from Hacker News

"Free" Office for Windows is being trialed

by WoodenChair on 2/28/25, 12:40 AM with 12 comments

  • by yummypaint on 2/28/25, 11:57 AM

    Ads in edge that Microsoft won't let you block. Ads in the start menu instead of things that could be useful. Ads in a goddamn word processor while kids are trying to do their homework. Total surveillance of everything displayed on the screen. This is apparently the best that for-profit software is willing/able to provide.

    Yes everyone on HN knows how to use Linux and avoid all these traps etc, but you sort of have to know to know. We are at a point where open source versions of common software are often functionally superior to paid equivalents, but hardly anyone uses them because there is no money in forcing people to use them.

    What a hellscape the software industry has made for the tech illiterate and children who are kept ignorant in order extract their capital. Having a "free" version of the MS office is about keeping people from discovering better alternatives. It's probably a better return on investment than fixing bugs.

  • by gnabgib on 2/28/25, 12:49 AM

    Small discussions (25+10 points, 3 days ago, 4+2 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43168581 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43166990

  • by politelemon on 2/28/25, 4:56 AM

    This kind of makes sense to showcase the other tools available in their ecosystem, and is probably something they should have done a long time ago, when the Google suite entered the scene.

  • by porridgeraisin on 2/28/25, 10:41 AM

    Once upon a time (windows 8 I believe) you could install the "mobile" version of office apps on the desktop and just use that for free. Limited in functionality, but free.

    This seems to be severely handicapped. Only onedrive files, no local files, for example.

  • by aetherspawn on 2/28/25, 11:52 AM

    Seems useful to view/edit files once in a blue moon on random Windows installs that don’t get used much.

    Grandma’s computer… stuff like that.

  • by jmclnx on 2/28/25, 2:17 PM

    LibreOffice for me, but 99% of the time it is Emacs :)

  • by ale42 on 2/28/25, 2:16 PM

    Is this going to be the replacement of WordPad... you get word with the same functionalities as Wordpad, but with ads inside? There's no end in sight for enshittification.

  • by blibble on 2/28/25, 5:50 PM

    the ads will be in the paid version soon enough