you?
Microsoft unveiled their latest and greatest productivity suite’s update. Yes we’re talking about the Office productivity suite. For years Office suite has been the benchmark in the industry and Microsoft has taken this to a next level. Instead of making people buy the suite, Microsoft wants you to subscribe to a yearly subscription and it costs a hefty price too. Though with this release Microsoft is dropping support for XP users as they won’t be getting update of Office, even if they want to, from Microsoft. OS X is supported, though.
Office 365
For Office 365 – The Subscription service, you’ll have to pay a whopping $100 per year to gain access to all the major sub-apps including Publisher, Access and Skydrive to name a few. With skydrive you’ll get 20 GB of online cloud storage too. With Office 365 you can install this suite on 5 Different PCs and Macs. Adding to it, Microsoft has also added a feature called Office On-demand that helps you to stream Office on a Computer that don’t have office installed in it. Microsoft’s FAQ page explains:
It lets you use your Office applications on PCs that don’t have Office installed on them. For example, a PC in the library, at a business center, or one that you borrowed from a friend. Your Office applications and settings are streamed to the PC instead of being permanently installed on it. Streaming speed depends on Internet connectivity speed. Once you close the applications, they are no longer available to other users of that PC. Documents you save to SkyDrive will also no longer be available to other users, unless you saved them locally on the computer.
This gives you almost an instant access to Office suite even when you’re away from your 5 different PCs or Macs on which you have installed Office 365. Though every other user can use Office Webapp, which works in a similar way, but is inferior in many cases. Documents are similarly saved in Skydrive.
Office 2013
Basically it is like owning what you paid for and not a rental service like Office 365. It is available in different prices according to your needs.
Office 2013 Home & Student — $140
Programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote
Office 2013 Home & Student will be the overall least expensive offering in the new Office family because you get the most basic Office programs and simply pay $140 for the life of the product.
Office 2013 Home & Business — $220
Programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook
Small businesses that want to approach Office from a more traditional perspective of buying a licence or two for those who need a new copy might want this version. Office 2013 Home & Business is targeted at smaller companies rather than medium-sized companies and enterprises.
Office 2013 Pro — $400
Programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, Access
If you’re a serious Office aficionado and need the full suite of Microsoft tools, Pro is your version. Unless, of course, you’d rather have the same programs and get extra goodies by subscribing to Office 365.
Pro costs $400 and only lets you install on one device, while 365 Home Premium lets you install on five devices with more cloud features. If you use Office 2013 Pro for four years, only then do you make up your investment when you could have paid the same for four years of Office 365. So if you want all the apps that Office has to offer Office 365 is your bet. Rather I suggest you to go with the basic Home edition of Office 2013, since Outlook isn’t worth the $80.
And only if you are a student, Microsoft has a killer offer.
Office 365 – For Students
It costs just $80 and you can install it on 4 PCs and Macs. And by $80, I mean $80 for 4 years. Isn’t it cheap? Full office suite, which includes all apps, cloud storage and all awesome features Office 365 has to offer for just $20 a year. Amazing. “Its a one time investment for college students till they get their degrees”, Microsoft said.
Seriously, if Microsoft have had made it available for everyone at this price it would’ve sold out like hot cakes, but nevermind.
I just use Word and Excel on my desktop, Which version should I get:
Here is some simple math for those who are not Office power users with one PC. For one PC, Office 365 is $100 per year. For one PC, Office Home and Student is $140. You can use Office Home and Student for as many years as you like. You’ll do fine with a boxed version of Office 2013.
Breakdown:
