Microsoft hasn't exactly excelled at promoting its free versions of Office. To be honest, most of the public still doesn't know that an online build with the main applications exists. However, reports have surfaced in recent hours about an offline edition with integrated advertising. This new package has several limitations compared to the standard version, but it opens the possibility of finding preinstalled Office versions on future devices...
Not the First Experiment
This isn't the first time Microsoft has experimented with "reduced versions" of its most important products. Some of our readers might remember "Windows 7 Starter Edition", a special license for basic OEM equipment. We've also encountered the N (Europe), KN (South Korea), and S (Store?) versions, but others followed the advertising path, like "Home with Bing".
Something similar happened with Office. Office 2007 enabled the "Basic" editions, Office 2010 returned to the "Starter" designation, and the first ads about "Office on the Web" date back to 2009. Now we have more news pointing to an offline edition of Office with advertisements. Considering the current state of Windows 11 (where ads parade), this news doesn't surprise us much, but what exactly does that Office offer, and what does the fine print say?
Free Office, but with Ads: Yes or No?
The folks at Beebom explain that this edition doesn't appear on official support pages, and they also describe the installation process. In essence, the user must download the latest launcher for Office evaluation, and when prompted for a login or product key (which happens when running one of the apps), they'll find a "Skip for now" button that leads to another pop-up with two options: the free ad-supported edition, or a 30-day trial for Microsoft 365.
The first limitation is that the free package only provides access to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. That's not too serious, since other editions also leave certain elements aside. Second, advertising is concentrated in a banner on the right side of the interface, based on Microsoft products. Beebom mentions that in addition to images, this section will play a muted 15-second video from time to time.
Finally, the most important thing: there's no support for local document storage, and many secondary options have been disabled in the three applications. Everything the user saves in this Office will be sent to OneDrive, with a total of 5 GB on basic accounts. While nothing prevents downloading and/or later syncing of files, that dynamic might not be entirely pleasant for some people.
As a final detail, Microsoft said that this Office with ads is nothing more than "a limited trial", and that there are no plans for a formal launch.
Sources: Beebom, PCWorld
