Office 365 - What on earth for?

Outlook is indispensable for a business. There's nothing really comparable when you combine Outlook, Lync etc for email, presence, conferencing etc.

 

Yep, it is by far the best....

 

I'm sure it's fabulous. I just don't see what it has to do with word processing.

 

Office 365 is an "office suite", not a "word processing suite"....

 

And OpenOffice is? .... answers on a postcard please addressed to Thebleedingobviousville.

 

Dunno, what does Calc, Draw, Base, and Math have to do with word processing?

It's all semantics, but I believe office suite can include anything that has to do with office work.

 

Bingo... including email, for those that can't see the obvious....

 

Like an office suite like OpenOffice.

 

I have OpenOffice, & I have a browser with my email bookmarked. When I want to send an email I open my browser. When I want to write a file document or make a presentation I open OpenOffice. *Simples*

 

No offense Mr Dave, but reading thru the thread, it kinda seems like you're trolling a bit. What's your main point here?

 

I’m not the one trolling here, my point is that an office suite doesn’t actually need an email client even for it to be used in an office environment. There is always a workaround. If you want Outlook then you pay for Office 365. Otherwise there are freeware alternatives like OO & a web browser.

 

That is true, however, you underestimate both Outlook and the value of the calendar features in a business environment for example. The calendar part of Outlook is used *extensively* by people in business, as well as Outlook itself. I think the point was, there is nothing really close to Outlook as far as alternatives, and also that the email client is completely missing in all of the freeware office suite alternatives. That's why MS can charge money for their office suite, it's worth it, and far above and beyond most of the so called "workarounds". You can't even compare web email to an email client like Outlook. That would be like comparing a cheap hamburger to an expensive filet mignon. Anyway.... whatever suits your purposes...

 

The title of this thread is: 'Office 365 - What on earth for?'. My entire point with this thread is that anyone, in business or not, with half a brain or any sense of system démerde could use the available freeware office suite or mail client alternatives quite adequately.

So, although it may be a bit of an inconvenience to some, there are freeware alternatives.

Otherwise you spend the dosh on 365. Which I think is not necessary.

 

And again, that's where you're wrong. None of the available freeware office suites or mail clients even come close to MS Office/Office 365 in a demanding business environment. Home users are one thing, business is something entirely different. You obviously can't see the difference.

 

Obviously.

 

Haha.. well, at least you admit it. Lol...

 

Really? Tell that to my wife, essentially a home user, who would have a tough time living without Outlook.

When you are sending and receiving email using several email addresses, keeping multiple calendars for different appointments, events, and tasks, and then trying to sync all of the foregoing with your iPad and/or smartphone, there is simply no substitute for Outlook.

 

Yep, no argument there.... I would just comment that some home users may have simpler needs.

 

Agreed! I take it that Dave would be included in "some".

 

It would appear so...

 

I don't have to buy 365 though.

*The sound of Dave laughing on the way to the bank ... *

 

Mods--I'd just like to suggest that this thread be closed. It's going nowhere and it's obvious what Dave is trying to do. I, for one, am no longer going to bite.

 

It isn't obvious to me. This thread is entitled: Office 365 - What on earth for? I'm only endeavouring to answer the question. The way I see it, you can either buy Office 365 or you don't. I don't think that anyone needs to. It's obvious I'm financially better off in using a freeware alternative. It's obvious to me, anyway, obviously.

 

I think there is no substitute for Outlook yet. I mean it's the best in terms of what it can do both for home and business purposes.

What matters is the need of individual users. Some home users would always use browsers for web based mail services and wouldn't find any use for apps like Outlook. They need the core apps like Word, PowerPoint, etc. For them no need to pay huge bucks for something like office 360 when there are free alternatives available.

For others though all the apps like Outlook are absolute necessities. Office 360 is not necessary though imo. I use MS Office 2010. That's more than enough for me. Office 360 is cloud based. No need when we have office 2003, 2007 or 2010 at least for now.

 

In the original article the reviewer draws a similar conclusion:

"I really have no idea what Office 365 stands for, and what kind of problem it's meant to solve. If it's a business alternative to a static office model, then it fails miserably, because it offers a confusing UI with an immature design and collaboration tools that you would not use in a proper Soviet 1950s style Gulag. If it's meant for home users, then it's slow, clunky and too complex, as you can have everything in an offline version without having to sign in four times, accept nine terms of services and go through numerous wizards, each designed by a different department." ~ op cit

They seem to think that it doesn't serve either the business user or home user. I am a college lecturer & have been using OpenOffice for years in education. I just don't know who would pay for Office 365, it seems to be badly conceived & problematical. I don't see how it would benefit me at home or at work.