WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.120 Do you have an extra 150 bucks laying around? That's how much it'll cost you 00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:07.240 if you wanna buy a standalone version of Microsoft Office. 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:12.280 You know, without paying those monthly subscription fees. Meanwhile, you'll need to pay even more 00:00:12.280 --> 00:00:17.680 if you want an office license for commercial use. 440 bucks, just for one PC. 00:00:17.680 --> 00:00:23.400 Even if you just need Excel for your taco truck or whatever, buying just one of the office programs 00:00:23.400 --> 00:00:26.760 is 160 bucks. Holy cow! 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:31.680 It might be easy to assume that these prices are another example of inflation run amuck. 00:00:31.680 --> 00:00:36.000 But it turns out Office has long been a very expensive product. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.640 In fact, Office 97 started at a cool 499 00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:44.160 when it first came out over 25 years ago. But even with these outrageous prices, 00:00:44.160 --> 00:00:48.440 there's a very good chance that you've been using word processors for years without forking 00:00:48.440 --> 00:00:52.200 over hundreds of dollars. Because for the average person typing at home, 00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:55.880 plenty of viable alternatives have existed over the decades. 00:00:55.880 --> 00:01:00.680 Before cloud computing came to dominate the tech scene, it was common for pre-built computers 00:01:00.680 --> 00:01:03.760 to include some kind of productivity software, 00:01:03.760 --> 00:01:08.080 whether it was from Microsoft or someone else. And even if you didn't get anything like this 00:01:08.080 --> 00:01:13.960 with your new PC, you'd at the very least be able to use WordPad, a very basic word processor 00:01:13.960 --> 00:01:17.840 that's still included with Windows 11. Today, of course, online alternatives 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:23.800 like Google Docs are available for free. And Office itself actually has a free web-based version 00:01:23.800 --> 00:01:27.360 you can use through a browser. So why are they trying to sell you Office 00:01:27.360 --> 00:01:31.200 at a king's ransom? It turns out Microsoft isn't actually trying 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:34.600 to sell Office to you, the typical home user. 00:01:34.600 --> 00:01:40.680 Office is expensive, partly because its key customer base is, well, offices. 00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:45.400 What may seem like a lot of money to you may end up being peanuts to a business. 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:50.120 Of course, no business wants to pay for software if they can avoid it, but an Office suite 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:53.120 often doesn't end up being a massive expense, 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:57.280 especially considering larger businesses often negotiate volume licensing 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:01.880 with Microsoft, meaning that they'll get a license for many employees at a discounted rate. 00:02:01.880 --> 00:02:05.160 Moreover, compared to some of the traditional open-source alternatives, 00:02:05.160 --> 00:02:09.220 the programs in the MS Office suite include a number of advanced features 00:02:09.220 --> 00:02:14.440 that businesses are willing to fork out money for, not to mention that they get support from Microsoft. 00:02:14.440 --> 00:02:19.560 And larger organizations often don't want to rely on a suite that's mainly browser-based, 00:02:19.560 --> 00:02:23.760 as that's potentially lots of downtime if there's an internet outage. 00:02:23.760 --> 00:02:28.800 Of course, we have to mention that Office primarily operates on a subscription model now. 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:31.800 Microsoft actually isn't even using the Office name 00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:37.200 for the current version of the suite anymore, instead rebranding it as Microsoft 365. 00:02:37.200 --> 00:02:41.240 It still isn't cheap. If you stay on a yearly plan for two years, 00:02:41.240 --> 00:02:45.900 you're paying nearly the same amount as just buying a standalone version of Office outright. 00:02:45.900 --> 00:02:50.680 But this also means that Microsoft doesn't really have a reason to make standalone Office cheaper. 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:56.000 Even if you pay more over the long run, $7 a month sounds a heck of a lot more palatable 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:59.640 than $150 up front. And unlike standalone Office, 00:02:59.640 --> 00:03:04.760 Microsoft 365 also dangles the carrot of extra cloud storage and future updates 00:03:04.760 --> 00:03:08.080 with their subscription service, as well as ongoing support. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:12.120 And of course, Microsoft stands to make a heck of a lot more money over the long run 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:16.200 with a subscription model than they would if they just kept selling individual licenses, 00:03:16.200 --> 00:03:19.680 which businesses may or may not choose to upgrade every few years. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:24.120 So they aren't going to make the standalone version cheaper as they want to incentivize you 00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:27.680 to pay for a juicy Microsoft 365 subscription. 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:31.360 And on top of everything we've talked about, there's a great deal of inertia 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:35.120 in the sense that many businesses have been using Office for so long 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:38.880 and they don't want to switch, especially when you consider lots of businesses 00:03:38.880 --> 00:03:44.440 employ university graduates that came from schools that also got volume deals on Office. 00:03:44.440 --> 00:03:48.520 But the good news is there's still no reason to shell out money if you just want 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:52.400 to turn your computer on and type. And thank you for turning your computer on 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:57.720 and pressing play on this video. Cause you watched all the way in the end and that's special. 00:03:57.720 --> 00:04:01.440 Oh, now I tell you to like, dislike, check out our other videos, comment below with video suggestions. 00:04:01.440 --> 00:04:06.240 Don't forget to subscribe and follow TechWiki. But I just want to be in this moment for another second. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:07.080 Wow.