Office 2016 Desktop vs. Office 365

[doitmyself]

My workplace is nudging everyone to use Office 365 vs. the desktop Office 2016 suite. I think it has to do with them changing our email system, but haven't verified that yet.

I've read about the advanced features of Office 365. Are there any cons to using Office 365?? Not to sound like a tin hat type, but does using cloud based Office 365 make you more vulnerable to "big brother" type activities?

Thanks

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Office 365 is still a desktop application, just the licensing is different. I think there are more could-based storage and collaboration options but the suites themselves are more or less the same.

 

[tmorris1]

The only thing that is cloud based really is the email. You can still install the latest version of Word, Excel, etc locally on your computer. We switched to it and you don't really know the difference. One advantage is that you are always running the latest version of Office.

 

[tmorris1]

Another nice thing is that you can install it on up to 5 different computers or mobile devices too.

 

[HorseThief]

Telemetry is the feature that allows admins to see a limited amount of data, though that data can be pretty revealing - I wouldn't work on my resume, for example. The link tells about all they can see.

Otherwise, for personal use I buy office 2016 licenses on eBay for around $10. Some activate online, others I had to call to activate. Either that or pay full retail. Just keep in mind the Home and student version does NOT include Outlook.

 

[OVERKILL]

At this point, they are the same software, the difference, as Bottom_Feeder noted, is the licensing model.

With the subscription-based Office 365, you always have the latest release of the applications, whilst, with Office 2016, you will always have 2016, just liked with previous versions of Office. It has no bearing on your E-mail system and will work the same way providing you buy a version that comes with Outlook.

Like with traditional Office, Office 365 subscriptions vary in their suite of provided software and features.

 

[FermeLaPorte]

We use 365 in my job. It is desktop based and cloud base and you can save in both the PC and the Cloud. Really good because you can actually access your documents everywhere.