Microsoft releases the Office suite in its free version
Those of us who regularly work with Office suites were in for a big surprise: Microsoft released a free version of Office without any fanfare. Our initial reaction was one of confusion; normally, if a popular software suite like Office changes its business model in any way, it should be announced with great fanfare.
According to information published by the Android Authority website, a free version of Microsoft Office was discovered that includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, but it displays banners and video ads within it.
According to the source, the first to notice the existence of this free version were employees of the Beebom media site. When trying to download Office without logging in, some users received a message welcoming them to the "free versions" of the above-mentioned programs.
However, this free version of Office differs from the web version in one major aspect: you can edit files with it. We remind you that the web version is read-only. Moreover, there are two not particularly positive features that are worth mentioning. The first is the full integration with OneDrive, which forces the user to save all documents in the Microsoft cloud.
However, this free version, as Microsoft itself explains, is a test with selected users.
Given what we've seen and given Microsoft's business practices with its software in recent years, it seems like the best option would be to stick with open alternatives. There are some really good programs out there, like OnlyOffice, which even has a built-in PDF editor and has a very similar interface to the Office suite.