Hey, what’s up?
Today, I wanted to share why I’m deciding to cancel my Microsoft 365 subscription and the alternatives that I choose to keep going forward.
If you’re trying to figure out if Microsoft 365 is for you or you’re thinking about leaving the Microsoft ecosystem, then this is for you.
So let’s go right.
1- NOT ABOUT THE PRICING
It’s not about the pricing. I genuinely think that these softwares are so cheap. For 6-7$ per month, you get amazing premium softwares that will absolutely do the job. I’ve been using these softwares for a few months now, and I genuinely love these softwares. They make my life easy. They genuinely make great softwares.
I rented softwares before. When I started my online print-on-demand business, I was using Canva and Flying Upload. I paid for these softwares for years. I was using Canva to make designs and Flying Upload to upload them to print-on-demand websites. Now, I’m no longer paying for them, I switched to other softwares because I was tired of paying. Even thought, they could still be useful to me, I can no longer use them because I am choosing to not pay for them anymore.
2- SUBSCRIPTION ISN’T OWNERSHIP
Just like a said, I think these are great softwares but ultimately, you don’t own anything. You rent them. And it is the same thing with Adobe.
Personally, when I think about ANY subscription, I see it as temporary because I don’t own anything. Subscriptions can be good on the short-term, but on the longer term, I think it is simply better to OWN softwares.
Now, talking about renting and subscriptions, yes, I have a car and an apartment and other things that require monthly payments.
The difference here is that I am building on online business. An online business is on the computer, the internet and softwares.
3- BUILDING AN ONLINE BUSINESS
Yes, I’m paying rent for an apartment, but I don’t care that much because I’m building an online business. I can change apartment without any problem. I can also purchase a home to own it, but I’ll have to pay mortgage anyway and do all the repairs and maintenance myself. I’m not interested in those things for now BECAUSE I AM BUILDING AN ONLINE BUSINESS.
I need softwares and equipment that I can rely on, that I can own and that won’t disappear tomorrow because I didn’t make a payment or forgot a certain contract. Since I am building an online business, I’m going to use these softwares extensively for long periods of time.
4- DON’T NEED ALL THE FEATURES
I think those are amazing softwares, and you’ll be able to do all the things that you want to do with these softwares, but ultimately you don’t need all the features.
But ultimately, I only need 3:
- Write notes.
- Put them into folders or categories.
- Sync them with my other devices like pc and mobile.
- Privacy (optional but appreciated).
5- SUPPORTING SMALLER COMPANIES & OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS
Here’s the reality: big corporations like Microsoft, Adobe, Amazon, Google, etc. they provide amazing services and amazing softwares, but ultimately they don’t really care about you and what you have to say. Why should I care about them? They’re going to keep sucking the money out of me and that’s pretty much it. I think I’d prefer spending money, time and energy that I do have on projects and companies that actually need the money and attention.
I think healthy competition is good and important, and I believe that smaller companies and projects should also have their chances.
6- UPGRADES
The reason I wanted to talk about this is that when you subscribe to a service, you get all the future updates, it’s part of the deal.
As of right now, I am fortunate enough to have money to pay for softwares. I have absolutely no problem paying for new versions once in a while if it is reasonable. But what I want is being able to own the software. Ideally forever.
If there’s a new version, it is sort of optional. I can choose to upgrade if I want, or keep using the version that I am currently using.
Because ultimately, I don’t know if I’m going to keep using the software in the future.
Subscription-based models require ongoing commitment, and I value my freedom. I feel chained to using these softwares.
EXAMPLES:
- Affinity suite from Serif
- Davinci Resolve
- Windows 11 & Windows 7
- OBS, VLC, Inkscape
7- FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARES
Yes, an alternative that we have is to use free open source softwares. To be completely honest, right now, I’m thinking about switching to Linux and going open source.
Most of the time, my problem with free open source software is that they’re old, ugly, outdated/buggy, and they require more technical knowledge.
That’s the trade-off.
8- ALTERNATIVES
So now, let’s talk about the alternatives to the Microsoft 365 package that I’m going to use. I’m simply going to talk about the softwares that I actually use and need. Not the other ones.
Word/Excel/PowerPoint ⇾ Free Google Apps or you can use open source software like LibreOffice
- OneDrive ⇾ Internxt & pCloud
- OneNote ⇾ Joplin & Upnote
- Outlook ⇾ You can still use Outlook for free, but the free version includes ads, Thunderbird
- Microsoft Editor ⇾ You can still use the free version or use the free version of Grammarly
- Clip Champ ⇾ I’m already using Davinci Resolve
- Security ⇾ MonoDefense lifetime bundle and if I’m choosing to switch to Linux, then security is no longer something to worry about.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I’m cancelling my Microsoft 365 subscription for many reasons. Mainly to avoid monthly subscriptions where I don’t own anything. Different options include using free and open source softwares.
So that’s pretty much it, I hope this post was helpful to you. If it was, you could consider following me on social media and if you have any thoughts or comments, you can leave them below because your thoughts could help future readers.
I hope this helps, peace!
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