Microsoft released Office 365 roughly a year ago. TLC Creative Services has been using it since it released, primarily for the web-based Outlook Exchange and SharePoint.
![](https://thepowerpointblog.com/media/blogs/all/13_Jan/Office365_logo.png?mtime=1358102556)
Office 365 has different plan levels. All plans include Email (Exchange Online – with 25GB mail boxes), SharePoint and Lync. “Higher” level plans include a subscription to Microsoft Office. And interestingly, not all plans include Microsoft’s free Web Apps, which are online versions of PowerPoint, Word and Excel (it is a collection of free apps, so I cannot see a reason they are not offered with all plans…). Microsoft has recently integrated Skype calling minutes into Office365 subscriptions, and promise more web services in the future.
![](https://thepowerpointblog.com/media/blogs/all/13_Jan/O365_Web_Apps.jpg?mtime=1358102712)
The advantage of using the subscription service over the disc/serial number is that you will always be using the latest version. Offers the Office 2010 programs. It also includes online storage, sharing and syncing to web-based “cloud” access. The cloud services make it easy to save and access all of your documents from any device. And Office is available on multiple devices and platforms: PCs and Macs, phones-tablets-computers.
![](https://thepowerpointblog.com/media/blogs/all/13_Jan/O365_Offers.jpg?mtime=1358102915)
So, which Microsoft Office install option is better for you – subscription or disc? If you have a lot of users to manage, the subscription plans make it much easier from an IT perspective to assure everyone has a working version of Office. If you have an MSDN account, keep the same install for multiple years, or very few computers to manage, purchasing a serial number/disc may be the better option.
But with either option, I definitely recommend Office 365 for its Outlook, SharePoint and Lync options.
– Troy @ TLC