"While Office LTSC 2024 can run completely disconnected – a requirement for many commercial users – Office 2024 requires both a Microsoft account and an internet connection."

I wonder what they think that Microsoft will gain from this requirement?

My Microsoft account is free and uses an anonymous email address that is only used to log into my home installation of my work Office 365 account. I can't see what MS gain from this beyond ensuring each licence is only installed on one machine (or 5 for the small business version)

You can't see doesn't mean that Redmond doesn't benefit.

They will be able to turn off the servers in the future and stop people from using Office.

So if you're in a location with no internet connection such as on a plane will Office 2024 refuse to function until it can phone home to the MS mothership? Or is an internet connection just required during the installation to activate the software and then it can work offline?

Nothing. It will be cracked on the first day of release.

In UK, we are allowed "cracks" for integration, so we will likely be using it for our offline labs.

Sometimes converts .CSV silently to "tab delimited" on save.

If you have, on a German Windows, IP numbers in the format of *.[0-9][0-9][0-9].[0-9][0-9][0-9].[0-9][0-9][0-9], i.e. three triple digits after the first number, it STILL silently converts it to a number. Even if you disable autocorrect.

So 10.200.20.200 is let alone, cell content is "10.200.20.200". But 10.200.200.200 is silently converted to 10200200200 - to add to the confusion it DISPLAYS it as 10.200.200.200, but the cell content isn't...

Among many other over-eagernes-we-at-Microsoft-know-better problems.

Libreoffice does it right, and if not select "Text" when opening the .CSV to avoid too much intelligence. Libreoffice, for example, converts a cell with "FALSE" to the number "0", and "TRUE" to 1 if you let it be at "Standard"...

Or "any field with a slash in it is a date"

Or "lt looks like you're tring to input a long/lat, let me mash it with a float for you"

Or Copy paste adding arbitary CR/LF to the copied cell contents depending on if MOD(RND)=7

$org is trying to save £24M, yet wont consider LibreOffice, I suspect mainly because of M$ marketing warfare...it certainly can't be because O365 is actually good.

> Or "any field with a slash in it is a date"

Yeah, exactly the same for the German notation 22.8 or 22.8.94, which is the 22nd September (1994)...

> Or "lt looks like you're tring to input a long/lat, let me mash it with a float for you"

Don't you E-9 me!

> Or Copy paste adding arbitary CR/LF to the copied cell contents depending on if MOD(RND)=7

I did not have that yet... I always hit F2 before pasting INTO a cell. But now that you mentioned, it will happen next time I use it.

> $org is trying to save £24M, yet wont consider LibreOffice

The problem is that excel is insanely versatile. Starmaker Office comes quite close, but Libre is faaar away. See my [1]pet bug for xyz chart which Excel can since 1992. Couldn't get that chart type with earlier versions of Excel, of I simply failed to make it work with earlier versions. Other thing I miss in Libre and Starmaker / Excel have: An actually versatile "cell format depending on X" method.

[1] https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=51670

Following the link it appears to be regarded as an enhancement and not meny people are asking for it. You need to get a few more users to request it.

The reality is: They all give up and use alternatives. Not necessarily Excel or SOFTMAKER office (not Starmaker, my bad), there is enough out there to create such graphics. It would be nice to have a direct gnuplot connection though, that would work well.

It is because they are probably very heavy Excel dependant.

Not for want of trying to stop users shoehorning Excel to be a database, we've got edicts from on high not to use it in such a way, legal regulations regarding such behaviour, and a development department ready to satisfy evey data and application need.

I think introducing miscreant's fingers to 'the bench vice of enlightnment' is may be the only option.

Can you not set the field type in power query editor? I'm sure it used to be import options.

stop supplying the products customers knew they wanted?

Now it's pretty much the Python [1]Cheese Shop sketch [ [2]video ] except lacking the satisfactory conclusion.

I would have thought if a customer were prepared to pay you $100-$200 for your tat but without any further connection with your business you would take their money and speed them on their way.

Fortunately home users that don't need the full brain damage of Office have a few alternatives to choose from - both paid and libre.

If MS manage to BSOD users' PCs with an unsolicited Office2024 update even the most loyal MS disciple might turn apostate.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_Shop_sketch

[2] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1JWzyvv8A

Re: "Although the exact content of the suites might differ, the retirement date for Office 2024 and Office LTSC 2024 is the same – October 9, 2029"

And what does Microsoft mean by "retirement"? It's an unusual wording if they just mean end of support...

Everyone wants to go full subscription mode. Microsoft can't do that with Office because to be frank if you aren't doing basic spreadsheets without complex macros or using lots of data office365 is effing useless. Maybe they think one day it will be ready? Who knows?

I bought several copies of Office 2010home and student some years ago.

I still have 2 licenses left :) which will see me past retirement.

In the meantime LibreOffice is nearing full compatability with Word unless you have some complex formatting.

Try installing old Word or Excel from ancient Office CDs on modern hardware. It is funny how fast they operate without all the modern bloat.

I will still put these onto modern hardware for the oldies who just want to write the odd letter to the council. They can't get their heads around something new like Libre Office so classic Word is still perfect.

And it is so refreshing seeing it start almost instantly instead of taking a minute to connect to all the clouds and AI's of the current mess from Microsoft.

Why is it the faster computers have got, the slower applications start?