Microsoft reveals pricing for Office 2013 and Office 365

Microsoft ha anunciado los detalles de precios de sus próximos productos Office 2013 y Office 365, que se espera que se lancen en el primer trimestre de 2014. Las nuevas versiones del popular paquete de productividad ofrecerán más funciones, integración en la nube y compatibilidad entre dispositivos que nunca. antes.

Office 2013 is the traditional desktop software that can be installed on a PC or Mac. It will be available in four editions: Home & Student, Home & Business, Professional and Standard. Prices range from $139.99 for Home & Student, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, to $399.99 for Professional, which adds Outlook, Publisher and Access.

Office 365 is the subscription-based service that gives users access to the latest versions of Office applications on up to five devices, including PCs, Macs, tablets and smartphones. It also comes with additional benefits such as 20 GB of SkyDrive storage, 60 minutes of Skype calls per month and premium technical support.

Office 365 will be offered in three plans: Home Premium, Small Business Premium and ProPlus. Prices range from $99.99 per year or $9.99 per month for Home Premium, which includes the same applications as Office 2013 Home & Business plus Access, to $144 per user per year or $12 per user per month for ProPlus, which includes the same applications as Office 2013 Professional plus Lync and InfoPath.

Microsoft claims that Office 365 is the best value for most customers, providing more flexibility, functionality and convenience than Office 2013. However, some users may prefer to purchase Office 2013 outright and avoid recurring payments. Microsoft also says it will continue to support and update Office 2010 and Office for Mac 2011 for the foreseeable future.

Microsoft officially introduced the new Office 2013 and Office 365 in mid-June and also provided a preview version of Office 365 Home Premium for testing. Information on the pricing of the new Office and Office 365 subscription rates follows.

Microsoft will offer the latter as Office 365 Home Premium for private homes and as Office 365 Small Business or Office 365 Small Business Premium for small businesses.

Office 365 can be used on a specified number of mobile and stationary devices within a home or small business for a subscription fee. Documents created with Office 365 are available on all devices through the SkyDrive cloud service, and Office 365 sub-applications are automatically updated so users are always using the latest version. The packages also include minutes for Skype calls.

First pricing information for Office 2013

In addition to the Office 365 packages (see below), Microsoft will continue to offer a traditional Office product for sale, which will be available from $139.99 (approx. 107 euros). At this price, Office Home and Student 2013 is offered, which includes the following applications: World, Excel, PowerPoint and Onenote.

Office Home and Business 2013 includes the Outlook application in addition to the Home and Student version. Office Professional 2013 includes all Office Home and Business 2013 applications, plus Access and Publisher.

Windows RT systems (ARM-based PCs and tablets) are delivered including a free version of Office Home & Student 2013 RT, which contains the Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote sub-applications optimized for the ARM platform.

The most important difference between all versions of Office 2013 and Office 365: they cannot be used on multiple devices at the same time. Also, additional Office 365 services for Skydrive and Skype are not included.