Office 2013 and the refreshed Office 365 are now on general release, for consumers at any rate. Buyers will have to wait until February 27 for business versions and pricing. As one of Microsoft’s prime revenue generators, Office sales remain a key indicator of performance and the latest versions aim to catch the current technology waves with their Windows 8, cloud and social networking-friendly stances. But it is the commitment to a subscription model that stands out because it is another marker in Microsoft’s efforts to capture the crucial mobile marker.
Microsoft had previously demonstrated that it was moving heavily towards the subscription model (see here) and the new consumer Office variants overtly discriminate against perpetual licences. Several versions are available but the core offering is Office 365 Home Premium which comes in a $99.99/year, covers 5 devices, and is able to be managed in the cloud from one account. Concerted effort has been put into creating close links with other Microsoft technologies - i.e. it can save files simultaneously to a local drive and to SkyDrive (thus challenging Google Drive) and also includes Skype minutes. Microsoft is also talking up the value of ‘presence’ and unified communications to continue the strategy of using Office to promote the rest of its technology stack. This version also offers Office on Demand –e.g. if you are not working on one of your core 5 devices but need access to Office you can stream a copy to a Windows 7 or 8 PC, save your work to the cloud and when you’re done the copy disappears. The flexibility and cloud access are good but it does come at a high price compared to Google Apps which is free to consumers and costs businesses $50 per user/year.
The pricing structure around Office 2013 is more traditional but you get less for your upfront one-off fee – a single copy for installation on one PC, less cloud-connectivity, and no Office on Demand - but you can save to SkyDrive.
This is a good move by Microsoft and should refresh its Windows revenue which had dropped in anticipation of the new releases (see here) but there is at least one glaring omission – Office 365 is not available on the iPad (or Android). Microsoft talks of tying Office to its stack to maximise the user experience but what many users want is to tie their Apple tablet into their Office environment. Missing that market segment may turn out to be a major omission.