A few years ago I wrote a post comparing Google Apps vs Office 365 after writing a very harsh review of Office 365. While I think Microsoft has plenty of room for improvement, Office 365 may be a better solution for churches and ministries, especially if they qualify for Office 365 Small Business for Nonprofits, than I originally thought.
Perhaps it is the years of experience or I have begun to notice pesky kids on my front lawn, but I have been using Office 365 for about six months, now, and have a different — ahem — outlook then I had before. Here is how it all started…
Pro Tools for Pro Work
For years, I had been using Google Apps, but as ChurchMag and my freelance work began to increase, I began to run into limitations. While I found the constant auto-save feature annoying (what if I want several undo’s?), the Google Apps spreadsheet was too slow to respond for my liking. It was common to wait for cells to update from pasted data, which was frustrating and caused errors multiple times. That is when I moved over to Mac’s offering of Numbers. While I was at it, I decided to jump on Pages, too.
But Apple…
At first, it was great. In fact, I still use Numbers for most of my spreadsheet data collecting. For only $20, it was a great buy for an app I use at least once a day if not more. Moving to Pages from Google Docs was a pleasant surprise. Storing my documents locally and syncing over Dropbox felt better than using Google Drive, something that is really a matter of preference. While I was satisfied with Numbers, here is where Pages fell short…
The Power of Word
Grammar. I suck at it. Or rather, I want to improve it. That is where I ran into trouble. Pages lacks any kind of grammar correction, whereas Microsoft Word flags a number of silly grammar mistakes, as well as those pesky passive voice sentences that plague me daily. So, in an effort to improve my writing, I started paying the $10 per month and started using Office 365. Just behind the Buffer App, this is one of my best purchases/subscriptions that I’ve signed up for in the past year.
But Wait, There’s More
With my Office 365 subscription, I can install the entire suite on five different devices and use the online version of Office 365. The online version is limited in its feature set, but does just as good as Google Docs. Included in my subscription, is also 7gb of online storage (now called OneDrive, formally SkyDrive), and unlike the Google Drive app, it is not causing my system to go wonky. If I decided to upgrade, I could grab 50GB for $25 per year, 100GB for $50, or 200GB for $100 per year. Not a bad price scale at the annual rate, and if you install OneDrive on your mobile device, you have access to your files and documents on the go, too.
Regular Pricing
The pricing is far more competitive that has been in the past. Google Docs no longer offers a free version and the pricing between the two is fairly comparable, especially when you consider how much more robust the Office 365 desktop apps are.
Office 365 Small Business
- $5.00 user/month (online apps only) — I would avoid this option, Google Docs is a wiser buy at this tier.
Office 365 Small Business Premium
- $12.50 user/month — This gets you the whole desktop suite, along with the other features included in the online only version — something Google Docs cannot offer.
There are some other tiers, but this gets into heavier tools that most churches and ministries do not need.
Awesome Pricing
Here is where things get cool. If you are eligible for nonprofit pricing, meaning your organization has recognized charitable status, you can snag a version of Office 365 that gets you the all the desktop versions for $4.50 user/month. If you qualify for Google Apps for Nonprifts, you can get it for free, so that may still be an option for those who would not benefit from the desktop app suite.
What I Use
While the entire Office 365 desktop apps for Mac are terribly outdated (currently 2011, upgrade coming this year) and does not include all the apps that are included in the Windows version, it is Microsoft Word that has really shined. I have tried hard to make a habit of drafting all my blog posts in Word, and even if I start rough drafts using something like markdown, I will never stop checking my posts in Word.
Back in the day, I used Outlook, and while it is a little tempting to try it again, I have resisted. It feels backwards, to me. I would be far more likely to start using my Outlook.com email before going to a desktop app, but that’s just me.
The final thing that I’ve enjoyed about having the Office suite available to me, is dealing with clients. I get a lot of Office documents emailed to me, so being able to edit, contribute to documents using Words Review tools, and even create Word templates with branding, has been really nice.
What Do You Use?
Office 365 vs Google Apps is not the clear-cut choice that it once was. Individuals, teams, ministries and churches all have different needs and preferences. Office 365 and Google Apps may not even be the perfect solution for some — Libre Office anyone? The important thing to do is to honestly review what you need and find the solution that fits that need in the best way.
What do you use?
[Image via H Sterling Cross via Compfight cc]
Casey Dierking says
First, I want to say that I absolutely love writing in markdown. I like to write all my posts on my personal blog in markdown. To do this, I use an app called Mou. http://mouapp.com/. This is a beautiful markdown editor that allows you to preview the post in real time side by side. It is also free, so that is a plus.
Eric Dye says
This looks like a cool tool to use when you want to familiarize yourself with markdown more, too. Thanks Casey!
Robert Daniels says
I’m using the free Office Online products (http://www.office.com) with OneDrive. The only mobile apps you get with this for Android/iOS are OneDrive and OneNote which are great, but it is a bummer to not have Word. I happen to carry a Windows Phone for work so I do have full Office Mobile access there. I think the Windows Phone and Office Online solution is a pretty good one.
Eric Dye says
Cool! It looks like the Android/iOS apps for Word may be just around the corner, so maybe sooner than later. 😀
Brent says
I can’t make myself use office. Last week I demoed 365 and tried out 2011. That ribbon interface was terrible. I think Microsoft will continue to keep mac office users as 2nd class citizens to protect its windows investment. I would rather support other companies who are innovating rather than protecting.
Eric Dye says
I can’t help but agree with you on this Brent. While this is working out for me really well right now, I can’t say I will stick with it long term (especially if I could find some decent grammar tools). It’s going to really depend on how the new Mac version turns out. If they follow through with what you said, about protecting their Windows investment, it will be hard to stick with it.
Chandos says
I’ll forever and always be an iWork guy. While I know Office works for most, I hate it with every fiber of my being 🙂 That said, I’m pretty disappointed with the new Pages. They removed the page layout mode which is what made Pages so much better(imho).
As far as grammar in Pages goes, since Mountain Lion (I think), you CAN check grammar. It’s in Edit>Spelling and Grammar>Check Grammar With Spelling. I don’t believe it detects passive voice though.
Eric Dye says
Hmmm…I may need to do some A-B tests. Thanks, Chandos!
Enzo S. says
i can attest to the validity of Chandos’ statement that Pages does in fact check grammar and spelling as you type. in fact, in Mavericks there is system wide spell check as of 10.9.3(beta), i’m not sure if this is part of Mountain Lion or not.
Eric Dye says
While it does include some grammar check, I find it to be a much less powerful tool than what’s provided with Word. Perhaps I’ll find some more robust grammar solutions for a equal or less cost, and switch things up more of my liking.