Microsoft puts some Story Remix content behind Office 365 sub paywall

[AlTech]

Microsoft has locked some Story Remix content behind an Office 365 subscription paywall.

 

For those of you who don't know, Story Remix is the new Photos experience in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. It was updated to add new features like being able to create videos etc.

 

 

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When the Fall Creators Update lands, the Photos app is set to get some interesting new ways to edit albums and video with a feature called Story Remix. Part of that includes a number of new effects, themes, and music that will serve to spice up your creations. A lot of that content will be available to everyone, but it seems that some of it will be offered at a premium.

 

As noted by Windows Central, this isn't the first time Microsoft has done something like this:

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This isn't unique to Story Remix, as Microsoft also locks off some features of its free Office Mobile apps and Sway for Office 365 subscribers. Still, it's an interesting choice, to say the least.

The 3D effects coming to Story Remix have been in testing with Skip Ahead Insiders since mid-September. Microsoft previously confirmed that these 3D effects, which were originally expected to launch with the Fall Creators Update, will instead arrive sometime within "the following months."

 

So yeah, I wouldn't pay for Office 365 to use those features but I'm already a sub for Office + OneDrive so I get it at no additional cost .

 

Source:

https://www.windowscentral.com/some-story-remix-content-will-be-locked-behind-office-365-subscription

[Misanthrope]

Um I'm sorry but what do photos and videos have to do with office jobs?

 

Outside of the one, kinda useless but kinda hot HR rep that's always tasked with taking pictures video on the x-mas party to then upload to the company's website to be seen by 10 people.

[samcool55]

Sooo is story remix something like movie maker for W10?

If it is, who the hell is going to care?

It's such a weird paywall, both services barely fit together.

[Misanthrope]

Pro tip: Use Hitfilm Express. It's free, actually a decent editor if a bit rough around the edges and modular so if you could do partial upgrades if the full version has things you don't need.

[Zando_]

Meh, just get Davinci Resolve if you want a proper video editor, it’s also free and has a lot more power. 

[captain_to_fire]

Uhm... iMovie is free. Just saying. ?

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, hey_yo_ said:

Uhm... iMovie is free. Just saying. ?

Hehehe +1 for Mac. And if you want a pro video editor, Final Cut Pro X is only $300, which works out cheaper than most subscription services considering that if you need a pro video editor you’ll probably keep using it for years. 

[PlayStation 2]

10 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Hehehe +1 for Mac. And if you want a pro video editor, Final Cut Pro X is only $300, which works out cheaper than most subscription services considering that if you need a pro video editor you’ll probably keep using it for years. 

Even at $300 it’s cheaper than Vegas Pro. 

[Zando_]

19 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Even at $300 it’s cheaper than Vegas Pro. 

Yep. And much cheaper than using Premier for years, since no constant payments. I really hate how much stuff is subscription based now, I’d rather just pay a massive price outright and have it forever. 

[captain_to_fire]

37 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Hehehe +1 for Mac. And if you want a pro video editor, Final Cut Pro X is only $300, which works out cheaper than most subscription services considering that if you need a pro video editor you’ll probably keep using it for years. 

And FCP X is just one time payment of $300 but even then the free iMovie is enough for the aspiring YouTuber. No need to shell out money for Office 365 every year just to have a subpar video editing. For Windows 10, there’s so many free video editing apps like DaVinci Resolve and Lightworks. 

 

[GoodBytes]

Meh. So many people have Office 365 already. Either they pay, or got a subscription from their school.

Honestly I don't understand why Microsoft even ties with it. Maybe to get some people that are on older version of Office where it used to be not subscription based? But then, regardless, if you take it from an Office 365 subscriber, it is a nice "bonus", I guess. But, it is definitely not a selling point at all, in any way.

[captain_to_fire]

1 minute ago, GoodBytes said:

Meh. So many people have Office 365 already. Either they pay, or got a subscription from their school.

Honestly I don't understand why Microsoft even ties it. Maybe to get some people that are on older version of Office where it used to be not subscription based?

Regardless, if you take it from an Office 365 subscriber, it is a nice "bonus" I guess. But, it is definitely not a selling point at all, in any way.

Maybe they’re targeting aspiring YouTubers especially amateur vloggers who just drag and drop clips to a timeline. But then, videos from a smartphone can be edited and uploaded straight from a smartphone. 

 

I can’t wait for the day that they’ll charge people to have a new version of Microsoft Edge. 

[goodtofufriday]

I'll just keep using movie maker.

[GoodBytes]

1 hour ago, hey_yo_ said:

Maybe they’re targeting aspiring YouTubers especially amateur vloggers who just drag and drop clips to a timeline. But then, videos from a smartphone can be edited and uploaded straight from a smartphone. 

 

I can’t wait for the day that they’ll charge people to have a new version of Microsoft Edge. 

Doubt it. Music part I can understand.. perhaps they are licensing concerns related to it. Text and 3D effects? Unless there is going to be on going work to add more and more text effects and 3D effects and add more things over time, and adding it to subscription service justify for MS continuous dev of it. Sure.

If not, then no point.

[MEC-777]

MS already lost me when they implemented the 365 subscription system. Yeah, no thanks. There are equally good or better free alternatives out there. 

 

Another strike against Windows, for me. As if they don't make enough money through everything else they charge for... 

[GoodBytes]

1 hour ago, MEC-777 said:

MS already lost me when they implemented the 365 subscription system. Yeah, no thanks. There are equally good or better free alternatives out there. 

 

Another strike against Windows, for me. As if they don't make enough money through everything else they charge for... 

If you do the calculations, and assuming you upgrade Office once and while, and you are more than 1 system in your household, it is cheaper, and you get more for your money, getting the subscription than buying full Office. (Also, keep in mind is a per computer basis license. Always was, like Windows).

 

I am not defending, I am just saying. Again, it depends on one needs. Yes subscription model is not always cheaper. Like I said, if you have multiple users or PCs, and tend to upgrade every couple of years, the cost is identical or cheaper to go with subscription model, and you get more than just buying Office full price. Yes, they are down sides to it, don't get wrong, but again, in many cases it is cheaper... at least for now... now tomorrow MS can increase the price to 1 million dollar per month, but as we speak, it is.

[MEC-777]

1 hour ago, GoodBytes said:

If you do the calculations, and assuming you upgrade Office once and while, and you are more than 1 system in your household, it is cheaper, and you get more for your money, getting the subscription than buying full Office. (Also, keep in mind is a per computer basis license. Always was, like Windows).

 

I am not defending, I am just saying. Again, it depends on one needs. Yes subscription model is not always cheaper. Like I said, if you have multiple users or PCs, and tend to upgrade every couple of years, the cost is identical or cheaper to go with subscription model, and you get more than just buying Office full price. Yes, they are down sides to it, don't get wrong, but again, in many cases it is cheaper... at least for now... now tomorrow MS can increase the price to 1 million dollar per month, but as we speak, it is.

Well here's the thing; in more recent times, I have come to realize that I don't "need" MS Office anymore. I don't need to depend on it. There are free alternatives out there that are as just as good. So why would I even think of paying for that which I don't need? lol. 

 

I think a lot of people buy and use Office because they think or believe they "need" it and/or don't know of any worthy alternatives, when actually, Libre Office, WPS, Open Office, or even Google docs would more than suffice. Most, if not all, of those apps can open edit and save MS Office files. They have come a long way in recent years and the compatibility issues are now few and far between. 

 

I just don't see the appeal or benefit of using MS Office anymore, personally. It used to be "all there was" and "all that was taught", (more or less), but now that's not the case anymore.

[AlTech]

5 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

Meh. So many people have Office 365 already. Either they pay, or got a subscription from their school.

Honestly I don't understand why Microsoft even ties with it. Maybe to get some people that are on older version of Office where it used to be not subscription based? But then, regardless, if you take it from an Office 365 subscriber, it is a nice "bonus", I guess. But, it is definitely not a selling point at all, in any way.

Personally, Idk how much longer I'll keep my Office 365 sub for.

 

LibreOffice does almost all the stuff I need except Online Collaboration with others.

 

Only thing really worth paying for imho is OneDrive + OneNote. I'd love to see cheaper Office 365 subs though cos I definitely don't need 1TB of Storage right now.

[LAwLz]

Holy crap... @Misanthrope you called it!

 

Quote from this thread 5 months ago:

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- Live 365 Subscription required

 

[Misanthrope]

7 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Holy crap... @Misanthrope you called it!

 

Quote from this thread 5 months ago:

 

[Doobeedoo]

On the other hand...
Office 2019 will come as they saw people are not liking sub.

[flibberdipper]

11 hours ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Even at $300 it’s cheaper than Vegas Pro. 

>vegas

God after using Premiere for like a year I can't even use Vegas anymore because it's just too bleh.

[Kobathor]

10 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

Meh. So many people have Office 365 already. Either they pay, or got a subscription from their school.

I just bought two copies of Office 2016. (not recently, I mean that's how I got Office last year.) Unless Microsoft can make 365 as cheap as buying 2016 Pro Plus from a Reddit dude... well, I'll just keep buying from the Reddit dude.

If you do the calculations, and assuming you upgrade Office once and while, and you are more than 1 system in your household, it is cheaper, and you get more for your money, getting the subscription than buying full Office. (Also, keep in mind is a per computer basis license. Always was, like Windows).

 

Honestly, it would be a good deal if my family upgraded Office often. The version they have on their PC is 2007 Pro, I bought my own 2016 'cuz I wanted the newest version.

[MEC-777]

On 10/13/2017 at 7:21 PM, Kobathor said:

I just bought two copies of Office 2016. (not recently, I mean that's how I got Office last year.) Unless Microsoft can make 365 as cheap as buying 2016 Pro Plus from a Reddit dude... well, I'll just keep buying from the Reddit dude.

Honestly, it would be a good deal if my family upgraded Office often. The version they have on their PC is 2007 Pro, I bought my own 2016 'cuz I wanted the newest version.

Is there really much difference? I still have the 07 version (I think) on my windows PC at home and as far as I can tell, not much has changed. 

[GoodBytes]

14 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

Is there really much difference? I still have the 07 version (I think) on my windows PC at home and as far as I can tell, not much has changed. 

From the top of my head, and quickly look through the programs:

• You have OneDrive integration
• GPU accelerated PowerPoint presentation with new animations, wide screen support, improved multi-monitor support, and many other improvements
• Hardware accelerated GUI interface (take as you will)
• Powerpoint has screen capture feature
• Improved Grammar check
• OneNote, Outlook, and any other apps of the suit that didn't have a ribbon bar, now have
• Touch screen mode
• Multi-touch support
• Pen and inking support
• Much improved High-DPI support
• Researcher feature (easy tool to complete research project where you include quotes from sites online and have the references auto-fulled up for your Work Sited/Bibliography section)
• Smart Lookup
• Multi user live edit the same document (love collaboration)
• Read Aloud
• Addon support
• "Tell me" feature (global search of features and tells you how to do things)
• Much improved Graph generation, and edit the style of graphs. As well as new graphing options, and smarter tools
• Excel gets a bunch of features which I have yet to use: Forcasting, "Power Query", 3D world map graph.
• Customizable ribon bar (forgot if 2007 had this or not)

and most likely missing more.