1 votes
Microsoft's Office 2010 Outrage-No Upgrades!
21 June 2010
Microsoft has always been a paradox of sorts. With good software comes an high costs. That is reasonable to a point. To a point. They have always been the villains of the software game and Bill Gates was "Ming the Merciless." They made their first breakthrough by stealing a granular OS from Xerox. Yep! A bit of history that is not well know. Without Bill to kick around, it has lost some of its coolness as THE firm to diss- the seat of evil. I've used their OS and Officr forever. I beta tested XP and Vista OS (Whistler and Longhorn) and Office XP(10), 03(11) and 07(12). I opted out of 2010(14) because I was working the PhotoshopCS5 beta. Just when you think MS is cleaning up their act they take "outrageous" to a new level. Frankly, I thought I had seen it all -that they could not longer shock me. I stand corrected. Welcome to Office 2010: The land of no upgrades!
While Office 2010 is good stuff-a nod to those who were in the beta-the software is not an entirely new and different package from Office 07. I've used both the public beta and the RTM version. Had it required several years, lots of R&D, new architecture, (BIG $) to bring to market, I might not have this gripe. However when all of the other software houses improve "theirwarez", they only expect upgrades. This is an utter abuse and shows contempt for users. As a middle aged IT firm, MS has tried everything imaginable to keep themselves rolling in money. This one, however exceeds the greed curve in a breathtaking manner.
With the exception of Web-apps for collaboration which all software houses are adding, a small update of the GUI and some changes that were needed before 07RTM,. the software is an 07 sibling-nothing more. Interesting that MS did a flip-flop on free software for beta tester. They have gotten far less generous over the years to betas. In this case, they need beta tester to aid them in supporting the price jump. Had I participated, I would be disgusted right now as I would know they are trying to leverage us again the market. Keep it in mind, folks.
No software house would give doing this a 2nd thought for fear losing their customer base. In fact, maddening them so much that many would take their biz, elsewhere. Having customers with an irrational axe to grind with harm MS in other offerings. All of my colleagues are mad as this will harm their profitability. Professional IT clientele are furious to the point where some I have spoken with-large enterprises-are actively considering Google-Docs or Adobe's Acrobat.com. While no substitute, I may buy Outlook as a separate entity, keep 07 and use Acrobat.com to fill in the blanks.The changes are nice-not groundbreaking. I will surely not renew my Technet subscription as they had made changes to policy on its uses. Check this out if a Technet subscriber. I have to imagine the price of a Technet sub will skyrocket because of this "Office Outrage."
Bottom line--The software does not represent a transformational change in Office. Producing it did not require anything close to the kind of investment MS is trying to justify by charging full price for all users. My guess? This decision will have severe blowback on Microsoft. Will that get them to reconsider? Doubtful. This is MS were talking about. There is no PR win here-not in a million years. While I know some beta tester will take exception to this post, remember-you are being used as a marketing tool. Not just a software evangelist. The latter is entirely reasonable. You are the best informed users around. However, by advocating its adopting, you are supporting the price! Don't play their game.
I will update as things develop.
While Office 2010 is good stuff-a nod to those who were in the beta-the software is not an entirely new and different package from Office 07. I've used both the public beta and the RTM version. Had it required several years, lots of R&D, new architecture, (BIG $) to bring to market, I might not have this gripe. However when all of the other software houses improve "theirwarez", they only expect upgrades. This is an utter abuse and shows contempt for users. As a middle aged IT firm, MS has tried everything imaginable to keep themselves rolling in money. This one, however exceeds the greed curve in a breathtaking manner.
With the exception of Web-apps for collaboration which all software houses are adding, a small update of the GUI and some changes that were needed before 07RTM,. the software is an 07 sibling-nothing more. Interesting that MS did a flip-flop on free software for beta tester. They have gotten far less generous over the years to betas. In this case, they need beta tester to aid them in supporting the price jump. Had I participated, I would be disgusted right now as I would know they are trying to leverage us again the market. Keep it in mind, folks.
No software house would give doing this a 2nd thought for fear losing their customer base. In fact, maddening them so much that many would take their biz, elsewhere. Having customers with an irrational axe to grind with harm MS in other offerings. All of my colleagues are mad as this will harm their profitability. Professional IT clientele are furious to the point where some I have spoken with-large enterprises-are actively considering Google-Docs or Adobe's Acrobat.com. While no substitute, I may buy Outlook as a separate entity, keep 07 and use Acrobat.com to fill in the blanks.The changes are nice-not groundbreaking. I will surely not renew my Technet subscription as they had made changes to policy on its uses. Check this out if a Technet subscriber. I have to imagine the price of a Technet sub will skyrocket because of this "Office Outrage."
Bottom line--The software does not represent a transformational change in Office. Producing it did not require anything close to the kind of investment MS is trying to justify by charging full price for all users. My guess? This decision will have severe blowback on Microsoft. Will that get them to reconsider? Doubtful. This is MS were talking about. There is no PR win here-not in a million years. While I know some beta tester will take exception to this post, remember-you are being used as a marketing tool. Not just a software evangelist. The latter is entirely reasonable. You are the best informed users around. However, by advocating its adopting, you are supporting the price! Don't play their game.
I will update as things develop.
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