<p>I see that Tufts discount for a word processor is $80 for a 4 yr subscription. this is a new thing that MS is doing (subscriptions) . what are people buying here at Tufts?</p>
<p>I posted this question two weeks ago in the general forum as all freshman students wd have this choice (not sure about apple users) and only one response that almost seemed from MS.</p>
<p>Here is a comparison of functionality between the two options:</p>
<p><a href=“http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/compare-microsoft-office-products-FX102898564.aspx”>http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/compare-microsoft-office-products-FX102898564.aspx</a></p>
<p>The subscription based service:</p>
<ol>
<li>Has more programs from the Office Suite (Access, Outlook, and Publisher)</li>
<li>Can be used on two devices (including a tablet) rather than one (but they must belong to the same user)</li>
<li>Gives you more cloud storage (1TB vs 15GB) 1TB=1000GB</li>
<li>Gives you 60 Skype minutes </li>
<li>Allows you to use someone else’s PC to access your files stored in your cloud storage account</li>
<li>Gives you any new versions automatically during the 4 years for free</li>
</ol>
<p>You can renew the service anytime during the last year of the agreement, but only once. So, it appears that if you renew just before you graduate, you can get 4 more years for the student price.</p>
<p>Purchased software is not really forever. It either becomes obsolete because there is a new feature that you really want in a newer version, or eventually it is not supported by a later version of the operating system which is required when you replace your system. An estimate of the “typical maximum life” of a version of Office would be about 9 years (three upgrade cycles).</p>
<p>The decision comes down to how much value do the 7 items listed above have for you and how important is it to you to have access to the latest features over the next 8 years. The more likely you are to want to upgrade the purchased product before 8 years, the better the subscription looks.</p>
<p>There is also a third option from Microsoft called Office Online which is free. This is actually a better tool for collaborating on documents associated with group projects (you can see each other’s edits in real time). It improves with every release, but I’m not sure I would want to use it as my only Office solution just yet.</p>
<p><a href=“http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/online/”>http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/online/</a></p>
<p>A recent WSJ article on the subject.</p>
<p><a href=“Do You Really Need Microsoft Office Anymore? - WSJ”>http://online.wsj.com/articles/do-you-really-need-microsoft-office-anymore-1407873198</a></p>
<p>There are other articles on the Internet, but be careful to note the dates as this is a fast changing area and many have old information. To make things even more confusing, Microsoft has renamed some of its products. </p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>