Little surprised

[D-Dan]

As most of you will know, my daily driver is Linux. I also keep a couple of VirtualBox images around. One FreeBSD (just for fun), a Linux Mint, for when I feel like going retro (for me) and jumping on to the help IRC to assist people, AROS, because why not, and Windows 7, just in case.

Anyhoo, Win 7 is at EOL in less than a year, so time to think about Windows 10 (which I hate, by the way, but that’s beside the point). I grabbed an official image from MS, and installed into a VM. Now, I’m a bit miffed that the unlicensed version is heavily crippled re customisation (can’t even change the wallpaper), but c’est la vie. On the downside, purchase cost is £120 (or a penny short), which I’m not prepared to pay for something I may never use other than to install updates.

Off to Amazon, and key bought – £5.99. Now, it’s an OEM key for Win 10 Pro, but works a treat. Activated without an issue, and completely legit (otherwise, Amazon will have to pick up any legal costs).

So how do MS justify £120 (£119.99) when this is available?

Arch Linux, on a Ryzen 7 1800X, 32 GB, 5 (yes -5) HDs inc 5 SSDs, 4 RPi 3Bs + 1 RPi 4B - one as an NFS server with two more drives, PiHole (shut yours), Plex server, cloud server, and other random Pi stuff. Nice CoolerMaster case, 2 x NV GTX 1070 8GB, and a whopping 32" AOC 1440P monitor.

[The Duke]

Win 10 was free for ages, then free again when it wasn’t, then the keys was next to free (like you found) . I have no idea who is paying full price for it.

I suspect enterprise is keeping that product line afloat.

They still have office. Their latest adds for that are bizarre too, as they are telling you to not by the upfront version, and just sub to 365.

They basically bash the shit out of the non 365 version of their own product.look the ads up on YT if you’re interested. They are  a strange approach to marketing as you’ll usually bash a competitors product not your own.

MS confuses everyone atm I think

[Drezha]

Yeah, I don’t know – I purchased a Window 10 Pro key to upgrade my laptop to Pro so I can use Bitlocker. Cost me ~£8 in the end (first key I bought was a key for new installs only and I couldn’t be faffed with that).

I also get free Office via work (5 installs per Office 365 license), though I can’t stand Office anymore really – they’re adding in online crap and it’s annoying. I’d rather pay for the one off fee for the “crippled” version. If only LibreOffice was a bit more polished – it does the job, but looks awful when you compare it against others.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[blacklion1725]

I sub to Office 365 home. I originally did the personal-home upgrade trick (stack 4 years of personal codes and then upgrade to Home – all they years upgrade). Now I add a year code from ebay for Home (normally in the £42 – £46 region). Four of us use it – and the 1TB OneDrive each is worth it without the Office component.

I’ve also (for others) installed £2.99 versions of Office 365 – which are all still working but I’ve told people not to trust the OneDrive as if the Account goes so do your files. The £5/£6 versions of the stand-alone Office 2016 (not 365) seem to have disappeared.

[Dave Rice]

I paid £4 today for O2016 and £8 each in the week for three. I had to pay £15 a few weeks ago. W10 Pro, today £4, often £8. I usually look for the instant delivery sellers.

Enterprise don’t pay a fortune for their Office software either, but they do buy an awful lot of it.

[blacklion1725]

Dave you got a link please (Office 2016 for Windows – not 365?) Cheers.

[Dave Rice]

This was the £4 from yesterday http://tinyurl.com/y6xkp2by

 

[blacklion1725]

Nice one Dave – grabbed one – cheers.

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