Office 365 is one year old today — happy birthday!

They said it couldn’t be done. Launching a subscription-based software service was ridiculed, put down as something that the average user was simply not interested in. Why would people want to pay a monthly or yearly free for an app when they could just pay for it outright and use it forever? Seems crazy, right? But Office 365 proved a lot of people wrong — and a year after launch it is still going strong.

It’s fair to say that Office 365 has changed the way people think about not only Office, but also subscription software and online apps. In the space of just twelve months it has managed to dispel the myth that subscription software is more expensive than traditional apps. For many people, Office 365 is significantly cheaper than its predecessors.

It’s easy to forget, but your subscription fee doesn’t just pay for a single license. In fact $99 a year enables you to install Office 365 on up to five computer at a time — and it’s easy to deactivate individual machines if you need to move between devices. You also have the option of using the mobile apps on up to five more devices, and then there’s Office on demand if you need even more options!

Office 365 is a continually evolving service and it is incredible to think about how far it has come in just one year. I know I rely on Office for my day to day work — I simply could not live without it — and the flexibility afforded to me by the way the licensing now works is a welcome change.  I was one of those people who was initially resistant to the idea of a subscription model, but now I’m sold… what a difference a year makes!

How do you feel about subscription software? Is it something you are comfortable with, or do you prefer to old way of doing things — just pay for it once and own it forever? Perhaps you think the subscription model is something that should be left to the business market rather than home users. Share your thoughts below.

Oh yeah… happy birthday, Office 365!