Microsoft is offering a new Microsoft 365 subscription for just $1.99 per month, designed to replace OneDrive’s 100GB storage option with some extra features.
A Microsoft 365 Basic subscription will be available worldwide starting January 30 and includes 100GB of cloud storage, ad-free Outlook on web and mobile devices, and advanced security features. The latter include data encryption for the Outlook mailbox, checking for suspicious links, and scanning attachments for viruses and malware.
This year’s OneDrive customers with 100 GB of storage will be automatically upgraded to Microsoft 365 Basic for the same monthly price of $1.99.
“Later this year, new advanced security features will be available, including personal storage [защищенная папка, к которой можно получить доступ только после второго этапа проверки личности]; links with a limited validity period; ransomware detection, as well as mass file recovery,” says Gareth Oistryk, director of product marketing for Microsoft 365.”
Microsoft 365 Basic will also get access to Microsoft technical support – by phone or through online chat for Microsoft 365 and Windows 11 applications.
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The main difference between the $6.99 Personal subscription and the new $1.99 Basic subscription (excluding cloud storage capacity) is that Microsoft 365 Basic does not include access to the desktop versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Basic subscribers will be able to use the web or mobile versions instead.
Later this month, Microsoft will rename its Office app for mobile devices and Windows to Microsoft 365, reflecting a branding change the corporation announced last year, and Microsoft Office will continue to be called Microsoft 365.
Is the Office brand disappearing completely? No. We’ve invested heavily in Microsoft 365 and it’s become our flagship productivity suite. Office plays a smaller role, but you will see it in certain contexts. It’s more of a shift in focus where we use Microsoft 365 as our productivity suite, and we want people to think of Microsoft 365 when they think of productivity, not Office,” explains Oistrik.
10 years ago, in January, Microsoft first introduced a user subscription to Office. The plan, then known as Office 365 Home Premium, included access to the Office desktop applications and 20 GB of cloud storage. Today, the amount of cloud storage has been increased to 1 TB, and a number of new features have been added to the subscription.
“One thing hasn’t changed over the last 10 years: the price. Microsoft 365 Personal and Family are still only $6.99 and $9.99 per month, respectively,” commented Microsoft Vice President Liat Ben-Zur.
Microsoft previously added some handy automation features to the web version of Excel that comes with Microsoft 365, its spreadsheet software. The new formula suggestions and example formulas will help to simplify some of the actions that previously had to be performed manually.
Excel will receive “smart” autofill in the web version of Microsoft 365 – using formulas will become much easier
Source: The Verge
