“Now even more craptacular with 98% more suckage!”
The software giant said it would make ad-supported copies of the Works package available within “months”.
The programs will not run in a web browser but will be installed on a PC and have their cost offset by running adverts while in use.
The move has widely been seen as an attempt by Microsoft to counter the growing number of rivals offering web versions of popular office programs.
The ad-supported version will have a store of adverts it will show to people while they put together documents or spreadsheets. The store of ads would be refreshed every time that computer goes online.
“offset their costs”?
what costs? MS has been including this crapware free with new PCs for (by my count – my old NEC P75 came with it) at least 13 years!
It churns out files incompatible with Office … this was worthless before it became adware.
Word is crap and I don’t bother with Powerpoint. But Excel is a great program. I’ll just keep my Excel 2004 forever and not bother upgrading. Nyah!
Download OpenOffice.org. Great for home use… and no ads.
#4 – Yep. that or google’s office-esque suite
I don’t know what /that/ article said, but there’s discussion elsewhere. One of the “features” is an automatic disc search that rummages around in your hard drive and selects advertisements to download based on what it finds.
Oh, yeah. MS programs are constantly calling home, even when you tell them not to.
Does anyone here NOT feel a cold wind blowing?
MSWorks has been a freebie on several PCs I’ve bought. It’s free for a reason–it’s a lousy piece of software. I’ve uninstalled it every time I’ve found it on a new PC. Like #4 and 5, I prefer OpenOffice, which is very good freeware..
Does anybody actually USE this garbage? Wordstar for CP/M (were it bloated up and ported to Vista) would kick this thing’s ass. It was better 20+ years ago, and it would be better, unchanged, even today.
And now it’s adware to boot?
You would be so much better off buying a used MS Office suite from eBay.
I dump it as soon as I get the new computor running. Never liked this crap.
What does MS hope to achieve with this, apart from ridicule?
And who in their right mind would purchase advertising in this computerised Edsel?
#8 – Vista? dude seriously, reformat, install XP
#13 – how long before MS pulls the plug on XP? Want to bet its in 24 months?
I guess this is due to the fact that Open Office is gaining popularity. Micro$oft has to do something. I am surprised that this isn’t crippleware. Oh wait, MS works IS crippleware by nature.
Just download Open Office. http://www.openoffice.org
#10, joshua,
Try Open Office. It is so very similar to MS Office. The only improvement I would like to see is a better dictionary.
And it come at a price anyone can love.
I actually like Works… version 6! Why? Because:
1. I can’t afford Office
2. I can’t get OpenOffice to print out full-page charts or graphs like Works 6 can. The biggest chart or graph that I can squeeze out of OpenOffice is about 2×3 inches. If anyone knows how to get OO to generate 8×10 charts, PLEASE post a link to some clear instructions. OO help files are useless.
3. Works only cost me $10.
4. Using something big like Office to type out a simple letter is like using a cannon to kill a mosquito. It’s called overkill.
#13 Vista was designed by IT security personnel for their lawyers.