Office 365 for small Business

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meow
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#2073114 14-Aug-2018 09:45

irongarment: I so enjoy meeting rabid fanbois.

It is called "personal preference". So, stop here before you make one of the moderators grumpy.

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irongarment

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#2073118 14-Aug-2018 09:48

gehenna: You are being clear, you’re also being simplistic and unsophisticated in your argument. If you have a view, state your case without name calling, otherwise it’s very hard to take seriously the content that comes after your first sentence.

All right. My point is that digital serfdom is not the way forward. Paying someone regularly for the use of something and ceding control to them is not in one's own best interests. Especially when it didn't used to be like that in the past, and that in the present, other less restrictive options are available.

You could argue that we didn't have this in the past because network bandwidth and resources were limited and expensive, but just because it's possible to capture (literally) people's business like this now doesn't make it automatically good.

gehenna

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#2073124 14-Aug-2018 09:57

"That's not how we used to do it" is one of the most stifling statements in the world today. I'd argue you're in the very small minority that feels aaS is not the way forward, especially as it relates to business use of a service. Having been responsible for the outlay of software and licencing costs for users numbering in the thousands, I was very happy to transition to aaS models for those services where it made fiscal sense. It's not a one-size-fits-all, but certainly for the core end-user MS services having 365 was a godsend compared to licensing those individual services in a traditional enterprise agreement. For the operational management and infrastructure costs it's also a no brainer.

irongarment

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#2073126 14-Aug-2018 10:02

gehenna:
"That's not how we used to do it" is one of the most stifling statements in the world today. I'd argue you're in the very small minority that feels aaS is not the way forward, especially as it relates to business use of a service. Having been responsible for the outlay of software and licencing costs for users numbering in the thousands, I was very happy to transition to aaS models for those services where it made fiscal sense. It's not a one-size-fits-all, but certainly for the core end-user MS services having 365 was a godsend compared to licensing those individual services in a traditional enterprise agreement. For the operational management and infrastructure costs it's also a no brainer.

I suppose the alternative is software that doesn't require a license. Suddenly, no licensing headaches.

freitasm

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#2073127 14-Aug-2018 10:03

The alternative is one of the many I listed in my reply.

gehenna

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#2073131 14-Aug-2018 10:07

irongarment:

I suppose the alternative is software that doesn't require a license. Suddenly, no licensing headaches.

And then you run into support costs. When in business you need support, and when dealing with Open Source solutions in business that support is, in my experience, exorbitantly expensive given the expertise is not available in volume. The systems I ran on top of Linux servers, or developed with Open Source CMS, came in much more expensive for just support costs than my Microsoft costs for aaS end user services, not including engineer/dba costs for actual operational staff.

Open source being free is a myth.

MikeAqua

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#2073220 14-Aug-2018 11:42

Thanks for the responses guys. Some excellent food for thought there.

Whatever I do I need Sharepoint. We, many of our contractors and many of our clients use it routinely so it's just convenient to continue to use the platform.

Spam filtering is a concern - currently outsource this to a third party.

I'm not worried about the ongoing licensing fees. It makes budgeting simple, compared to paying for new one-off licences sporadically.

I also like the ability to licence more than 1 machine - I'll able to have office on my private Surface Pro as well. I'm sick of open office on that.

Because all the other companies in the group are switching to O365 (some already have) and we will be last to switch, our in-house IT team will develop competence with O365, so I'm comfortable that transition will be smooth.

I'll look into the one drive address issue, although it looks resolvable with a shortcut or two?

The only thing I forgot to mention, I'm running W8.1 - my machine didn't qualify for a free upgrade to W10.

Mike

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gehenna

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#2073224 14-Aug-2018 11:50

@MikeAqua spend the money on a Windows 10 upgrade. You'll thank yourself.

MikeAqua

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#2073294 14-Aug-2018 14:25

gehenna:

@MikeAqua spend the money on a Windows 10 upgrade. You'll thank yourself.

I'd be interested to know why you say that. I have W10 on my private Surface Pro and I don't really see that it's any better to use. What am I missing?

Mike

gehenna

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#2073305 14-Aug-2018 14:48

MikeAqua:
gehenna:

@MikeAqua spend the money on a Windows 10 upgrade. You'll thank yourself.

I'd be interested to know why you say that. I have W10 on my private Surface Pro and I don't really see that it's any better to use. What am I missing?

That is a whole different thread.

MikeAqua

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#2073314 14-Aug-2018 15:01

gehenna:
MikeAqua:

gehenna:

@MikeAqua spend the money on a Windows 10 upgrade. You'll thank yourself.

I'd be interested to know why you say that. I have W10 on my private Surface Pro and I don't really see that it's any better to use. What am I missing?

That is a whole different thread.

OK, I'll ask IT.

Mike

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#2073315 14-Aug-2018 15:05

MikeAqua: ... I'll look into the one drive address issue, although it looks resolvable with a shortcut or two?

In this case, I am a statistic of one. I've never searched for a solution. This issue appears in the 'recently opened documents' list from the File menu. You either have to browse to the file or find the shortcut outside of the Word window, both steps defeating the purpose of the recently used list.

MikeAqua: ... The only thing I forgot to mention, I'm running W8.1 - my machine didn't qualify for a free upgrade to W10.

Are you the manager supervising the techies? Are use the user of the MSO365 services? If yes, then not a problem.
Are you the techie doing the administration of MSO365? Reading log files, creating users, setting policies? I recommend you upgrade.

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

MikeAqua

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#2073376 14-Aug-2018 15:53

IcI:

Are you the manager supervising the techies? Are use the user of the MSO365 services? If yes, then not a problem.
Are you the techie doing the administration of MSO365? Reading log files, creating users, setting policies? I recommend you upgrade.

I'm not in IT. I manage one of a group of companies. IT are in the largest company in the group, so I'm just a user. I will still have 'in-house' IT support available. I'll ask them if I should upgrade.

Mike

allan

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#2073580 14-Aug-2018 22:15

Having just spent quite some time trying to assist a friend as to why his documents were being overwritten in OneDrive when using Office 365, be wary of this "feature"

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/why-i-turned-off-microsoft-words-autosave-feature/

MikeAqua

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#2073677 15-Aug-2018 08:13

allan:

Having just spent quite some time trying to assist a friend as to why his documents were being overwritten in OneDrive when using Office 365, be wary of this "feature"

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/why-i-turned-off-microsoft-words-autosave-feature/

Thanks, good to know.

Mike

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