Thanks for forwarding this email. Yeah, I see from this web site: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/what-s-the-difference-between-microsoft-365-and-office-2021-ed447ebf-6060-46f9-9e90-a239bd27eb96 that Don got Office 365 instead of a year-based office suite (e.g., Office 2021). I guess Noelle got Office 2017, but, for her work, she uses Office 365 which gives her access to those applications via a web browser (Firefox in her case), anyway. It appears that Microsoft is making money via the subscription model since you'd be able to buy a brand new single-license office suite every 3.5 years in lieu of the annual fee. I also agree that there are free alternatives to Office 365, but that may require learning new systems. > From: "Gail" <http://www.cox.net/~g3> > Date: Thu, 2 Jun 2022 13:45:54 -0700 > > Hi Robert, > > This is Dana's reply. I hope this answers your concerns. > > Best, > Gail > > -----Original Message----- > From: http://www.waylandcomputer.com/~Dana [http://www.waylandcomputer.com/~dana] > Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2022 11:11 AM > To: Gail <http://www.cox.net/~g3> > Subject: RE: by Gail From Robert, Don's son-in-law Re: > Microsoft 365 annual charge > > I am not exactly sure what your question is? > > You both use Microsoft Outlook to read your email so some form of Microsoft > Office is required which also comes with Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You > cannot purchase these programs separately anymore. > > You have Office 2013 Home/Business installed on your computer which you > would have paid a one-time license fee of about $249 to $279. This 2013 > version will not automatically update and will NOT be supported anymore > after ???, but this does not mean you cannot use it but you will not be > getting any security updates and they will not support it anymore. > > Don, somehow has purchased a Microsoft Office 365 subscription for $70 per > year which is actually Microsoft Office 2019 or even 2022 and it will > upgrade to the latest version whenever it comes out as long as you continue > to pay the subscription fee. > > You could add your computer to his license for another $30 per year. Or > purchase a single license for $249 when your current version expires. > > If either you or Don does not actually need Word, Excel, PowerPoint and > Outlook, you could drop his subscription and use other FREE alternatives for > Email, writing Documents and creating Spreadsheets. > > Dana > > -----Original Message----- > From: Gail <http://www.cox.net/~g3> > Sent: Thursday, June 2, 2022 1:23 PM > To: http://www.waylandcomputer.com/~Dana > Subject: FW: by Gail From Robert, Don's son-in-law Re: > Microsoft 365 annual charge > > Hi Dana, > > I just received this email from Robert, Don's son-in-law (who is a > computer programmer in where-I-live) so I thought I would run this by you to see > what you think. Do Don or I need the subscription to Microsoft 0365? Isn't > Microsoft Office what runs my Outlook 2013 for my email, Excel 2013, and > Word 2013, so that then Yes I would need it because I do use those? I just > checked Don's laptop and his Outlook when I click on the icon says Outlook > 365 to get his email, so even though he doesn't use Excel and only > occasionally Word although I don't see an icon on desktop for that, it > appears that he also uses Microsoft 0365. > > I look forward to your reply when you get a chance. Thanks again for all > your work yesterday helping us with our computers as that gave me a lot of > peace of mind knowing everything is OK. > > Love, > Gail > > -----Original Message----- > From: Robert [http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert] > Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2022 6:43 AM > To: http://www.cox.net/~g3 > Cc: Noelle <http://dummy.us.eu.org/noelleg> > Subject: -- SPAM --Re: Microsoft 365 annual charge > > To: "Gail" <http://www.cox.net/~g3> > > I'm pretty sure you pay every year. > > If Dana thinks there's still value in keeping the subscription, then go > ahead and keep it. > > For what it's worth, Noelle had to buy Microsoft Office and continues to get > software updates, but doesn't use Microsoft's cloud back-up services and > doesn't have an online account; thus, she has never had a need for > O365 nor has she ever paid a subscription for it.