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Microsoft sending AI mails to raise your 365 but if you say you will cancel they back off (lemmy.ca)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/boycottus@lemmy.ca
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[–] 78 points 1 year ago (1 child)

Sounds like deceptive business practices to me

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    [–] 156 points 1 year ago (16 children)

    Cancel anyway and just use LibreOffice or OnlyOffice...

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  • [–] 40 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    I struggle with Linux- though I still use it on my Internet machine... But libre office isn't any more difficult that MS office. Also you don't get ransomed for money on a very simple product. I don't understand why people pay for this bullshit.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    For anyone disliking LibreOffice interface layout, OnlyOffice has very similar tabbed interface as MS Office.

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  • [–] 28 points 1 year ago* (4 children)

    Libreoffice has multiple interfaces too.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    My.only annoyance is the shortcuts are all.different. My muscle memory for office shortcuts is reinforced at work, too. We can't install third party stuff there, sadly.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    https://documentation.libreoffice.org/assets/Uploads/Documentation/en/GS5.1/HTML/GS5114-CustomizingLibreOffice.html

    To adapt shortcut keys to your needs, use the Customize dialog, as described below.

    1)Select Tools > Customize > Keyboard. The Customize dialog opens. 

2)To have the shortcut key assignment available in all components of LibreOffice select the LibreOffice button. 

3)Next select the required function from the Category and Function lists. 

4)Now select the desired shortcut keys in the Shortcut keys list and click the Modify button at the upper right. 

5)Click OK to accept the change. Now the chosen shortcut keys will execute the function chosen in step 3 above whenever they are pressed.
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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    I've used LibreOffice (or OpenOffice as it was known before), and a problem with this approach is that your family will still constantly ask you to install Office and crack it for them. And those who don't know any better will ask your help to open the PowerPoint their friends keep sending them.

    Not to mention that LibreOffice doesn't have an easy to integrate backup solution, nor an easy way to share big photo folders, let alone a decent mail client.

    LibreOffice is a good thing at what it wants to be. But it's not comparable to what MS is offering in the form of a subscription though. You don't just switch and only replace the word and excel alternative...

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    99% of home users would do just fine even with Wordpad. But everyone was hooked on MS Office. Even myself. But I was just annoyed chasing new versions and looking for cracks for them. That was years ago when I migrated to EasyOffice which was free alternative. Then came OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Now I'm using OpenOffice because it's less bloated than LibreOffice and just has 3 basic tools, Writer, Spreadsheets and Presentation and that's that. LibreOffice installs bunch of stuff I don't need and there is no way to adjust that during install.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    There are perfectly good open source solutions for all those things. Admittedly, that is going to take more work than just paying the Redmond tax. But you can't have digital sovereignty without putting in some effort.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    All true, but making 4 other people do this who will also continue to ask on how they can use Office because they need it for work/school is way more work.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    That's a great opportunity to get people to take more responsibility for their own digital life. And I know that's an uphill battle but it's also possible to say no.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I don't disagree agree that that's technically true. But in practice it's simply not going to happen. My 70 year old mother just wants to use outlook to mail her friends and I've setup het phone to save the pictures she takes of her grandkids (my nieces and nephews) on OneDrive so she can share them easily with the rest of the family. Same thing for my brother and my SiL. For 80 euros a year I get a full groupware experience with no extra work. Is it perfect? Of course not. But even with a higher budget there's no feature for feature alternative.

    Hell, the chances of getting my work to switch to OSS cloud subscriptions is higher than getting my family to do it.

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    • [–] 44 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    I never received email from LibreOffice. I love LibreOffice.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Same, although I've recently found I love OnlyOffice more, but they don't mind being in a love triangle. We're putting the open into open source.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    Pretty sure openoffice stopped receiving security updates

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    OpenOffice development stopped about a decade ogo. OnlyOffice is still actively developed.

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    • [–] 40 points 1 year ago

    this would make me cancel anyways. I've already put the effort in, you've already tried to trick me, fuck you

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    [–] 39 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    I had forgotten that people are seriously paying for office software in 2025.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Majority of people don't even have ad blockers. I've talked with tech journalists that don't know what open source means.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    There are a few features in 365 that are not built into opens source options, most them are accessibility feature.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    FOSS really does need to up its game when it comes to accessibility features. I feel like there's a culture issue. People need to be focusing on those features right from the start, but it's not even an afterthought. You'll get 5+ different iterations of basically the same program and not a one will have any accessibility features that aren't already built into the platforms that they're using, because everyone wants to do the "shiny" stuff.

    I'd really like to see a foundation set up specifically for accessibility in FOSS. Hopefully taking grants, hiring full time devs and dedicating to coding and maintaining those features for a specific subset of projects.

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    • [–] 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    They think AI is a desirable thing that consumers want, that's why they charge more for the one with it.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago

    I'm pretty sure they're aware that no one cares, but also that they think they can make us dependent on it if they cram it down our throats enough.

    I also think that the bubble will burst when investors realize that it's never gonna happen.

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    • [–] 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Amazon did the same thing with Prime, changed everyone to an ad-infested plan for the same price and created a new, ad-free tier for a higher price, and claims this change isn't a price increase.

    Spotify did the same thing when they raised everyone's prices but started bundling audiobooks with music, but left behind the old, audio-book free plan for the old price without telling anyone.

    I don't feel bad for pirating as long as the middlemen of media continue to pull underhanded tactics like this.

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    [–] 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    It gets better. I went to cancel, got the old price (and confirmed it) and they still gave me CoPilot.

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    • [–] 12 points 1 year ago

    This is why we all need to start self hosting open source office things. I realize that is hard for people but if you want the cloud stuff of 365 that needs to happen, if you do not need the cloud stuff than just get libreoffice.

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    [–] 12 points 1 year ago

    I got the same email, and the same offer. Canceled anyway, because fuck them, that's why.

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    [–] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I do this with Internet/cable companies. Whenever I move I get the promotional price for a year. Then after a year I call them up and complain about the price increase and they extend the promotion. I've done that every year for the past 15 years.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I tried it and they didn't care. So I cancelled switched providers until their promotion ran out then switched back.

    I think the Sales executives want this. They get bonuses for new customers. If no one switched they wouldn't get their bonus. So as long as the competitors are getting customers to leave, they try to get their own customers to leave too.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Most places I've been, the company has a monopoly and my only other choice I satellite, which often sucks.

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    • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    You can still acquire non-365 licenses that also come bullshit-free with no AI.

    Once those are no longer available, I’m sure I’ll be fully over on Linux/LibreOffice by that time.

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  • [+] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    I'm assuming no one can actually tell I'm using LibreOffice.

    Trace formatting issues aside, it will show up in other subtle ways such as smaller *.docx files and cleaner doc-to-PDF conversions.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    I actually had a better time with LibreOffice in school.

    There were a number of times professors submitted word docs with instructions in tables that didn't render properly in Word but rendered fine in Libreoffice Writer.

    I've also had classes that used csv spreadsheets with a non-comma delimiter. It was very easy to switch the delimiter in Calc. But the professor had to resubmit a xlsx for everyone using excel.

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    [–] 9 points 1 year ago

    I just canceled it entirely when they started the AI charges. I've not missed it for a minute.

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    [–] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    They're trying to see how much customers will bear, and don't want to lose them if they won't. It's shitty price discovery enabled by technology.

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    [–] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    LOL imagine paying for 356 when Libre Office exists.

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    • [–] 5 points 1 year ago*

    They back off for now.

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    [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Haha I had the exact same. Only discovered the extra charge was only for AI I don't want when I tried to stop regular payments.

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    [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    It's been a while since I got that mail, and made sure I have the none AI version, but isn't it mentioned in the mail itself? Or in a link from the mail?

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    [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    I don't care about Office, I don't care about AI. I just want to keep my Skydrive...

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