Personal Consumer Issues • Microsoft Office 2021 for Home

In any case - for those that want to stick with MS go with O365. Otherwise go with google or another free option mentioned.
I don't get the standalone install need folks feel they need for MS. It won't be supported for ever and MS is really going to focus on subscriptions like everyone else.

Again, software doesn't stop functioning the moment support ends. I do use non-MS software every chance I get, but some software/documents is unfortunately distributed only in MS formats. That was the case with Pralana Gold. It's literally the only reason I needed MS Office at all. A perpetual subscription makes no sense whatsoever in this case. I believe Pralana Gold doesn't work at all on Office 365 anyway.

There is a fair amount of software that I use that was previously standalone-only and has gone to a subscription.

For example, Cyberlink Powerdirector. I use it fairly infrequently to edit my personal videos, and those that I upload to Youtube. I used to upgrade it most years if there is a new feature that was of interest. There were reasonable discounted upgrade rates for doing that, and I actually upgraded nearly every year. Then, they went to a subscription model. They didn't eliminate standalone versions, but they raised their price quite a bit, more than double, and stopped offering any discounts on them, like they do on subscriptions. I haven't upgraded once in the last 8 years as a result. The 2016 version still does what I need it to do. I have stopped even looking at which features the new versions of PowerDirector provides, since I know I'm probably never upgrading again with their current pricing model.

The Adobe photography plan is the only software subscription I have, solely to use Lightroom Classic. I don't use it frequently either, but much more often than PowerDirector still. I really wish they still had a standalone version. I don't use the included cloud of version of Lightroom at all. The main reason to upgrade LRc is for new camera support - and I haven't bought a new camera in many years. I have tried many other programs. They are all competent, and even sometimes superior, to some aspect of Lightroom Classic. Many offer much faster processing and library management in particular. But some offer much less camera support. Or no print module. Or they are not stable enough. Or not well maintained. Or the metadata support is limited. The list goes on. Reluctantly, I choose to stick with LRc. I wish I could use another solution, I just haven't found a viable all-in-one solution, or even a viable combo, that didn't involve a subscription of some kind.

Statistics: Posted by SmileyFace — Mon Jun 17, 2024 6:19 am — Replies 55 — Views 5116