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Ulterior Motive with Cloud Storage


SWharton

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I just received an email from Microsoft regarding MS Office being free when I use One Drive(unlimited space). I do use OneDrive and MS Office now. I also have Google Photos on their Cloud, unlimited. I am sure there are others.

What is the catch? It is not out of the goodness of their hearts. They are a business. Is this a sucker play? Get us to use their clouds and then start charging a year from now? I keep a copy of everything I put in the Cloud on my PC as a safety.

 

 

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We have a OneDrive package that includes Office 365 on five devices plus 1 TB of online storage for each device for $9.99/mo.  As far as I can see that is still the best offer.  I don't see any "unlimited" plan.  OneDrive-Office 365 plans

I currently have ~125 GB of storage in use (mostly photos).  I'm used to using Outlook for email although I realize there are lots of alternatives.  I prefer to use a single "cloud" rather than spreading my stuff across the available ones (Google, Amazon, Apple....).  I'm using three of the Office subscriptions myself and my daughter and her husband use the other two.

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I don't understand what you are paying for.  Office has been free for at least 2 years if you used One Drive and Googles Photos has been free since I discovered it a year ago. There must be other things in your OneDrive pkg. The email(below) says you also get desk top apps. I have been using Libre for a long time so I don't need MS Office any more. 

I only keep my cell phone photos on Google Photos but have a copy on my EHD with my other photos from my SLR. I don't really trust the Cloud nor being dependent on the internet for anything.

I am just trying to figure out why it is free. 

Here is the email I received.

 
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We’re here to help you get started | View it online
Office Microsoft
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Start now with Office Online
Achieve more—no matter what you do
Turn your thoughts and ideas into reality with Word. Simplify your life and manage your finances and tasks with Excel. Tell your story using words and images with PowerPoint.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll send you messages to help you master Microsoft Office Online.
 
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Click the icons below to access these Office apps online for free
Word Icon
Excel Icon
PowerPoint Icon
Outlook Icon
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Get to know your app menu
Your first lesson is an essential one: how to navigate the app menu. It’s easy. Just go to the menu at the top left and click any of the free Office Online apps.
Go to Office Online OfficeStandard_CTA_Image.png
 
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You get free storage in Microsoft OneDrive. All the files you create, edit, and save to OneDrive are accessible anywhere. Any edits you make are auto-saved to OneDrive. No need to click Save. Learn more
 
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Achieve even more with a Microsoft Office 365 subscription. Office 365 gives you fully installed desktop apps and 1 TB of OneDrive storage.
Upgrade to Office 365
 
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Today you learned about the app menu. Next time, you’ll find out how easy file sharing can be.
 
Account Summary
User ID: swharton08@gmail.com
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Microsoft
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This email was sent from an unmonitored mailbox.
Microsoft respects your privacy. Please read our online Privacy Statement.
You are receiving this email because you are a user of a Microsoft Office product.
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA
98052 USA
Copyright 2017 Microsoft Corporation
 
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Office Online is free but that's not what we have.  We have Office fully installed on our computers and it  can be used regardless of whether or not we have online access.  

As for Google photos, I tried it and didn't like how it stored my stuff.  I have all my photos in folders and wanted the cloud storage to look just like what I had on my computer.  That didn't seem to be possible with Google, or at least it wasn't easy.  It wanted to arrange the photos to suit itself or so it seemed.

As for trusting the Cloud for archival storage, to each his own.  These days many (most?) large businesses store their records in someone's cloud.  I trust it a lot more than I do any device in my possession that is subject to the whims of fire, theft, rain, etc.

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So your docs are stored on your computer instead of the cloud?

I use Photoshop Elements for all my photos, have since late 90's so I am not about to change. I don't care about my cell phone pics so they can stay in the cloud. Though I do organize them into Albums for the organization. I haven't found anything that I am happy with for organizing any better the Photoshop Elements.  I start as a folder(for each day) then add all sorts of tags to each photo. I don't know if Office Photo can do that but as I said before, I don't trust the Cloud and it is too late to change anything, besides the fact that I have 2TB of photos etc.

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38 minutes ago, SWharton said:

So your docs are stored on your computer instead of the cloud?

No, I store both photos and docs in the cloud.  My laptop is set up so that copies of cloud documents are also retained on the 1TB D: drive but I treat the cloud as if it is the original.  

I'm not trying to convince you to do one thing or the other.  I was simply attempting tor respond to your original post about the offer from OneDrive.

Sandie & Joel

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2014 Honda CR-V AWD EX-L with ReadyBrute tow bar/brake system
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I know you are not trying to convince me. I am just curious as I had never heard of this option. Years ago I went to Libre because I refused to pay the money MS wanted for a product that I used fairly minimally and definitely not to its potential. Just no need for all the bells and whistles. I tried Apache Office and Libre, like Libre better. I donate $25 a year to Libre and am happy with that. 

A few years ago I heard about MS Office In the Cloud but felt no need to switch. Then you came up with this other option that I never heard of(or at least didn't pay attention to). I still would be too cheap to pay for something I use minimally.

What started all this was a friend asked about "free" MS Office and out of the clear blue the email showed up which I forwarded on to her. Then I started thinking about all this "free" unlimited storage and was wondering if anyone knew what the catch was or might be.

Another curiosity question: If you don't have internet and update the doc on your PC does it automatically get updated in the cloud when you get internet again? I  would think it would but who knows.

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4 minutes ago, SWharton said:

Another curiosity question: If you don't have internet and update the doc on your PC does it automatically get updated in the cloud when you get internet again? I  would think it would but who knows.

Folders on the computer that are synchronized with ones in the Cloud automatically update.  Depending on the changes made it might take a few minutes for the sync to complete.

Sandie & Joel

2000 40' Beaver Patriot Thunder Princeton--425 HP/1550 ft-lbs CAT C-12
2014 Honda CR-V AWD EX-L with ReadyBrute tow bar/brake system
WiFiRanger Ambassador
Follow our adventures on Facebook at Weiss Travels

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35 minutes ago, docj said:

Folders on the computer that are synchronized with ones in the Cloud automatically update.  Depending on the changes made it might take a few minutes for the sync to complete.

For whatever it is worth, I do the same.   I also back up locally.

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