The pricing of a flower should just stay the same

[sovay]

Anyway, while I was distracted by filing a claim for our stolen and damaged property, support for the non-subscription version of Microsoft Word 2021 ran out and as of this evening I am once again locked out of my own archive of intellectual property on my own computer. It contains to feel invasive and insane to me that it is even possible to brick a one-time purchase in order to force compliance with a subscription service. I had just begun to write for the first time in weeks about a movie. At this point I just want to die about it.

Comments

[sabotabby]

They shut off our access at work. It’s some bullshit. I haven’t used it in years but they really shouldn’t be able to do this.

[sovay]

They shut off our access at work. It’s some bullshit. I haven’t used it in years but they really shouldn’t be able to do this.

Are people who can afford it suing them? Their own website states that the end of support means an end to technical support, bug fixes, security fixes, and updates, which is a massively different thing from an end to the ability to use the application at all. Almost all of my files were created with versions of Word predating their subscription system. And yet.

[sabotabby]

God I hope so. Though the legal response to tech assholes appears to be "because fuck you, that's why."

[nineweaving]

Fuck Microsoft.

Nine

[sovay]

Fuck Microsoft.

It encourages me to sign in to refresh my license and then tells me there is no license associated with my account and I must purchase Microsoft 365 in order to regain access to my own work.

[edit] Am I correct that you have a version of Microsoft Word which is not subject to this blackmail? What is it?

[selkie]

I don’t see why the end of support means the end of access?!! WTF.
*hugs*

[sovay]

I don’t see why the end of support means the end of access?!! WTF.

I don't think it should have. I was working just fine in a Word document and then I wasn't.

*hugs*

[aurumcalendula]

Ugh *hugs*

[sovay]

*hugs*

*hugs*

[asakiyume]

We hates them precioussss.

But really. Singular me hates them.

[sovay]

But really. Singular me hates them.

I paid them for a perpetual license. I did not get my money's worth. I wrote my own work on versions of Word they did not offer on a subscription model. This is extortion. It should not be allowed.

[alatefeline]

I'm so sorry. This is just awful on top of all the other problems stemming from the break-in. You have had many many many times your share of unkindness and bad luck recently.

I hope that your cat and other loved ones can remind you of reasons to stay alive.

There are lots of people really desperately looking for those lately. I think of us as like the SETI scan volunteers of reasons to hope. We'll find something breathtaking someday, and until then, we'll keep looking and finding interest in the search itself.

I just really hope it helps a tiny bit for you to know you are not alone.

[sovay]

I just really hope it helps a tiny bit for you to know you are not alone.

*hugs*

Thank you. I like your SETI motif.

[bikergeek]

This sounds perilously close to the perennially annoying "Install Linux", but have you considered LibreOffice? Can read and write M$ Word and Excel format files.

[sovay]

This sounds perilously close to the perennially annoying "Install Linux", but have you considered LibreOffice? Can read and write M$ Word and Excel format files.

I appreciate the double-check. I have LibreOffice on this computer. I don't write well in it. I've tried. It may be the shape of my future because there's nothing else left, but I would still like a copy of Microsoft Word that doesn't brick my documents.

(I normally refer to it as our Linux-driven pseudo-TV, but we have a Linux box which I do a bunch of things on. My entire archive as a professional writer, however, is in Microsoft Word for Mac. Until this year it was never a problem.)

[bikergeek]

Well, if it doesn't work for you, then it doesn't work. Just thought I'd throw it out there; a lot of people don't know there are alternatives.

The only way M$ would ever make anything that didn't suck is if they branched out into vacuum cleaners.

Best of luck.

[sovay]

Well, if it doesn't work for you, then it doesn't work. Just thought I'd throw it out there; a lot of people don't know there are alternatives.

Understood. I have Word, LibreOffice, and TextEdit. (Also technically Pages, but I've never used it.) It isn't even that this software sucks. It is that it is grossly inappropriate to cut off access to information which is not theirs. I did not write work for hire. I have Word documents on this machine that date back to 1997. They should not have been able to touch it.

Best of luck.

Thank you.

[gullyfoyle]

Some recent info about this here, hopefully it's helpful.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/6046822/office-2021-perpetual-version-no-longer-working

[sovay]

Some recent info about this here, hopefully it's helpful.

Thank you. I also tried to refresh the license and received an error message. It happened several times in a row. I was finally able to sign in and was simply directed to purchase the subscription version. No other options offered.

[gullyfoyle]

Is MacOS current on your Mac? If not, that might play into this. MS has dropped support for Word/Office 2021 (both Windows and Mac, I believe), but that doesn't mean that the apps immediately break. At least, it's never meant that in the past. So this sounds like the security certificate issue that happened in July. If you have an update function in Word, give that a try. Even if that doesn't fix it now, hopefully MS will resolve this soon.

[sovay]

Is MacOS current on your Mac?

It is current. My OS is up to date and so is Microsoft Word. I even checked through Microsoft Auto-Update. I appreciate the effort, but it does not seem to be that kind of problem.

[gullyfoyle]

Sorry the update check didn't work. Keep searching on the issue for recent developments. Hopefully I'm not being overly optimistic in thinking that this is a(nother) bug and not a design decision and that a resolution other than purchasing a cloud license will be forthcoming.

[sovay]

Hopefully I'm not being overly optimistic in thinking that this is a(nother) bug and not a design decision and that a resolution other than purchasing a cloud license will be forthcoming.

Thank you. It feels very much like a design decision to me. It seems inhumane and illegal which I understand stops no one these days.

[gwynnega]

This is so enraging.

[sovay]

This is so enraging.

I am trying to convert my feelings to wanting the people responsible to die.

[sholio]

Ugh, not another completely unnecessary and infuriating thing to deal with! I'm so sorry about the latest bullshit.

[sovay]

Ugh, not another completely unnecessary and infuriating thing to deal with! I'm so sorry about the latest bullshit.

I really feel like I'm drowning.

[thisbluespirit]

Argh! I hope you can sort something soon. *hugs*

[umadoshi]

It contains to feel invasive and insane to me that it is even possible to brick a one-time purchase in order to force compliance with a subscription service.

This is so wildly not okay. Fuckers. :(