Office 2013 Not Included with the Surface Pro

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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If you were hoping Microsoft was going to repeat the offer of a free inclusion of Office 2013 as they did on Windows RT for the Surface Pro, forget about it: it’s not going to happen. Is the Surface Pro just that good or is the Windows RT just that bad?

Alas, our Microsoft contacts have confirmed to Neowin that there are no such plans for Office 2013 and that it will indeed be sold as a separate product for Surface Pro owners.
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Is Microsoft actively trying to make Surface Pro be Zune 2.0? Because it sure smells like it.
 
They included Office with the Surface RT because it was ARM based. They had to do something...

The Pro is likely going to be targeted at businesses, which can fork over cash for Office.
 
Businesses are likely the exact reason. Since most of them should already have site licenses for Microsft products, many of them would likely throw fits thinking that they are paying twice over for Office if they bought these tablets. So Microsoft probably just left it out to not deal with that issue.
 
This is a good move. Because with that it was too good value, and people would be all suspicious... :p
 
MikeTrike said:
They included Office with the Surface RT because it was ARM based. They had to do something...

The Pro is likely going to be targeted at businesses, which can fork over cash for Office.
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Exactly. Surface Pro functions just like any other new x86 PC. I don't see you get a copy of Office 2013 buying a new x86 PC. Why should Office 2013 be included in Surface Pro? Microsoft never said anything about it. Those people who think they are getting it are delusional.
 
Since Surface Pro is aimed at the enterprise market, it makes no sense to bundle Office.
 
Surface is no more then a Laptop with touchscreen of course they will not include office.
So now Surface Pro will be what 1400-1600 dollar price range for a business. Fuck that shit no one will spend that much on a disposable, I can get an andriod or ipad with a keybaord for fraction of the price and a 20 dollar office suite or a web browser suite of productivity or just Remote into a desktop that already has the productivity suite. This is what I do and the customers I service have take to this like duck to water.. Microsoft is definitely going to fail with Surface Pro..
To top it off Retail Version of Office is no Different them OEM since Retail Office has the same License to hardware. So guess what Retail Surface is going to to fail even more miserably.

Microsoft Fail-boat is set to sail for Fail Harbor.
 
MikeTrike said:
They included Office with the Surface RT because it was ARM based. They had to do something...

The Pro is likely going to be targeted at businesses, which can fork over cash for Office.
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Exactly. It's not even exactly the same as x86 Office 2013 either.

Am I the only one not noticing the huge drop in IT journalists IQs recently with regards to Windows 8?

They are just making stupid claims left right and centre. Integrity and accuracy?

Screw that when you can get the click rates up by posting a dumb bit of inaccurate flamebait.:rolleyes:
 
I'm also on board for like 20 HP Elite Pads, which is basically the same tech as a Surface Pro. We've already got 150 x 2010 licenses and 30 x 2013 office licenses. No business sense in making it come with pro.
 
It doesn't come with most other Windows 8 systems either, besides a trial version or link to Office 365.

Slow news day?
 
MajorDomo said:
If you were hoping Microsoft was going to repeat the offer of a free inclusion of Office 2013 as they did on Windows RT for the Surface Pro, forget about it: it’s not going to happen. Is the Surface Pro just that good or is the Windows RT just that bad?
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Maybe it's that the Surface Pro hardware is that expensive, and Microsoft is just trying to keep the retail price down?
 
Its probably everything to do with antitrust, remember years ago they actually thought about splitting MS up and parting out the office department. This particular issue has always been an issue for MS, they cant include lots of stuff they want to in their OS, that is why live essentails is a free but separate download.

Until MS loses its grip on the desktop / laptop we wont see this change, As soon as someone else has a higher market share we will see a ton of stuff become free and part of the OS.
 
Yes, to play devils advocate, if they'd bundled it then there would prob be people complaining they want a version without it so it'd be cheaper.

In any case I don't see this as a problem but I do wish they'd be bundling the $100 keyboard even if for a limited time. I feel like they aren't incentivizing these new mobile offerings enough, $1B spent on advertising that maybe they could've cut in half and subsidized if not the Pro then at least the RT for a while till it gains some traction.

There are certain strategies theyve used with Xbox and then the 360 that worked beautifully for them, which I wonder if could've been used on their mobile offerings trying to gain traction. Incentive. I'm talking the pricing, exclusivity ornpartner agreements with key 3rd parties, KILLER APPS and killer launch titles. Easier said than done but these things could sell themselves by word of mouth if made compelling enough. The hardware is solid I gotta say, but a lot of people won't see past the price, esp those that just assume its an iPad competitor
 
For as expensive as the Surface Pro is, you would think that MS would include some extra software incentives for the additional price.
Wow, they are really screwing up bad.

I get the feeling this is going to be worse than when Vista and Office 2007 were released, primarily because Microsoft has entered the over-saturated tablet market on this one, with almost no where to go except the shitty hybrid OS that is Windows 8.
 
Why include extras? Go buy the device, then spend $100 for a keyboard that every notebook includes already and fork over money for Office which means you're going to probably patronize the Windows Store to buy it which gives the store more web traffic.

Anyhow, if I want a tablet, I'll go buy an Android one and deal with Google spying on me for ~$70 from one of those random Chinese companies that sell on Ebay.
 
Not having office out of the box is not likely to cause issues for the majority of it's users. The people not buying it, have little reason to care, and the few that do buy it, prolly are not buying it for office. IMO, it is not going to be a business tool except in a minority of cases. It is primarily going to be a media consumption tool that occasionally serves netbook duties.
 
I think a business tool is a big part of the pro market.

Business built some software that runs on x86, $1200 for a pro is cheaper than the $1500+ they are often dropping on dell / lenovo tablets. This for data input on the go etc... Media consumption is doesnt need x86.
 
rudy said:
I think a business tool is a big part of the pro market.

Business built some software that runs on x86, $1200 for a pro is cheaper than the $1500+ they are often dropping on dell / lenovo tablets. This for data input on the go etc... Media consumption is doesnt need x86.
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$1200 laptops are far more rare in the business world than $600 laptops are. And the $600 dollar laptops typically have bigger screens, and better keyboards than Surface Pro is going to have. For data entry the pro is not going to be the best choice. IMO, Surface Pro is going to be a niche product in enterprise markets, and a failure in the consumer markets. Not because it did not ship with Office, not because of the general dislike so many have for Win 8, but rather because of costs, and competition from laptops in the enterprise market, and because for most consumers, it will not be better at web surfing, email, watching media, and playing casual games than a sub $200 Android tablet.

If they can get the weight down, and both the screen size and battery life up, while retaining the same level of performance, and including a high quality detachable keyboard, I will change my mind. (the current detachable keyboard for Surface, sucks pretty bad on the durability front)
 
Did you guys know less expensive stuff is more common than more expensive stuff in business, I thought business was totally different than the consumer market and more expensive stuff was more common? [/sarcasm] The fact is if a company can shave $300 off the price of something they needed to buy anyway they are gong to do it. If their options are reprogram something for RT, or android / ipad that costs who knows how much or just buy a cheaper tablet to do it, what do you think they are going to choose? Also many wont even bother with the keyboard. And many of these businesses will have a volume license for office.

They already have the weight down and battery life up, its called ARM, and RT devices this is not for those people this is for the people who need the legacy application support. And the main place where that is going to be critical is in business where there are lots of special applications that cost thousands to tens of thousands to build and no one wants to waste time remaking them for ARM.

This has nothing to do with you and your desires unless you have $50,000 custom software that must run on x86 on the go.
 
Surface pro is just PC, if you want MS Office you pay extra, or you use LibreOffice. Office on RT is something of a big deal because OSX ipad & Android don't have very good office suites but that's never been a problem with an x86 Windows OS.
 
Talz said:
Surface pro is just PC, if you want MS Office you pay extra, or you use LibreOffice. Office on RT is something of a big deal because OSX ipad & Android don't have very good office suites but that's never been a problem with an x86 Windows OS.
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OS X iPad? What???
You mean iOS? ;)
 
name of the topic title should be called 'microsoft continues to fail'
 
SkribbelKat said:
Now, now, he's been kind enough to not yet grace us with his presence except as his alts. Don't go encouraging him or anything.
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If I wanted to encourage him, I'd just say "Microsoft sucks." or "Windows 8 is a bad OS." or "The x86 architecture is buggy and unstable compared to others."
 
That's a good thing...since Office 2010 only costs $9.99 for corporate employees. One less thing to uninstall before putting real office in.
 
MajorDomo said:
If you were hoping Microsoft was going to repeat the offer of a free inclusion of Office 2013 as they did on Windows RT for the Surface Pro, forget about it: it’s not going to happen. Is the Surface Pro just that good or is the Windows RT just that bad?
Click to expand...

This was obvious. Corporations would want a discount on the device because it conflicts with their EA. Consumers buying this that need office probably already own it. Surface RT has office because it's running Windows RT (consumer grade, can't go to store and install office, can't join a domain... etc) How is this even newsworthy?
 
BBA said:
That's a good thing...since Office 2010 only costs $9.99 for corporate employees. One less thing to uninstall before putting real office in.
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No it doesn't. Corporations pay a lot more then that. The 9.99 deal is usually for corporations that have site licenses that entitle employees to purchase personal copies for that much. Corporate costs are much higher then that.. Average VLK cal is 550 dollars. Doesn't sound like you work in IT and you wouldn't know the MS VLSC costs.
 
Wrench00 said:
No it doesn't. Corporations pay a lot more then that. The 9.99 deal is usually for corporations that have site licenses that entitle employees to purchase personal copies for that much. Corporate costs are much higher then that.. Average VLK cal is 550 dollars. Doesn't sound like you work in IT and you wouldn't know the MS VLSC costs.
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Yup. Cost of individual volume license key to employee/student ! = Cost to institution for said license pricing
 
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