Sorry folks - had to give up on Office 2016/2019. Back to 2010

Hi folks

Finally removed all vestiges of my experiments etc with Office 2016 and 2019.

Installed my old MSDN / Technet VL stand alone version of Office 2010, Project 2010 and Visio 2010. Old technet VL key activated on 4 systems without problem (was a VL version in any case). Windows update gave about 4 - 5 pages of updates including a service pack.

Now everything is working brilliantly again -- keeping that version now until it's EOL at end of 2020.

I did try the other editions - but after Ms changed 2016/2019 from In House versions to that wretched click 2 run thing with the updates it became seriously bonkersly unuseable -- I did give it a good go but not for me I'm afraid Ms.

I never did get IMAP to work properly - sent mail was only seen on machine it was sent from), mail couldn't be deleted if you switched languages and then tried to delete mail that you had sent when using a different office display language, and configuring outlook to run on your own domain mail servers was just a hopless exercise in futility due to auto config not recognizing your mail servers. You could sort of get it to configure by using control panel email applet - but that didn't always work properly either.

Anyway quite happy now. But I really did test 2016/2019 quite rigorously.

Running Office 2010 successfully on current 1803 build and the 1809 skip ahead builds.

Cheers
jimbo

@jimbo45

Understand your position on Office 2016/1019 -- as I've been using Office 2013 for five years now and have found no reason at all to upgrade to newer versions.

I'm opposed in principle to subscription models, so that rules out Office 365 in all its versions.

I've read that MS is removing OneNote from folks running Office 2019 to force folks to use their online version (or is it their UWP version?) but regardless, I use it to password-protect different categories of information and I am certainly NOT going to upload that sensitive information to their Cloud.

So, like you, I'm going to continue to use my "legacy" version of Office until EOL.

If MS finds some way to disable my OneNote 2013, then I'll just look for an alternative Office product -- and there are quite a few out there.

[QUOTE=jimbo45;1510692]
the early stand alone versions of office 2016 started off OK. When they changed to the online run to click install version of office 2016/2019 then it really went backwards./QUOTE]

How can you tell, prior to purchase, whether a given stand alone Office 2016 is an "early version", not subject to "online run to click install version"?

Or do ALL versions of 2016 standalone eventually become "online run to click install" through later MS updates that you cannot avoid?

I have Office Home and Student 2010 and am perfectly satisfied, but am considering Home and Student 2016 due to the 2020 support expiration for 2010. But I don't want to buy 2016 if it's ultimately going to be a hassle.

[QUOTE=ignatzatsonic;1510710]

jimbo45 said:

the early stand alone versions of office 2016 started off OK. When they changed to the online run to click install version of office 2016/2019 then it really went backwards./QUOTE]

How can you tell, prior to purchase, whether a given stand alone Office 2016 is an "early version", not subject to "online run to click install version"?

Or do ALL versions of 2016 standalone eventually become "online run to click install" through later MS updates that you cannot avoid?

I have Office Home and Student 2010 and am perfectly satisfied, but am considering Home and Student 2016 due to the 2020 support expiration for 2010. But I don't want to buy 2016 if it's ultimately going to be a hassle.

Hi there
@ignatzatsonic

I had the installable VL(Volume License) ISO from MSDN / TECHNET. This is now discontinued as a discrete iso but will still install and update.

The current OFFICE 2016 stand alone isos are also being phased out. Once the update for 2016 takes place you can see that it's converted to click to run in the account.

It's Ms intention to end all the "In House" versions of Office so office 2019 is the last and that also is click 2 run. If you freeze 2016 updates you won't get the click 2 run conversion but if you buy office 2016 now it's a click 2 run and has all the configuration problems.

Personally I'd hang on to Office 2010 for a while longer until Ms get their act together with current versions of office 2016/2019.

I don't hold out much hope though as Ms want everybody to get Office/365. I just don't like subscriptions so that's not an option I'm choosing.

BTW Thunderbird also as a FREE email client is also adopting that auto config thing so I can't use that any more either !!!!!!

If you don't use OUTLOOK which is my main concern the other parts of the office suite might be fine - depends on how much you've altered the standard setup. I believe also you can't customise at install time what gets installed -- you get the whole kybosh whether you want it or not -- I think though there is somewhere an office configuration tool but this isn't in the standard package or set up.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

I had the installable VL(Volume License) ISO from MSDN / TECHNET...........The current OFFICE 2016 stand alone isos are also being phased out. Once the update for 2016 takes place you can see that it's converted to click to run in the account.............if you buy office 2016 now it's a click 2 run and has all the configuration problems..................until Ms get their act together with current versions of office 2016/2019.

I don't hold out much hope though as Ms want everybody to get Office/365. I just don't like subscriptions so that's not an option I'm choosing.

Jimbo:

I use Thunderbird. Like you, I want to avoid subscriptions.

My ONLY interest in Office is for Word and Excel.

I don't use a "Microsoft Account". My installations are all local, though I am subject to whatever updates MS forces on me through Windows Update.

Do your quotes above regarding various configuration problems with Office 2016 apply to current ordinary retail stand alone (New Egg) Home and Student versions where you buy a Product Key and must then download the application from MS direct? Do these current downloads ultimately and unavoidably result in "click to run"?

Is there any reason to believe that MS has any intent to "get their act together with current versions of office 2016/2019", by which I assume you mean avoiding click to run? Or is that sheer speculation?

I remain confused on the best path forward re Office standalone. It might even be better to stay with 2010 well beyond the end of support in 2020. I certainly don't need more functionality.

Hi there

For Word and EXCEL I doubt if you'd have any problems though so if you upgrade you should be fine for those applications. That said for just those 2 apps there's really nothing new there as far as I can see.

If one is doing e-commerce then having a working email system for handling customers emails etc is vital so outlook for me had to work and that was essentially the deal breaker.

If I can't access customers emails or my replies from more than 1 machine -- no go !!!!!!! the whole point of IMAP is that mails are left on the server and therefore accessible to any devices that is authorised to access the server.

Cheers
jimbo

OK; thanks Jimbo

@jimbo45:

I don't actually use OneNote for collaboration; instead, I use it to hold categories of information and each category is password-protected. I know there are other products out there that will do the same, but I've been using OneNote for over 10 years and are accustomed to it.

Unfortunately, the 2013 Office version was an all-or-nothing install, so I have a crapload of stuff that I have no use for. I have downloaded utilities that claim to be able to customize that using config files and scripts and I have tried using them, but they fail with error messages to the effect that my version can't be modified. So, I live with a great long list of Office components I do not use. But ... I got it for a major discount, so I live with the downside.