Microsoft Office for Mac - Family Pack is going, going

  • Thread starter Thread starter jtbell
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Mac
Click For Summary
SUMMARY

The Microsoft Office 2011 Family Pack for Mac has been officially discontinued in favor of the subscription-based Office 365 service. Users can now only access Office 365 for $100 per year, which allows installation on up to five devices. Some third-party sellers still offer the Office 2011 Family Pack at approximately $120, but availability is limited. Users currently relying on older versions, such as Office 2008 or even Office XP, may continue to function without immediate upgrades.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of Microsoft Office versions and their compatibility with Mac OS
  • Familiarity with subscription-based software models, specifically Office 365
  • Knowledge of purchasing software through third-party vendors
  • Basic awareness of software lifecycle and product discontinuation trends
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the features and benefits of Office 365 compared to previous versions
  • Explore alternatives to Microsoft Office, such as Google Workspace or LibreOffice
  • Investigate how to manage software licenses for multiple devices
  • Learn about the implications of software discontinuation on productivity and workflow
USEFUL FOR

This discussion is beneficial for Mac users, IT professionals, and anyone considering software upgrades or transitions from traditional software licenses to subscription models.

jtbell
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Homework Helper
2025 Award
Messages
16,107
Reaction score
8,122
I'm still using the 2008 version of Microsoft Office for Mac OS, because I got it for free through my college's institutional license, and it still works under Mac OS 10.8 (Mountain Lion). I kept my eye on the Office 2011 Family Pack (1 user / 3 installs) because it was fairly cheap (~$120 at Amazon) and I have three machines to deal with (office, home desktop and home MacBook).

I just found out that Microsoft has discontinued this pack in favor of their new cloud-based system, Office 365, which you have to subscribe to at $100 per year (but you can use it on five machines, whee!).

Sure enough, Amazon itself doesn't sell the family pack any more, but some of its third-party sellers still have it at about $120. So I just ordered one, and am keeping my fingers crossed that Micro$oft will actually let me use it.

Of course, I don't plan to upgrade again unless I absolutely have to.
 
Last edited:
Computer science news on Phys.org
New versions of Office are rarely worth it. You can still easily get by on 2003.
 
Office XP still works for me. Also use WordPerfect 8, vintage 1997.
 

Similar threads

Windows vs Mac for Engineering?
  • · Replies 16 ·
Replies
16
Views
92K
Should Schools Switch to Free, Open Source Software?
  • · Replies 21 ·
Replies
21
Views
7K
Dealing with Microsoft Office Registry Issues as a College Student
  • · Replies 53 ·
2
Replies
53
Views
10K
Fixing My Hard Drive: 2002 - 2009
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
3K
Downloading PDFs in Safari 2.0.1
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
4K
Requesting suggestions for languages, libraries, and architectures for parallel (and sometimes non parallel) numerical and scientific computations
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
5K
Do Movies Teach Us Realistic Life Skills?
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
10K