Replacing Outlook

[MoneyGuy]

Pardon my ignorance but I thought I’d ask something technical of folks who know this stuff.

I’m running Outlook 2010 on a PC and need to replace it. IIFC Microsoft 365 is $79 a year but I’d prefer to buy it outright without an annual renewal.

A Microsoft agent quoted $380 for Outlook 2021. Productkey24.com has it for $119. Are these the same software? If so why the big price difference? Is Productkey24 a legit retailer? They’re advertising 72% off (which must be off of the Microsoft price).

I need the usual: Word, Calendar, Email, Excel and OneNote.

Any problem ordering from ProductKey24?

[Fuzz]

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX00118868


This should do. Not sure about PK24, but sounds sketchy.

[Hack&Lube]

If you want to use the on the web versions, it's all free. It does all I need.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/micr...ne-for-the-web

ProductKey24 is reselling some volume licenses taken from some corporation with a Microsoft agreement. If they ever cancel them, then the products may stop working but historically Office products still work even if unlicensed.

[TorqueDog]

Yeah, be careful about buying product keys from places like G2A and ProductKey24. Whether they're bought with stolen credit card numbers or 'borrowed' from an enterprise volume license, they're not legitimate and can stop working if the license is revoked.

Additionally, if you see someone selling Office 20xx Professional Plus (sometimes shown as Pro Plus), walk away. The consumer version (the one John Q. Public can actually buy for themselves) is Office Professional, no 'Plus'. Pro Plus is a volume licensed edition for enterprise customers, you can't go buy an individual copy of Pro Plus.

If you see someone selling Office Professional (not Plus), it might be new old-stock and you shouldn't have any issues with it, although keep in mind that it will eventually sunset (Office 2016 Extended Support ends October 14, 2025) and will stop getting free security updates at that point.

I will add to Hack&Lube's point that the free online versions are really good, but Outlook on the Web is only an option if you're using Microsoft as your e-mail provider (you can add a Gmail account if you have Outlook Premium). You can't add your ISP's POP3 e-mail, for example.

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

IIFC Microsoft 365 is $79 a year but I’d prefer to buy it outright without an annual renewal.

I know subscriptions sound tiresome and terrible when you've been used to buying perpetual licenses, but for me the amount of cloud storage you get (1TB for a single user, or 1TB for yourself + 1TB each for 5 others on a family plan) is worth it by itself. the ability to access your files from any device anywhere, seamless migrate data between computers, and worry a bit less about losing important files forever is pretty good for $7-10 a month.

[Azure]

Yeah, the Office 365 subscription is hands down worth it.

Simply not something I worry about anymore. Plus, you can use it on 5 devices. Such a great deal.

[PeteMoss]

It did come up in another thread recently, but if you work for a company with Office, you can often install it from their licenses onto other machines. Privacy and other issues should be considered.. but .. free.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

I know subscriptions sound tiresome and terrible when you've been used to buying perpetual licenses, but for me the amount of cloud storage you get (1TB for a single user, or 1TB for yourself + 1TB each for 5 others on a family plan) is worth it by itself. the ability to access your files from any device anywhere, seamless migrate data between computers, and worry a bit less about losing important files forever is pretty good for $7-10 a month.

I can’t imagine what I’d ever have to do to need 1TB. I work with some pretty decent sized files and I rarely exceed 40GB on my Google storage.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

It did come up in another thread recently, but if you work for a company with Office, you can often install it from their licenses onto other machines. Privacy and other issues should be considered.. but .. free.

Whenever you activate office with a company account, it asks you if you agree to let your PC be corporately managed. There's an option though on that screen that says "Sign into this app only" to bypass that. You'll be prompted every so often to re-enter your credentials and click that option again since there won't be a record of your PC in your company's Office 365 portal, but it's easy enough to do and there's no worry of any IT admin accessing any data from your machine

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

It did come up in another thread recently, but if you work for a company with Office, you can often install it from their licenses onto other machines. Privacy and other issues should be considered.. but .. free.

Thought I’d add that I’m a self-employed consultant, so no employer.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Thought I’d add that I’m a self-employed consultant, so no employer.

Wouldn't it be advantageous then to get an Office 365 subscription and write it off as a business expense?

[para transit fellow]

do you need an email client or do you need Outlook?

I use for example Thunderbird ( with a few extensions)

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Wouldn't it be advantageous then to get an Office 365 subscription and write it off as a business expense?

Office one-time purchase = CAPEX
O365 subscription = OPEX

[Galakanokis]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Office one-time purchase = CAPEX
O365 subscription = OPEX

The never ending debate...

I personally think the subscription is the way to especially if you have multiple devices.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Whenever you activate office with a company account, it asks you if you agree to let your PC be corporately managed. There's an option though on that screen that says "Sign into this app only" to bypass that. You'll be prompted every so often to re-enter your credentials and click that option again since there won't be a record of your PC in your company's Office 365 portal, but it's easy enough to do and there's no worry of any IT admin accessing any data from your machine

You are still signing in with your corporate O365 account and depending on the compliance policy or MDM settings, they can still see all your data and documents and activity done through this account. The flip side also applies, one VP used their corporate O365 account for their kids and they were almost able to screw up all the confidential Sharepoint work she had access to.

There is a separate thing called the Microsoft Home Use Program or HUP that you should inquire with your employer about. It gives you a discount on purchasing your own personal license if you work for an employer with a M365 agreement.