I bought my laptop in August 2024 and it's worked absolutely fine ever since. I made sure it came with proper Microsoft Office, and I made sure I bought it via a one-time-purchase, not some online subscription version. That's all worked fine too, but yesterday a message popped up telling me that Microsoft have ended support for Office 2021 and I should strongly consider upgrading.
Support for Office 2021 ended on October 13, 2026 and there will be no extension and no extended security updates. All of your Office 2021 apps may continue to function. However, you could expose yourself to serious and potentially harmful security risks. We recommend you upgrade Office.
Bugger that, I thought. How miserable to stop supporting something I bought only two years ago, how mercenary is Microsoft? I checked and Office 2024 was introduced five weeks after I bought my laptop, so I'm essentially being penalised for purchasing in August rather than October.
If you're using Office 2021 at home you may still be able to use it, but we recommend you upgrade to a newer version of Office so you can stay up to date with all the latest features, patches, and security updates.
"You may still be able to use it" for goodness sake, what kind of ridiculous pressure is that? Of course I can continue to use it, you haven't actually made it impossible, you're just greedy opportunists who've deliberately ended security support to drive further sales.
To upgrade you'll need to buy the latest version. To do this you can purchase a Microsoft 365 subscription like Microsoft 365 Personal or Microsoft 365 Family, Premium or Pro, or the newest one-time purchase version.
I checked the prices, and to buy a one-time copy of Office 2024 costs £119.99. I have no intention of rebuying something I already bought, so no thanks.
The alternative option they're plugging really heavily is a Microsoft 365 subscription starting at £8.49 a month. Only a fool pays monthly so the better option is a £84.99 annual subscription, but that's not a one-time payment and can really add up. After two years it's £170, after three years £255, and that's just screwing your audience long-term in the hope they don't notice.
Also Microsoft 365 is a suite of in-browser apps, not separate programs, and I would only switch to that impractical set-up if it became the sole available option.
I'm not upgrading, obviously, I'm carrying on using Office 2021 which I paid for barely two years ago. But the direction of travel is clear, not just here but with all kinds of products the world over, they'd rather you start a subscription than let you buy something outright because that's so much better for them and so much worse for you.
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