The easy secret smart businesses use to avoid paying Microsoft a monthly fee for Outlook, Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

Portland, Ore – Kudos for Microsoft in keeping the ability to purchase Microsoft Office outright.  Clearly their company focus is on driving subscription revenue.  They are not the only company to do this.  But it is a double-edged sword.  While it may make shareholders happy to see increasing revenue, it also puts the onus on Microsoft to introduce features and services that have value to business people.

Microsoft Office has achieved rare dominance in the professional world. A businessperson’s standing with customers requires presentations in PowerPoint and documents in Word. They use Microsoft Office Picture Manager for managing, editing, sharing, and viewing pictures on computers.

However, like Comcast, Microsoft products are not dramatically different than ten or twenty years ago. Bold and Underline is the same. Outlook contacts have not gained any more usefulness. Task priorities still do not handle Franklin Covey techniques. So why does Microsoft think you need to pay $12.50 per month for something you can buy outright for $229?

I have owned a business for 31 years, or as I commonly say, “through four of the last three recessions.”  I pay hard costs when the economy is good and run lean during the downturns. I buy furniture, equipment and software that lasts, and then milk it when I need. Half the battle of staying in business is to survive the unexpected; the snowstorm that closed our office for two weeks, the 9/11 shutdown of all domestic aviation, the unexpected lawsuit and the IRS audit. Surviving the unexpected means when business veers to idle, our monthly operating cost drops closer to zero. You cannot do that if you are paying a monthly fee to a vendor that is not providing significant ROI.

Moore’s law ensures that technology becomes cheaper, faster, bigger and less expensive.  The only rising cost I have is personnel and benefits which rise with the growth of the economy. If the features you need for Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows is inherently the same, then it should be optional for you to pay for Microsoft’s expensive service model, not a requirement.

CompanionLink has published a guide for people who want to “cut the cord” and free themselves from Microsoft’s subscription model. The guide covers how to capture your data locally, how to set up local email, and how to purchase a one-time license to the appropriate Microsoft Office version.

You can read our guide here.

About CompanionLink Software
CompanionLink^® Software, Inc. is a pioneering developer of data synchronization solutions for mobile phones and CRM software and services. They also develop a DejaOffice^® for Outlook^® App which runs on Android^™, iPhone^®, iPad^®, Windows Phone^®, and BlackBerry^® devices. For 30 years, CompanionLink has helped mobilize information across devices, computers, applications, and web-based services. For more information, please visit www.companionlink.com and www.dejaoffice.com.

CompanionLink, DejaOffice and DejaCloud are registered trademarks of CompanionLink Software, Inc. Other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.