New Bwogger Jeffrey Ndubisi noticed that CUIT has not been giving students the best version of Microsoft Word. He decided to call them out for it in his first Bwog post. 

Folks, there is not a soul alive that does not use Microsoft Word. Since its debut in 1988, it’s been a staple of office life, as ubiquitous as the morning cup of joe, water cooler talk, or sexual harassment. But, with Google’s foray into the productivity suite space with Google Docs and Drive, Microsoft has since seen its market share eaten at by the search engine giant. (Yes, I know Pages exists, Mac users, but come on. What kind of a file extension is “.pages”? One that’s a pain in the ass for everyone who isn’t a Mac user.)

The point is, in Microsoft’s quest to take back what was rightfully theirs, they’ve done something really special in recent years for those of us lucky enough to pay ludicrous amounts of money to have an .edu email address – they’ve made the software entirely free.

“But wait!” you say. “I already know this! After all, I’ve already downloaded my free copy of Microsoft Word from the CUIT website!” Indeed, reader, you have. And it may very well be functioning nicely for your needs. But allow me to explain something.

The edition of Word offered by CUIT comes through Microsoft Office 2016. This is akin to downloading, say, WinZip. It’s the software, all right, but it’s a static version of said software. Were there to be any new features to be introduced into Office, you’d have to wait until the next release of… WinZip… to get those features.

The edition of Word offered by Microsoft directly, however, comes through Microsoft Office 365. This is akin to downloading, say, Chrome, or Spotify. The software’s there, but it’s continuously updating behind the scenes, so that the next time you open the software, there’s always a bevy of improvements either under the hood or right in front of your nose. It’s the latest and the greatest, every time you use it.

Now, you may not care. You write your documents, you make your spreadsheets, you… you do you. That’s entirely fair – I am likely the only person on this entire campus to care enough about this to take time out of my day to sit down and write about it. But think about what you’re missing out on by getting the Columbia-cut version of Office instead of the pure stuff!

In PowerPoint, a design editor that automatically makes your slides look actually appealing. Do you know how many professors could use that? One press of a button, and you might actually engage with lecture!
In Word, a resume builder with LinkedIn integration. Too lazy to go to the CCE? Just type in your job title, and Word will populate your screen with examples of fancy-speak guaranteed to make your menial summer job sound worthwhile!
In Excel… “performance improvements!”

If you’d like to take the red pill, Microsoft’s official student offering can be found here.

Photo via Bwog Archives