The changed the name of some stupid as shit “app” that only exists to open links to the Office programs on the web as webapps, which was apparently called “Microsoft Office App”. They did not change the name of Microsoft Office.
Simultaneously not as bad, but even dumber.
Edit: Since there’s nothing that goes together quite like Linux enthusiasts and pedanticness, here’s a correction-
Microsoft split off a subscription based version of their Office suite of programs a number of years ago, calling it Microsoft Office 365. They maintained more standard non-subscription versions for a few years alongside 365, while very clearly trying to push people to the subscription model.
After that, they stopped releasing new standard versions, leaving Microsoft Office 365 (the subscription) as the only option for ongoing support.
After that after that, they renamed Microsoft Office 365 to just Microsoft 365, although the Office branding/tagline/wording is still present in a number of places (just not on office.com itself, apparently).
One of the 365 license options allows for access to only the webapp versions of the suite instead of the native program versions. Apparently they offered a “Microsoft Office App” specifically for users on this license that would simply link to the webapp versions of the suite.
This “Microsoft Office App” that served as a link to the webapps is what has been renamed to Copilot whatever the fuck, not the suite of webapps and native programs themselves. That remains named Microsoft (Office) 365.
“Office” is completely removed from https://www.office.com/
The only place “Office” can still be found is in the urls. It’s called “Microsoft 365” now.
Edit: My mistake, “Office Home 2024” is still a thing you can buy apparently, but it’s not the full package and isn’t being updated. I’m pretty sure Libreoffice is a full replacement for “Office Home”
The change to “Microsoft 365” has been the case for years now. I had hoped the context made it clear that this was regarding the claim they had changed the name to Copilot.
Edit: Since there’s nothing that goes together quite like Linux enthusiasts and pedanticness, here’s a correction-
Microsoft split off a subscription based version of their Office suite of programs a number of years ago, calling it Microsoft Office 365. They maintained more standard non-subscription versions for a few years alongside 365, while very clearly trying to push people to the subscription model.
After that, they stopped releasing new standard versions, leaving Microsoft Office 365 (the subscription) as the only option for ongoing support.
After that after that, they renamed Microsoft Office 365 to just Microsoft 365, although the Office branding/tagline/wording is still present in a number of places (just not on office.com itself, apparently).
One of the 365 license options allows for access to only the webapp versions of the suite instead of the native program versions. Apparently they offered a “Microsoft Office App” specifically for users on this license that would simply link to the webapp versions of the suite.
This “Microsoft Office App” that served as a link to the webapps is what has been renamed to Copilot whatever the fuck, not the suite of webapps and native programs themselves. That remains named Microsoft (Office) 365.
You’re right: strange how they keep shoving things nobody wants in the name of their product - first “Office” became “Microsoft 365” (subscription-only), then “with Copilot” (opt-out upsell) and now the mandatory Copilot upsell.
The silver lining is, small and medium-sized companies are increasingly ditching the pricey offering for employees who don’t have document editing a major part of their duties, making them realize LibreOffice is now good enough for their personal needs.
I sure hope that’s true, but I’ve seen more companies switch to lower cost licenses with restrictions like only being able to use the webapp than I have seen switch to LibreOffice.
As long as Microsoft keeps offering ways to easily disable the shit nobody asked for in corporare environments/deployments I’m afraid the stranglehold will persist.
Legit had somebody angry with me at work because their copilot button wasn’t showing in Outlook… Like what? If you can’t even write your own emails why are you even employed? “What would you say… You do here?”
Oh, you’re right. Without “App” though, that slipped through because someone wrote “the Microsoft 365 Copilot app” (a string you’ll see in official MS texts) in title case.
For the desktop app that only opens links to the webapp versions of Office
They did not fucking rename Microsoft Office. It’s dumb enough without everyone uncritically parroting the misleading clickbait.
Why in the fuck was there even a desktop app to just open the webapp links? That’s dumb as shit! Why the fuck would anyone care about it enough to rename it? That’s even dumber! Why would…
You get the picture.
The reality isn’t as bad, while simultaneously being even more dumb.
Edit: Since there’s nothing that goes together quite like Linux enthusiasts and pedanticness, here’s a correction-
Microsoft split off a subscription based version of their Office suite of programs a number of years ago, calling it Microsoft Office 365. They maintained more standard non-subscription versions for a few years alongside 365, while very clearly trying to push people to the subscription model.
After that, they stopped releasing new standard versions, leaving Microsoft Office 365 (the subscription) as the only option for ongoing support.
After that after that, they renamed Microsoft Office 365 to just Microsoft 365, although the Office branding/tagline/wording is still present in a number of places (just not on office.com itself, apparently).
One of the 365 license options allows for access to only the webapp versions of the suite instead of the native program versions. Apparently they offered a “Microsoft Office App” specifically for users on this license that would simply link to the webapp versions of the suite.
This “Microsoft Office App” that served as a link to the webapps is what has been renamed to Copilot whatever the fuck, not the suite of webapps and native programs themselves. That remains named Microsoft (Office) 365.
I would have hoped the context made it clear that I’m talking about the claim they renamed it to Copilot.
Nothing “half right” about it, but thanks for the pedanticness I guess.
Edit: Since there’s nothing that goes together quite like Linux enthusiasts and pedanticness, here’s a correction-
Microsoft split off a subscription based version of their Office suite of programs a number of years ago, calling it Microsoft Office 365. They maintained more standard non-subscription versions for a few years alongside 365, while very clearly trying to push people to the subscription model.
After that, they stopped releasing new standard versions, leaving Microsoft Office 365 (the subscription) as the only option for ongoing support.
After that after that, they renamed Microsoft Office 365 to just Microsoft 365, although the Office branding/tagline/wording is still present in a number of places (just not on office.com itself, apparently).
One of the 365 license options allows for access to only the webapp versions of the suite instead of the native program versions. Apparently they offered a “Microsoft Office App” specifically for users on this license that would simply link to the webapp versions of the suite.
This “Microsoft Office App” that served as a link to the webapps is what has been renamed to Copilot whatever the fuck, not the suite of webapps and native programs themselves. That remains named Microsoft (Office) 365.
As much as I’d wish otherwise, there’s still genuinely no par to Microsoft Excel, the one software almost all businesses and orgs in the world run on. That status has remained despite Microsoft trying their best to enshittify it through forced Onedrive and now Copilot.
For personal use, Libre office does everything I need. For work, Excel is an absolute beast. It doesn’t necessarily scale, but for those one off data comparison, manipulation, or validation often I can do it faster and easier than I can in SQL. VLookup was kinda cool. Index match is definitely powerful.
I still generally avoid the vb macros though I’ve found solutions online occasionally where they’re useful. (Reviewing the code to confirm it’s not malicious first of course.).
Fair, I still use Office 2007 via Wine. Even the newest one has the killer features (unless it’s the awful web version) but your willingness to use it depends on how strong your aversion towards proprietary OSs and AI is
That doesn’t exist. It’s Copilot 365 now so you’re not missing much.
That was horrendously misleading clickbait.
The changed the name of some stupid as shit “app” that only exists to open links to the Office programs on the web as webapps, which was apparently called “Microsoft Office App”. They did not change the name of Microsoft Office.
Simultaneously not as bad, but even dumber.
Edit: Since there’s nothing that goes together quite like Linux enthusiasts and pedanticness, here’s a correction-
Microsoft split off a subscription based version of their Office suite of programs a number of years ago, calling it Microsoft Office 365. They maintained more standard non-subscription versions for a few years alongside 365, while very clearly trying to push people to the subscription model.
After that, they stopped releasing new standard versions, leaving Microsoft Office 365 (the subscription) as the only option for ongoing support.
After that after that, they renamed Microsoft Office 365 to just Microsoft 365, although the Office branding/tagline/wording is still present in a number of places (just not on office.com itself, apparently).
One of the 365 license options allows for access to only the webapp versions of the suite instead of the native program versions. Apparently they offered a “Microsoft Office App” specifically for users on this license that would simply link to the webapp versions of the suite.
This “Microsoft Office App” that served as a link to the webapps is what has been renamed to Copilot whatever the fuck, not the suite of webapps and native programs themselves. That remains named Microsoft (Office) 365.
Microsoft’s original and horribly misleading blog post that started this shit here.
The Verge’s article laying things out more clearly and featuring direct statements from an M$ exec to The Verge trying to clarify things here.
“Office” is completely removed from https://www.office.com/ The only place “Office” can still be found is in the urls. It’s called “Microsoft 365” now.
Edit: My mistake, “Office Home 2024” is still a thing you can buy apparently, but it’s not the full package and isn’t being updated. I’m pretty sure Libreoffice is a full replacement for “Office Home”
The change to “Microsoft 365” has been the case for years now. I had hoped the context made it clear that this was regarding the claim they had changed the name to Copilot.
Edit: Since there’s nothing that goes together quite like Linux enthusiasts and pedanticness, here’s a correction-
Microsoft split off a subscription based version of their Office suite of programs a number of years ago, calling it Microsoft Office 365. They maintained more standard non-subscription versions for a few years alongside 365, while very clearly trying to push people to the subscription model.
After that, they stopped releasing new standard versions, leaving Microsoft Office 365 (the subscription) as the only option for ongoing support.
After that after that, they renamed Microsoft Office 365 to just Microsoft 365, although the Office branding/tagline/wording is still present in a number of places (just not on office.com itself, apparently).
One of the 365 license options allows for access to only the webapp versions of the suite instead of the native program versions. Apparently they offered a “Microsoft Office App” specifically for users on this license that would simply link to the webapp versions of the suite.
This “Microsoft Office App” that served as a link to the webapps is what has been renamed to Copilot whatever the fuck, not the suite of webapps and native programs themselves. That remains named Microsoft (Office) 365.
Microsoft’s original and horribly misleading blog post that started this shit here.
The Verge’s article laying things out more clearly and featuring direct statements from an M$ exec to The Verge trying to clarify things here.
You’re right: strange how they keep shoving things nobody wants in the name of their product - first “Office” became “Microsoft 365” (subscription-only), then “with Copilot” (opt-out upsell) and now the mandatory Copilot upsell.
The silver lining is, small and medium-sized companies are increasingly ditching the pricey offering for employees who don’t have document editing a major part of their duties, making them realize LibreOffice is now good enough for their personal needs.
I sure hope that’s true, but I’ve seen more companies switch to lower cost licenses with restrictions like only being able to use the webapp than I have seen switch to LibreOffice.
As long as Microsoft keeps offering ways to easily disable the shit nobody asked for in corporare environments/deployments I’m afraid the stranglehold will persist.
Microsoft 365 Copilot App
That’s the official name
Legit had somebody angry with me at work because their copilot button wasn’t showing in Outlook… Like what? If you can’t even write your own emails why are you even employed? “What would you say… You do here?”
Oh, you’re right. Without “App” though, that slipped through because someone wrote “the Microsoft 365 Copilot app” (a string you’ll see in official MS texts) in title case.
That makes it semi-official. If Microslop put that on their official website for the product, that makes it official to a degree.
For the desktop app that only opens links to the webapp versions of Office
They did not fucking rename Microsoft Office. It’s dumb enough without everyone uncritically parroting the misleading clickbait.
Why in the fuck was there even a desktop app to just open the webapp links? That’s dumb as shit! Why the fuck would anyone care about it enough to rename it? That’s even dumber! Why would…
You get the picture.
The reality isn’t as bad, while simultaneously being even more dumb.
Edit: Since there’s nothing that goes together quite like Linux enthusiasts and pedanticness, here’s a correction-
Microsoft split off a subscription based version of their Office suite of programs a number of years ago, calling it Microsoft Office 365. They maintained more standard non-subscription versions for a few years alongside 365, while very clearly trying to push people to the subscription model.
After that, they stopped releasing new standard versions, leaving Microsoft Office 365 (the subscription) as the only option for ongoing support.
After that after that, they renamed Microsoft Office 365 to just Microsoft 365, although the Office branding/tagline/wording is still present in a number of places (just not on office.com itself, apparently).
One of the 365 license options allows for access to only the webapp versions of the suite instead of the native program versions. Apparently they offered a “Microsoft Office App” specifically for users on this license that would simply link to the webapp versions of the suite.
This “Microsoft Office App” that served as a link to the webapps is what has been renamed to Copilot whatever the fuck, not the suite of webapps and native programs themselves. That remains named Microsoft (Office) 365.
Microsoft’s original and horribly misleading blog post that started this shit here.
The Verge’s article laying things out more clearly and featuring direct statements from an M$ exec to The Verge trying to clarify things here.
Well, you’re half right, except Microsoft did rename Office years ago to “Microsoft 365”.
Edit: ignore the “Microslop” spelling. I have a uBlock filter enabled.
I would have hoped the context made it clear that I’m talking about the claim they renamed it to Copilot.
Nothing “half right” about it, but thanks for the pedanticness I guess.
Edit: Since there’s nothing that goes together quite like Linux enthusiasts and pedanticness, here’s a correction-
Microsoft split off a subscription based version of their Office suite of programs a number of years ago, calling it Microsoft Office 365. They maintained more standard non-subscription versions for a few years alongside 365, while very clearly trying to push people to the subscription model.
After that, they stopped releasing new standard versions, leaving Microsoft Office 365 (the subscription) as the only option for ongoing support.
After that after that, they renamed Microsoft Office 365 to just Microsoft 365, although the Office branding/tagline/wording is still present in a number of places (just not on office.com itself, apparently).
One of the 365 license options allows for access to only the webapp versions of the suite instead of the native program versions. Apparently they offered a “Microsoft Office App” specifically for users on this license that would simply link to the webapp versions of the suite.
This “Microsoft Office App” that served as a link to the webapps is what has been renamed to Copilot whatever the fuck, not the suite of webapps and native programs themselves. That remains named Microsoft (Office) 365.
Microsoft’s original and horribly misleading blog post that started this shit here.
The Verge’s article laying things out more clearly and featuring direct statements from an M$ exec to The Verge trying to clarify things here.
As much as I’d wish otherwise, there’s still genuinely no par to Microsoft Excel, the one software almost all businesses and orgs in the world run on. That status has remained despite Microsoft trying their best to enshittify it through forced Onedrive and now Copilot.
For personal use, Libre office does everything I need. For work, Excel is an absolute beast. It doesn’t necessarily scale, but for those one off data comparison, manipulation, or validation often I can do it faster and easier than I can in SQL. VLookup was kinda cool. Index match is definitely powerful.
I still generally avoid the vb macros though I’ve found solutions online occasionally where they’re useful. (Reviewing the code to confirm it’s not malicious first of course.).
I mostly just import the data into PostgreSQL and write queries. Not because excel can’t do it, but because I hate it.
I only need simple excel and mostly rely on word processing so I’ve never actually known what exactly ms excel has that libre doesn’t
Is it like actual macro/coding capabilities within excel or just convenience/file compatibility stuff?
For me it’s the macros. Simple ones will work in LibreOffice Calc but the more complex ones crash.
I think the main issue I’ve seen is when people need bug-for-bug (or nearly so) compatibility with VB macros.
Fair, I still use Office 2007 via Wine. Even the newest one has the killer features (unless it’s the awful web version) but your willingness to use it depends on how strong your aversion towards proprietary OSs and AI is