Microsoft’s forced-upsell to Office 365 Users. Abusing their monopoly.

Forums › Desktop computing › Microsoft’s forced-upsell to Office 365 Users. Abusing their monopoly.

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#3339131 4-Feb-2025 16:05

I just did the (6 User) "Don't auto renew" option and was presented the option without CoPilot and cheaper.

Chose the new option and will change over next month.

Thanks to GZ I can afford that coffee or two every month now 😃.

Tinkerisk

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#3354231 15-Mar-2025 16:41

For those who want to take the time and make the effort to leave BigTech: (I use it myself since 10 years now).

https://nextcloud.com/compare/

You just have to overcome your „inner bastard.“ 😁

- NET: FTTH & VDSL, OPNsense, 10G backbone, GWN APs
- SRV: 12 RU HA server cluster, 0.1 PB storage on premise
- IoT: thread, zigbee, tasmota, BidCoS, LoRa, WX suite, IR
- 3D: two 3D printers, 3D scanner, CNC router, laser cutter

ANglEAUT

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#3428353 28-Oct-2025 07:33

Microsoft sued for allegedly misleading millions of Australians with its AI pricing as per The Guardian.

When Microsoft told customers it was jacking up the price by 45% for its office suite, it gave them two options: accept the price for the product – and its AI add-ons – or cancel.
According to Australia’s consumer watchdog, the tech giant allegedly failed to share that a third option was available – pay the same lower price and opt out of the AI, named Copilot, in Microsoft 365.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has taken Microsoft to federal court on Monday alleging the company misled approximately 2.7 million Australian personal and family plan customers by failing to disclose the third option when the Microsoft 365 plans had Copilot included from 31 October 2024.
The ACCC has alleged communications with customers only presented two options: paying the higher price or cancelling the plan.
The regulator alleged this information was false or misleading as there was an undisclosed third option of “classic” plans which allowed subscribers to retain the features of existing plans without Copilot at the previous lower price.

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

kingdragonfly

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#3428370 28-Oct-2025 09:49

Same story as @ANglEAUT

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) sues over Microsoft 365 subscription hikes

ABC News (Australia)

kingdragonfly

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#3428373 28-Oct-2025 09:54

On Reddit, complaint about Office 365 complexity

IT Admin here. Overwhelmed with the features, options, and settings in administering the 365 world. Redditt

"I'm just getting into the 365 world and have picked up a few licenses of Microsoft 365 Apps for Business for testing with a few users. This is a very basic license that we really only wanted for the desktop versions of Office.

We won't be hosting our email with Microsoft.

It's easy enough to get Office installed and functional, but there seems to be an endless number of Microsoft portals (config.office.com, admin.microsoft.com, aad.portal.azure.com, portal.office.com) used for administration.

My latest realization is that users are granted access to OneDrive for Business so now I'm worried they're going to unnecessarily be syncing data, or have a much too easy way of sharing sensitive data.

It seems SharePoint sites are also created by default and I'm concerned users might haphazardly using some of these features without a proper rollout by IT.

How have others delt with things like this. Any good general overview training videos somebody could recommend?"

gehenna

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#3428397 28-Oct-2025 12:15

An IT admin that's just getting into the M365 world now....sure....it's only been a thing for nearly 15 years... I'm sure an admin that never saw the AD Users & Computers MMC a decade into its maturity would have struggled in 2010 too. I feel that's less about the tech and more about the fact this admin has never looked at it before now. Also not sure what it has to do with the thread topic at hand. Or what your opinion of the post is, since you just reposted it without any original commentary.

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cddt

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#3428481 28-Oct-2025 15:19

kingdragonfly:

My latest realization is that users are granted access to OneDrive for Business so now I'm worried they're going to unnecessarily be syncing data, or have a much too easy way of sharing sensitive data.

Reminds me of this meme:

I don't even know where OneDrive is | Know Your Meme

My referral links: BigPipe | Mercury

gehenna

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#3428485 28-Oct-2025 15:25

That post is about a corporate implementation, not a personal one, so it's really not relevant. You'd be hard pressed to find a corporate IT dept that wants you to save your documents locally on your device. Fill your boots at home, but that's not what the post you're responding to was about.

kingdragonfly

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#3428546 28-Oct-2025 17:48

I'm not happy with "You'll own nothing and be happy."

My position on Office 365 started forming with Adobe.

Adobe’s older “perpetual-license” version of its major creative suite is no longer offered for sale, since 2017.

Adobe itself said that perpetual versions will never come back: “We have no current plans to release another perpetual release of the CS tools and suites. Creative Cloud is going to be our sole focus moving forward.”

Consumer oriented products like Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Premiere Elements was once “buy once, use forever." The 2025 release of Elements is now only available as a three‐year license, not lifetime.

I have yet to use a feature in Office 365 that I couldn't do with Office 2021, the final fully perpetual-license version of Microsoft Office. Granted I'm not a power user.

You could buy Office once and own it outright; now you can't.

PolicyGuy

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#3428557 28-Oct-2025 18:50

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-27/accc-sues-microsoft-allegedly-misleading-365-subscriptions/105937436

The head of the consumer watchdog has slammed Microsoft, claiming it "deliberately hid" a subscription option from Australian customers.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has sued the tech giant for allegedly misleading about 2.7 million Australians over its Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
The ACCC has launched proceedings against Microsoft for allegedly misleading customers about subscription options and price increases after it integrated its AI assistant, Copilot, into Microsoft 365 plans.

Why hasn't the NZ Commerce Commission taken similar action?

lxsw20

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#3428558 28-Oct-2025 18:52

"Office 365" Is a large and complex suite of applications.

If you are comparing the client apps from Office 2021 to the client apps included in O365 you won't find much difference.

When you start to compare it with all the other back end services then it is quite different and becomes apparent why there are many admin portals to control it.

https://m365maps.com/

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old3eyes

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#3428677 29-Oct-2025 09:34

PolicyGuy:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-27/accc-sues-microsoft-allegedly-misleading-365-subscriptions/105937436

The head of the consumer watchdog has slammed Microsoft, claiming it "deliberately hid" a subscription option from Australian customers.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has sued the tech giant for allegedly misleading about 2.7 million Australians over its Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
The ACCC has launched proceedings against Microsoft for allegedly misleading customers about subscription options and price increases after it integrated its AI assistant, Copilot, into Microsoft 365 plans.

Why hasn't the NZ Commerce Commission taken similar action?

Because they're not a supermarket, airline or telco. Microsoft is safe from the ComCom

Regards,

Old3eyes

Asteros

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#3428679 29-Oct-2025 09:49

kingdragonfly: I'm not happy with "You'll own nothing and be happy."

My position on Office 365 started forming with Adobe.

Adobe’s older “perpetual-license” version of its major creative suite is no longer offered for sale, since 2017.

Adobe itself said that perpetual versions will never come back: “We have no current plans to release another perpetual release of the CS tools and suites. Creative Cloud is going to be our sole focus moving forward.”

Consumer oriented products like Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Premiere Elements was once “buy once, use forever." The 2025 release of Elements is now only available as a three‐year license, not lifetime.

I have yet to use a feature in Office 365 that I couldn't do with Office 2021, the final fully perpetual-license version of Microsoft Office. Granted I'm not a power user.

You could buy Office once and own it outright; now you can't.

There is a lot of misinformation in this comment. Office 2024 one-time purchase standalone has been available to buy for PC and Mac since...2024

kingdragonfly

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#3428787 29-Oct-2025 13:05

I asked ChatGPT this very question. What is the last perpetual release of Office, and it told me 2021.

Unknown to me Office 2021 was the last GLOBALLY perpetual release of Office. In some regions, Microsoft must not have release Office 2024

But you are correct, Office 2024 is the last perpetual release of Office, in New Zealand

https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/microsoft-365/get-started-with-office-2024

That webpage will push you with mulitple offers of Office 365, but if you scroll down enough and look left, you'll see

"Office Home 2024
One-time purchase for PC or Mac
NZ$259.00"

Cheers

old3eyes

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#3428789 29-Oct-2025 13:07

kingdragonfly: I asked ChatGPT this very question. What is the last perpetual release of Office, and it told me 2021.

Unknown to me Office 2021 was the last GLOBALLY perpetual release of Office. In some regions, Microsoft must not have release Office 2024

But you are correct, Office 2024 is the last perpetual release of Office, in New Zealand

https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/microsoft-365/get-started-with-office-2024

That webpage will push you with mulitple offers of Office 365, but if you scroll down enough and look left, you'll see

"Office Home 2024
One-time purchase for PC or Mac
NZ$259.00"

Cheers

No Outlook though.

Regards,

Old3eyes

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