All You Need To Know About Office 365

By Alex D White


After introducing Office 365, Microsoft has received plenty of publicity on the service. As such, you might be wondering if the service is right for you, a client, or your organization. Office 365 is basically the cloud version of Microsoft. You can connect with it on the internet, set up an account, make a subscription, download the necessary files and start working. You do not need any installation disks. You may want to know a few things about office 365 in order to know if it is for you.

For many people, when they hear the term office 365, what comes to mind is the cloud productivity suite. Cloud can be defined as an off the site file hosting service that was popularized by the IT industry. The cloud version of Microsoft is Windows SkyDrive that enables you to upload your files and synchronize them to access later from any device without office installed.

Most people have grown accustomed to the desktop version of Microsoft office. The new service, however, comes with new inclusions such as the office web apps. The office web apps are the office internet version that is linked with SkyDrive and which allows you to read and edit documents without changing the format from devices that do not have office.

Office 365 goes hand in hand with a compatible operating system. You can use it with windows 7 or 8 or OS X10.6 on Mac or later versions. In addition, you also need to have an internet connection in order to install it, activate and manage your subscriptions. Some of the browsers that are compatible with the service include Chrome 18, Safari 5, Firefox 12 and IE 9.

If you want to make a subscription, you will have to consider a few factors. This is because the subscriptions come in the form of planned premiums. If you want to use it with a company of less than 25 users, you will take the small business premium subscription. For companies with more than 25 users, the midsize business premium will apply. Similarly, enterprise premium plan will accommodate more than 3000 users.

The best thing about office 365 is the fact that you can still use it with Office 2010 or 2013. Unfortunately, if you are using office 2007, you may have to tolerate some lost functionality, but the service will still work. If you want to install the service to share files, you can upload the files on SkyDrive and then invite your contacts to view them without necessarily installing the service.

You may be wondering why you need the service if the office web apps are free. While these apps are great for viewing files and editing them, it does not come close to being a substitute for the regular desktop version, not to mention office 365. The latter, for instance, allows you to view your files on multiple devices with no office, which the office web apps cannot.

For most people worried about security, as you are, the service provides a similar Trust Center and user-level security as the desktop version. With this, you can set permissions through the Rights Management Service that supports encryption. As such, you are provided with a reasonable level of user security.




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