Microsoft’s Sneaky Forced-Upsell to 365 Users; If You Don’t Need/Want Copilot, Don’t Pay for It

[@AtomicShrimp]

*DOWNGRADING MAY BE EASIER THAN I SAID* - others are saying that if you go through the motions of cancelling your subscription, you'll see the downgrade offer. I didn't feel safe to try this because I was not ready to actually cancel and lose work if that was a risk, but apparently it does work if you do that. I can't vouch for this personally because I haven't seen it, but lots of people are saying it's fine. *JUST USE LIBREOFFICE / for those of you way ahead of me* with regard to this video's conclusion (maybe migrate off the platform altogether), I need your suggestions; it isn't quite as simple as 'Just use LibreOffice' (software I have used and do use, and regard as quite a remarkable thing). The 'killer feature' for 365 is the cloud integration - that is, it's not about *software,* it's about *services*- the ability to start writing a document in one place, then continue writing it from another, without ever having to plan how and where I will keep the latest version of it. I welcome your suggestions for solving this; here are a few things I've considered: - Use LibreOffice and keep my working documents on a USB drive that I carry with me, or: - As above, but keep a whole bootable Linux OS on the USB drive, containing LibreOffice and the documents - Keep my latest documents on my phone and either edit them using apps on the phone, or use the phone as external storage All of the above ideas carry the significant risk of losing the portable device on which I am carrying my data, and/or an overhead requirement to manually perform backups in the field. I also thought about: - Installing Synology Office on my NAS - which looks like it has sufficient 'private cloud' feature overlap with O365 for my requirements - Installing some other private cloud software on a server on my home network. Both of these come with a little bit of risk that needs careful management, if they are to be accessible (by me) from elsewhere on the internet - I'm sure that's a problem with a solution; I am not sure I quite have the level of security design expertise to know if I was doing it right. Then there's the option of installing some office collaboration thing on a domain and server that I rent from an ISP - this is a possibility, but it kind of seems like overkill for just my own use. These are only embryonic ideas, so I look forward to any guidance or suggestions you might have...

[@KN-do1qb]

You could also put the documents inside Dropbox and edit it directly in the Dropbox folder, so that when you save it pushes th changes directly there; this is easier when done with the Dropbox integration installed, but i think there’s a way to do it via web too

[@martinmartinpl]

Maybe you could have a free Outlook/Google account and use it as a storage from inside Libre Office? I only know it works that way from inside Office itself, maybe Libreoffice also has that functionality? If it's not possible, you could also have Onedrive/Google Drive installed on your PC and sync the files to local folders. Then you can just open them in Libre.

[@terra4686]

I haven't personally tried this, but I've heard of a tool called "syncthing" which I've seen recommended as a tool for cloud saves for videogames, and I presume that it just lets you sync any files you would want? Though it does only link up to cloud storage that you already have from what I remember. It does run on linux, since I know it should run on the steam deck. Could be something worth looking in to

[@thugkawaii]

I don't know if this would apply to you, but what I did when I ran into this problem was install Collabora Office onto my phone and just save odt files to my phone. I am never without my phone, so it functioned as carrying around a USB that had the added functionality of being able to edit the doc directly, as well as doing phone things. I'm not one for cloud storage, personally, so this was ideal for me.

[@S1lv3rSh4d0w21]

id say try the google docs alternative since its built in the google cloud, or as you mention if you have a synology NAS that should be secure, you might eveen be able to use a non cloud version of office and set up a cloud folder with your NAS (everything you work on is automatically backed up on your own NAS)

[@Sally4th_]

What's even dafter about this is, if they'd given you an option to turn the screaming goat - sorry, AI assistant - off you'd probably never have noticed the forced subscription upgrade.

[@AtomicShrimp]

Quite right. I only questioned it because of this. There's probably a lesson in that all by itself.

[@TheGlenn8]

It's probably because training the AI is more important to them than the actual price increase. They REALLY want to train their AI on you. If it's free you're the product, only it's not even free in this case.

[@Noksus]

If they had that option they could easily be in (more) legal trouble. Force upsell you a feature, then have that customer disable that feature while still charging for it. I would like to think that this is already illegal af.

[@rpopova]

I think their true goal might be to get people to use Copilot, so 1) their AI gets access to all the writing of thousands of people so it can improve itself, while potentially also making some of this data available to Microsoft for other purposes, too and 2) get people used to and if possible dependant on the assistance of AI for some tasks. Expressing yourself in writing is a skill, and as any skill it can deteriorate if not practised. If you end up unable to write an email without the help of AI, this gives them quite a lot of influence they can later exploit. We already see this with the younger generation, who have no computer literacy beyond pressing pictures on their screens - most have 0 understanding or control over the software they're using, which companies are now exploiting for all it's worth.

[@alexturnbackthearmy1907]

@@Noksus Not really. Its like buying a toaster, only to realise that you dont actually love toasts that much and just leave it collecting dust. Or not using internet you paid your provider for at all, because you were away from home. As long as both are fine with it, there is nothing wrong with not using a feature you paid for.

[@KyleRDent]

Complacency is the biggest sabotage for our society. "That's just how life is" shouldn't be our attitude to being used and duped.

[@SpyroTheEternalNight]

THANK YOU. finally someone else says it.

[@caramelldansen2204]

This is the result of one economic cIass dominating the other. Workers are the only cIass which produces value, so we should be in charge.

[@caramelldansen2204]

The ideology of a cIass dominated by another is one of sheepish, uncritical loyalty.

[@juliantheapostate8295]

@@caramelldansen2204 All classes provide different types of value. They must all be combined under one country, one leader

[@denism8494]

neoliberalism (THATCHER EVIL WITCH) is to blame

[@ConstantGeekery]

If you click on cancel subscription, you'll see the option to downgrade to Classic there. Was able to do it in under a minute, but would never have known without your video. Thank you.

[@a1white]

That also sounds like an adobe thing to do. I hate this kind of crap

[@Whuups.]

I was about to write the same exact thing. Thanks to the video I went in and clicked cancel subscription. And the "classic" option suddenly appeared. I may just cancel anyways. To many subscriptions, and way to expensive.

[@Crime_Mime]

Same here. There's no way I was going to pay that kind of money to microsoft, especially for a service I have no interest in using.

[@tcproductionsXXV]

Seconded (or fourthed!) - choosing the option to cancell my subscription and changing to Microsoft 365 Family Classic instead was quick and easy. So glad I saw this video.

[@suntzuthesecond]

I wasn't offered the "Classic" version, so I'm off Ms 365 now. Just as well, I had already been making preparations to migrate to Libre Office when I got the email about the "price increase".

[@Larry]

I dread recieving those "we have updated our terms of service" emails. As all they really mean is "we're about to make things more sh1t".

[@daffyduk77]

Problem is when the TOS take a month to read

[@crushbeast29]

Heelllloooo yooooooou. Welcome back to another episode of "we just fkd it up" I'm your host, microsoft and I welcome you to: We just updated our terms of service.

[@scrittle]

Every time I see the 'Windows update' icon I always dread the next update. I keep my PC turned on for as long as possible until they forcibly turn it off.

[@OhNotThat]

6:50 You're right. IT should be illegal. If it was you couldn't "agree" to waive this type of behavior. Thats the entire purpose of laws in a civil society. Especially consumer protections.

[@chri-k]

IT should be illegal. It should be illegal. these do not mean the same thing.

[@Kanbei11]

@@OhNotThat Contracts are also increasingly one sided and they are filled to the brim with language that the average user is going to have difficulty reading let alone understanding. The worst ones are the companies that try to act cute and say that they didn't want to put in all that legalese but our lawyers made us do it UwU when it's clear you can overrule them when they work for you. It might not be a good idea but you can

[@snoekbaars1]

In most countries you actually can't just sign your consumer rights away in a terms of service

[@DionDPR]

​@chri-k i thought it's a stressed word? Not an acronym or something.

[@chri-k]

@@DionDPR the stress can only reasonably be on _should_ it's just a funny typo releasing shift too late

[@ThePoxun]

I know this video isn't really about Copilot but I feel I need to share (rant). Recently at work the number of odd typos in emails I was writing increased where it would seem that I typed a wrong word entirely. The errors weren't glaringly obvious (eg. 'this' instead of 'the') and I was beginning to think I might have some cognitive issue I needed to go see my doctor about. So I started to pay more attention to try and reduce the errors. Then I noticed I wasn't the only one that seemed to have odd phrasing and obvious typos. Then I noticed that a word that I had typed absolutely correctly suddenly changed after I had typed two or three more characters. It turns out my employer has added AI corrections to Outlook and it was occasionally randomly changing what I was typing after I had typed it. What's worse this feature is forced on us by my employer's strict policies (probably because Microsoft told the IT department to do it and there is no real governance because IT is outsourced) and I have no way to turn it off so now instead of just writing an email, giving it a quick re-read and sending it I now need to take an extra five minutes to read it carefully a second time and correct the random AI 'corrections' completely killing my workflow.

[@HomelessPank]

Fuck it. Let the errors flow. When sales decline due to a lack of professionalism across the board maybe he'll get the hint

[@linforcer]

I guess there are ways around it depending on how many rights you have on the computer... but the ones that require minimal rights are all probably a similar amount or more hassle than rereading every email.

[@SierraNovemberKilo]

This has been going on in YT comments for quite a while now. Some of my correctly typed comments have been turned into gibberish after I've hit return.

[@AlexanderHugo-xe6mw]

The fact that you ever thought you might have some cognitive issue is worrying because that's caused by AI all along. I'm pretty sure auto correction is more than enough to check for spelling errors. This is the usual Microsoft who shoved AI that they "worked hard enough that they invest their time, energy and money into", but ultimately is not needed by most of their customer, like what they did with Windows 8 (although I like Windows 8). I guess you could say that Microsoft didn't learn their lesson enough in Windows 8.

[@watsonwrote]

That's wild. Are you able to write in another text field like Notepad or Word and then copy/paste? Are you able to inform your supervisor?

[@GackFinder]

Sneaky is a funny way of saying fraudulent

[@AtomicShrimp]

What would it benefit me, or anyone, to receive a cease and desist letter from Microsoft's lawyers?

[@my_channel_44]

​@@AtomicShrimpIt's fraudulent. Never fight using lawyers; they all work for the BAR, not for you.

[@_.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._]

@@my_channel_44 You've been served.

[@NocturnalTyphlosion]

​@@AtomicShrimp the fun thing about c&d letters is that they can very easily just be big scary words and nothing actionable. plus, yknow, it very much does seem like defrauding users to upcharge them while lying to them about the service youre giving them

[@eadweard.]

​@@my_channel_44Do the Bar think this isn't fraudulent?

[@susiemaclean2157]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! Mine was set to renew in May at £89.99, after navigating all the “are you sure? you might regret it” empty threats, managed to put it down to £59.99. have a great day sir, you deserve it!

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

Don't be too hard on the customer service person, they have to ask several times because they'll be fired otherwise. Speaking as a customer service person myself. We ask those questions with a gun to our head, not because we genuinely want customers to pay more.

[@L0rdLogan]

Office 2024 is only £28 on wowcher, if you don't use any of the offline online stuff, oneddrive, etc

[@shabath]

​@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValleyIf it's your job to be a twat, I will treat you like a twat.

[@Kanbei11]

@@susiemaclean2157 it wasn't "put down" to £59.99, it was always there and always available. What they were doing was artificially inflating the price

[@johanngambolputty5351]

@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley Totally understandable, I would never blame the person in the middle, but you also have to consider that the company is trying to weaponize your empathy, they're being used as a human shield, since they're the only representative of the company you've got to point any displeasure at. I feel like part of the point of using someone you might feel sorry for is to diffuse your displeasure.

[@siravista]

I found your analogy of the lights and the screaming goat hilarious! However it is ridiculously accurate and put in a way that anyone and everyone could understand. Absolutely brilliant!

[@scrittle]

What a brilliant analogy too, it perfectly summarised the issue without delving into details.

[@johanneswerner1140]

I will henceforth refer to AI "assistants" as screaming goats. And blame it in written texts on the AI as "corrections it did". Let's see if I can get away with that at work...

[@Requiem100500]

I guess screaming goat is supposed to represent AI assistant, but I don't understand the lights part

[@michaelcartmell7428]

When the telephone companies started doing this in the 80's, it was called "slamming" and deemed illegal by multiple courts.

[@JonBaekDK]

Can confirm, bought subscription from Denmark, and just had to click cancel subscription, and it offered to switch to classic for the original price. Many thanks to you, had not even noticed this shenanigan.

[@bobmcguffin5706]

Oh neat. If that works then that sounds less time consuming and painful than using the customer support guys. Liking this comment to push it up, if it can be as simple as that then that's brilliant

[@TollyH]

Can confirm from the UK. Just trying to cancel the subscription immediately gives you the option to "downgrade" to classic without contacting support.

[@flipschwipp6572]

yes cacncel is the right dialog

[@klaymeb42]

Thanks!🎉

[@davelloyd-]

does basic still have family sharing? My reading is no :( I'm using family sharing with my wife and mother-in-law so can't just drop it back to single user. But I have no wish for AI BS either and want to get rid of it.

[@stephanie-bwi]

After watching this, I logged into Microsoft’s site and initially could not find an option to downgrade. I then selected the option to turn off recurring billing, and that’s when the option to switch to classic was offered. Job done! Thanks for the warning.

[@JudyReadsCards]

Thank you!!! I just found the "turn off" section and did the same thing. You're a hero! And a big Thank You, too, to @AtomicShrimp for bringing this to our attention.

[@MattMcQueen1]

Thanks - I was struggling to find the option to "downgrade", but following your instructions worked. I only paid in November, so my subscription will switch to Classic in November 2025.

[@JudyReadsCards]

Thank you!!! I went and found the "turn off" section and did the same thing. You're a hero! And a big Thank You, too, to Mr Shrimp for bringing it to our attention.

[@SuprousOxide]

Ah, yes. The classic tactic of charging a higher price until the customer tries to cancel and then giving them to lower price.... Probably worth trying this with all your subscription services. How many have a lower price available for people who threaten to cancel?

[@Yumeka86]

Thank you so much, this worked perfectly! Such a sneaky, scumbag move on their part. They did it because they know they can get away with it since they're such a big company.

[@gayrurumon]

Very diplomatic of you to not label this a Scam Awareness video; it would not have felt unjustified had you done so.

[@minamagdy4126]

It might as well be, considering a lot of us go to him mostly for those. I understand he has other videos on tech, though

[@wilko2]

@@gayrurumon Microsoft’s lawyers would say otherwise, so its best to play it safe

[@dunebasher1971]

It's not a "scam" - a word that is so ridiculously overused these days, mainly because people don't understand what it actually means. It's arguably sharp practice, but it's not a scam.

[@alexeastabrook3579]

@@dunebasher1971 Scummy, Not Scammy.

[@sirkana]

@@dunebasher1971 It is a scam

[@jswp5]

I love how every month, I get a nonsense windows "update" where they don't let me access my desktop till I've clicked through all their ads. No I don't want copilot. No I don't want gamepass. No I don't want 360. No I don't want onedrive. Now can I please use my computer?

[@Scapestoat]

Look up; there's a faded, well hidden X you can click instead of being taken through the "tour". :)

[@VroomTheSpaceApe]

Thanks for this. I saw they put my subscription price up and I'd recently found that they had sneakily installed co-pilot for Office 365 which, although was't being annoying, got briskly uninstalled and sent packing as I don't think Microsoft understand that my work is confidential and not there to train their AI. I didn't realise that I was paying for it. What a grift.

[@nedyahyakcam]

Microsoft seem to be speed running "how quickly can we push all our customers onto linux"

[@tgheretford]

Wait until Microsoft makes Windows "as a service". They've already started it with businesses and we know from history what starts there moves to the consumer side eventually (ie. moving from 9x to NT). Everything seems to be moving to the "as a service" model.

[@bosstowndynamics5488]

The problem is that the majority of their turnover is through businesses, both through OEM licensing and selling services to businesses, and for Office in particular there's not a whole lot of alternatives (well there are but they don't have the market positioning to win over business customers). Microsoft will quite happily drop a few retail customers to try and up sell others if it means pushing their business customers up to higher pricing tiers

[@GA-br8wj]

I tried Linux Mint 22 recently and yes, it is like Windows, if it was Windows 95. I really wanted to have the alternative but Linux is not ready for the majority of the users. I had a lot of problems with hardware and drivers, and it was an old computer in which I later installed Windows 11 without a problem, even though I did not want to use Windows 11, but Linux is not a real option for me.

[@shroomer3867]

The sad thing is that Windows is so unanimous with PC that most likely majority of the world thinks that if you get a PC that it can only have Windows on it, and that Macs are somehow different even if hardware wise it's almost 1:1 the same except some proprietary parts of Apple and the OS. You can just ask your parents and if they don't work at IT or servers they are going to ask "What's a Linux?" Most of the world doesn't even know that Linux is an option, that's the sad part.

[@eadweard.]

​​@@GA-br8wjI'm one of the 0.1% of Linux users willing to acknowledge that: Linux isn't a real option for the vast majority of people.

[@thecivilizedgamer2533]

"Free AI credits" is like how Audible ads say you get a credit each month that you can use to get a book you can keep forever... You're still paying for it up front, even if you don't use it

[@leonidas14775]

Or "free shipping with Prime" It's not free, you just paid in advance

[@mdb45424]

those credits expire after 3 months. so you never save enough to get anything, and to even use them you got to have an active sub sooo it pointless

[@JaMaMaa1]

@@leonidas14775 I don't believe your example is comparable to the comment you are replying to, and is very misleading. Amazon prime is a service that specifically gives faster and/or free shipping options (afaik - I don't use Amazon). The price of shipping very easily can grow larger than the cost of the subscription, justifying the subscription. It's the same reason I get a gym membership entailing "free classes". I understand the classes have a price, but the monthly price of a membership costs 2 classes. If I go to any more than 2 classes per month, I'm going to be spending more money than without it, which justifies my membership.

[@jercki72]

them saying these are "free" sure is a weird way to spell included

[@gailla]

Also the AI credits are monthly and don't roll over. Not that I ever have or ever will use any. At least I didn't pay extra for them it will revert to classic at the next renewal, now.

[@midsummer5670]

One of the richest companies EVER and still using scummy upsell tactics to get even more money. Its just sad

[@littlenyancat5754]

As it turns out, the richest companies are only rich _because_ they use scummy tactics. Microsoft has faced several anti-trust lawsuits related to their attempts of monopolizing the browser market with IE (now known as Edge). Capitalism go brrr

[@pieterrossouw8596]

Publicly traded companies have a board, they employ a CEO/CFO, these people can't stop at good profit and reputation, they need to show year-on-year profit growth, measured quarterly - or they're gone. Notice how the vast majority of pro-consumer companies are privately held. I can buy Microsoft stock, I can buy Apple stock, I can't buy Valve stock... Don't hate the player, hate the game. Microsoft and the others are doing exactly what their investors are demanding. If Satya Nadella were the most pro-consumer leader tomorrow, it wouldn't matter - he'd likely be removed by the board.

[@tanawatjukmongkol2178]

That's how they ended up at the top. I don't see any reason why they would change.

[@RBTVN]

@@pieterrossouw8596 Yes, it's called Capitalism and yes, it is the system rather than the individuals/companies. Still, I have enough opprobrium to go around.

[@kjh23gk]

@@tanawatjukmongkol2178 Bill Gates got his break when he stiffed Digital Research, who were going to be IBM's OS provider. He continued doing dodgy stuff to make him more million/billions for decades, and likely stifled computing considerably. If it wasn't for Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds creating GNU/Linux the world would be a much darker place with much less innovation.

[@DanDart]

Also it screams illegal to hide a tier at all, as much as it does to upgrade automatically.

[@LoafusMaximus]

Thank you, Sir! Got my price increase email last night which put me in a foul mood for the rest of the evening. As others in the comments have said, go to cancel the subscription and the option to 'downgrade' to the classic tier (that you were already on!) is made available, at the same price as before. Anyone else smell another Microsoft Anti-trust lawsuit on the horizon?!

[@charltm]

would this be anti-trust, though? It would just be more “predatory practice” if anything. There’s nothing about this bollocks that is making MS more of a monopoly, they’re just abusing the fact that they are a duopoly with big Goog to screw over their customers

[@cphilips502]

Thanks so much for this. Because of this, I checked my 365 account and sure enough, I was on the default price rise to £85 from £60 when the subscription renews. Given that I barely ever use the product anyway nowadays, I have just cancelled it and saved myself an £85 bill that I can spend on heating instead. Thank you.

[@reda-exe]

hell yeah

[@SineN0mine3]

Jesus Christ that's expensive. I thought it was a rip off when it came out. You can still use Office 2011, it works fine.

[@Bob-Fields]

Either way you're burning money.

[@fred-youtube]

You can use OnlyOffice (not Openoffice) if you need to edit a word document for whatever reason. Get the desktop version from the download button in the top right hand corner of the website.

[@Ganara426]

​@@Bob-Fields then I'd rather burn money to improve my living conditions over some minor comfort

[@danielrhymes4593]

This has to be illegal. If I ordered a backpack from Amazon, and they told me I couldn't buy the backpack and I was forced to buy a rolling suitcase instead, and it turned out they just hid the backpack from me in order to *make me* buy the rolling suitcase, I would be dragging them by the earlobe to Trading Standards for misleading advertising.

[@ZonkedCompanion]

There are 1000s of online retailers offering a vast selection of backpacks. Nobody made you purchase anything.

[@danielrhymes4593]

@ZonkedCompanion That's beyond the scope of the metaphor, but also, if you want cloud word processing, there aren't thousands of options, there's basically two because Microsoft and Google have a monopoly, so your point is moot anyway.

[@ZonkedCompanion]

@@danielrhymes4593 I dont use cloud anything personally but thanks for the tip. Working in IT I just sell microsoft products for a living. Got to pay my mortgage somehow and theres big bucks in licensing and being a MS partner.

[@poruatokin]

@@danielrhymes4593 Try Libre Office.

[@reda-exe]

​@@ZonkedCompanion microsoft did force people to buy this?? though? they forced an upsell and pretended like the upsell was a change to the original product instead of switching you to an upgrade, while hiding, but still offering, the original product that people DID buy??????

[@SheyD78]

Companies, especially American ones, love to pull this kind of trick. There's a particular windows 11 update (version 24H2) that forces certain 'features' on you, and it takes comand line work to deactivate them. It's always annoying when something you're happy with changes in a way that's less than helpful, usually at increased expense. Change can be good, but in the modern corporate climate it never seems to be.

[@NotAghostSpeedruns]

Yeah, that's the worst. I always appreciate when it is *possible* to achieve what I want in an OS through my own actions. Many times on Linux it's not worth the effort for me, but on Windows there just is not an answer. For example, I used Windows 10 for many years without an icon for Copilot on my search bar. One day, there's a copilot icon there, and I go looking for how to turn it off. The best half-answer I could find was collapsing the search bar to the magnifying glass icon, which took a long time to adjust to with icons pinned to the taskbar being in different places.

[@cphilips502]

Funnily enough, my computer is too small to download 24H2, and the size of space they want is way beyond the capabilities of this computer, so every hour I keep getting a screaming goat reminder that they can't do it, and I have to fix it for them. Which I am refusing to do out of sheer annoyance and spite.

[@aytviewer2421]

Screen recording.

[@fred-youtube]

OFGB and the Windows apps tab of Revo uninstaller can get rid of all the ads and other crap.

[@boerboel7777]

@@NotAghostSpeedruns You can just uninstall it. Click start, find & right-click Copilot on the start bar (might need to scroll) and hit uninstall. Job done.

[@VirgilSealy]

I found that when removed my "auto renew" option to keep from paying the higher price until I could chat with support, I suddenly saw that I could switch to the "classic" plan without Copilot at the old price. Thanks for bringing this sneaky thing done by MS.

[@Larry]

Remember Clippy? He's back!!! In Co-Pilot form!

[@massivive]

Top 10 shameless AI scams

[@mightyn8]

Thankfully I also found out about the option to downgrade to the Basic version of the subscription just a couple of days ago. But I found it so insidious that Microsoft upgraded my subscription without my consent, and the ONLY way for me to get back to my basic subscription was to click CANCEL on my current subscription and only then was I able to choose the actual subscription.

[@AtomicShrimp]

Yeah, I _think_ I could probably have done that with mine, only I wasn't sure if clicking cancel was just going to result in it discarding all of the data I have in there (I had 2TB of backups in Onedrive - I have copies of them locally, but didn't want to lose the offsite copies) - so I had to go through Sales in order to ask that question. (I now only have 1TB of files in OneDrive - already migrating that stuff away from the platform to a different cloud storage provider)

[@MarquisKurt]

Same here! I was able to “downgrade” to the Classic plan, but after a day or two, I eventually decided to move my stuff all over to iCloud Drive instead of OneDrive, as I can’t trust MS to reliably tell me when they plan to change my subscription. I’m still paying them for basic Exchange, however. Maybe when we get something like Outlook groups in iCloud…

[@Shaun.Stephens]

@@AtomicShrimp I hear you about convenience of cloud storage. I'm someone who has never trusted any data to cloud storage and instead I have about 25TB of spinning rust spread across 6 drives with at least 3 copies of everything important. I also have a couple TB of USB flash storage for data that I need to move between machines. I'd rather pay up front and self-store than trust some profit-motivated company who might change their terms or even fold. Thanks for all that you do.

[@AtomicShrimp]

I have redundancy of local backups too, including copies on a RAID array on my NAS and copies on hard drives in a fire safe, but offsite backup is also important.

[@minderbart1]

the biggest problem i have with ai is the companies forcing it on you and not allowing you to turn it off. microsoft with copilot, google with their search ai, twitter with grok(which is just a terrible name btw) it's really starting to piss me off.

[@Ditocoaf]

A whole bunch of the tech industry has spent unfathomable amounts of money on a bet that AI will become the most profitable thing that's ever existed, in the near future (and are continually increasing that wager). If they can't get people to use it en masse (and pay for it), soon, a lot of people's entire careers for the last few years start to look kind of silly. They HAVE to believe that AI will be part of everything soon, so yeah, we end up seeing it crammed into everything whether we actually want it or not. I'm hoping it'll all go away in the next tech crash.

[@Dazzwidd]

I'll tell you what it's annoying alright, they think it can do EVERYTHING... People are going to get dumber, that's what it looks like it's amounting to.

[@Valchrist1313]

"Grok" is a reference to a word Robert Heinlein invented which means, essentially understanding or grasping the idea of something. It actually says something about the root function of the AI. At least it's not [corporate name number 378,631].

[@aiaikawa4012]

They steal from people, nonconsensually train it on you, and then nag you to use it 🙄

[@pattheplanter]

@@Valchrist1313 The one thing "AI" cannot do is grok what is going on. You need actual intelligence to do that, not a sham or mockery of it.

[@profblack]

I very much appreciate the Four Lights TNG reference.

[@AtomicShrimp]

I watched that again yesterday, after completing the edit on this video. Tremendous performance from Patrick Stewart.

[@profblack]

@ Couldn’t have said it better myself. It’s easily among my favourite episodes.

[@Kanbei11]

I thought it was a nineteen eighty four reference

[@EllieHelps]

Love the captain Picard shout out

[@skorne7682]

By the time Microsoft is done you will actually believe there are 5 copilot buttons.

[@Jimages_uk]

Thank you for this, I renew in July each year, and my last payment was the normal £59, but it said my next payment would be £84. so I decided just to cancel renewing my subscription, at that point, it offered the basic basic plan at £59 again, so I have now reinstated my subscription which will renew at the original price in July. Saving me from paying an extra £15 for something I really would never use anyway.

[@RandomSmith]

Thank you so much. I am paid up to mid 2026 and saw no classic option for recurring billing, but when you click disable recurring billing, up pops a chance to downgrade to classic 365 family. There was also a feedback that popped up so gave them a respectful piece of my mind

[@MattRoszak]

As a software developer, I'm not against improvements in the software I use, but I'm strongly against changes just for the sake of selling you a new version - which is what is happening 95% of the time. Honestly, if software that I use pulled this exact stunt on me, I would just sail the seven seas afterwards.

[@arksy1987]

Thank you Atomic Shrimp! I just downgraded my plan to Classic on my Microsoft page. I have not gotten an email and i was completely unaware there was a price hike, yet i had auto renewal on and i was going to be charged way too much this coming year. So sneaky. Thank you for the video!

[@stevehill5637]

Mr. Shrimp, I do so enjoy your brilliant content, both here on the Tube, and on the Straight Dope forum. Long ago, I switched to using a linux distribution for my operating system needs (specifically Linux Mint Cinnamon for day-to-day use), and the Libre Office suite as an AI-free application suite for administrative tasks. Being "goat-free" is the way for me... The price is right, too: FREE! Thank you again for the outstanding content. Most sincerely, Steve

[@StefanHolmes]

What’s weird is MS emailed me on Jan 4th with a standard renewal reminder for £59.99 and it was a shock to me when other started talking about their £79.99 renewal price. What are MS doing?!

[@CarrotConsumer]

Probably A/B testing.

[@irenasvetlovska4337]

Ripping you off

[@Rederister]

A similar but opposite issue is happening with streaming services, but I'm sure we've all understood what's happening already. They say that the cost has gone up, but you can continue at a lower rate by getting the 'ad-supported' plan, and now they proceed to only ever market the ad-supported plan... They didn't add a new lower tier, they changed the default service to be worse and are pushing the original to the wayside. And now price increases on the adless version can go less noticed because it's never advertised...

[@glenn1534]

I believe Spotify created an extra tier and bumped everyone on the premium plan up to it. Premium subscribers can 'bump themselves down' a tier after being a subscriber for a certain time where they don't get audiobooks, which I don't think most people use anyway on their service. Unfortunately I don't stay a member for long enough to get this option.

[@ld2048]

boycott them all, its takes millions of us to do any damage

[@daffyduk77]

Apparently with KZbin's ad-free Premium service, they're now bunging some ads into that also "additional content to help Premium customers". Is there an honest company out there ?

[@lawrencescales9864]

@@daffyduk77no

[@phrozenwun]

As soon as my streaming services said my current plan would include ads I just NOPED all the way out. There are free streaming services with ad supported content, I am not paying for that annoyance.

[@SignificantOwl]

While this is annoying, honestly, MS already pushed me over the edge long ago. I think the final nail in the coffin, for me, was when they announced that all keyboards would now have an "AI" (it's not AI) button. I've used LibreOffice for years. Next desktop I buy is never even going to see a Windows install, it's just going to be Linux (probably some flavor of Ubuntu, honestly) from the start.

[@bitnewt]

When I last upgraded my computer I took the opportunity to switch to Pop!_OS (I think it's a branch off of Ubuntu?) and I've never looked back. I'm not great with the command line but the few times I need it, I can always find a forum post explaining what to do. I think music software has worse compatibility, but I rarely find software which can't be run through Wine - though it probably helps that I don't mind searching for fixes when my games don't immediately work. It's so much faster and more peaceful than my mandatory Windows work laptop. Definitely switch when you get a chance!

[@n_art_cissist]

What shits me the most is not only lying and upselling but the fact they don’t give you the option to fix it unless you have some technical know how or are able to sit on a phone for 3 hours, when I’m disabled and do not have the bandwidth for such things

[@Kanbei11]

And you're in that queue for 3 hours because the agents are compelled to try and retain the people ahead of you in the queue on the screaming goat tier when neither the customer nor the agent are interested in that

[@duttfisch]

Apparently, for some people you can also switch plans if you try to "cancel" your current one in the program itself, and then the classic one will suddenly appear since they don't want you to leave. Doesn't work for all people, but it sounds a lot less exhausting than dealing with customer service

[@mpe8842]

I would suggest try Libre Office, it's also free

[@reda-exe]

you may be able to start an email conversation with support instead but that would take longer but be more accessible perhaps? none of this should be happening, though ...

[@phlash65-5]

As soon as I learned about this I went to cancel my subscription and was presented with the “basic” option to switch to. My auto renewal was set for next month, so glad I found this.

[@1centimetre]

I don’t know if you’re a real shrimp or not, or a person pretending to be one, but thank you so much for telling me about the sneaky changes! I overlooked Microsoft’s price increase email and had just requested a downgrade because of your video. May your pillows always stay cool. Cheers.

[@starald]

Tools should be available when you need them. If the publisher feels the need to force it upon you to get it distributed and used, it is not needed and no one should be bullied into paying for it or endure annoying pop ups or additional tracking of your activities.

[@erutuon]

My other annoyance with this AI stuff is that it requires building new facilities that gobble up local land, water, and electricity, when simple web searches would use a lot less. I don't know if forcing subscribers to see a screaming goat uses much of that, but certainly they will use water and electricity if they are enticed to pet the goat after it screams. Forcing all users to pet the goat without obvious recourse is an intentional choice that happens to more quickly create the demand for more buildings.

[@artemiskearney8019]

A query on ChatGPT only uses 10x the power of a Google search, or about the same amount as watching a KZbin video for 2 minutes, or running a space heater for 2.5 seconds. The numbers for water are probably at similar ratios; the source I found says one question on ChatGPT uses the same amount of water as sending 3 emails or posting 3 photos on social media, or about a ninth of the amount used to watch a minute of 4K video. For reference, you'd need to use ChatGPT 200,000 times to match the water used to produce a single hamburger. (And the water in datacenters is just evaporated, whereas the water in factory farms becomes wastewater.)

[@daffyduk77]

Now they're having to build more power stations & power distribution infrastructure for all of this. If AI can in turn save more energy use etc then fine but I have a suspicion it won't

[@kjh23gk]

@@daffyduk77 AI and crypto are the reason why we will never have cheap electricity. Anywhere with abundant electricity generation will be a target for server-farms which will increase demand massively and thus raise the price.

[@havenisse2009]

About time to dig out that old CD with a semi-ligit copy of office97, install it and remember it did 99.9% of everything you ever needed. Without annoying you.

[@DigitalDirge]

My copy of Office 2003 does exactly that, no subscriptions or naggy Ai. And all you need to keep your work synched is any cloud service. OneDrive, iCloud, Dropbox, Mega... Each gives you plenty of free space to keep a few Office docs. :)

[@allieandmaria]

Too right, though I'm on Office 2003. Subscriptions are stoooopid! Disclaimer: This message is NOT AI generated.

[@goblincrimes8524]

That's exactly what an AI would say!

[@shabath]

​@@allieandmariaAre the opinions your own and collected as a part of a survey?

[@spugintrntl]

Or just use LibreOffice. It's free, it's current, and it works like Microsoft Word used to before everything was made difficult for no reason.

[@watchingworm]

Thank you! This just saved me 30 euros. Once I clicked 'cancel' I got an offer to downgrade. It's actually insane that they're allowed to do this.

[@TinTentTourist]

THANK YOU, they had done it to me, renewal not due for 4 months, but I turned off recurring billing and was offered classic at my normal rate! What I will be doing though is looking out for a "Buy a subscription package" from a retailer, normally around £55 in the UK (or cheaper) for 15months, with useless anti virus bundle, and add that to my account instead! Massive thank you for the heads up.

[@airborneinferno]

This is much appreciated. I’d seen a client sign up just the other day and was surprised to see the price bump and copilot being foisted on him. Following your video I’ve just checked the status of my 365 Personal sub and found it was going to auto renew at the higher price etc. So I went to turn off auto renew to give myself a chance to fight with a Microsoft chat bot and was then presented with the chance to switch to 365 Personal Classic! So I will now auto renew with what I originally had and was fixed in a matter of moments. Hope this helps others avoid the excruciating fight with Microsoft Sales! Thanks to you for highlighting the “Classic” option!! 👏

[@pattheplanter]

The comparison with Coke Classic is interesting. Sugar, an actual food. Artificial sweetener, a fake designed to make you think it is an actual food.

[@richardbeckenbaugh1805]

@@pattheplanterArtificial sweeteners have been found to give you diabetes faster than normal sugar. However, some of the natural sugar substitutes don’t induce diabetes at all.

[@ian-c.01]

One of the reasons I use Linux is the way MS tries to think for you, they always seem to want to steer their users in the same direction and pretend to offer a choice when in reality it's just taking away your options ! Linux is far more versatile but maybe slightly too many options for first time users making it seem a little daunting at first.

[@johncoops6897]

I have far too much work to do to spend a lifetime trying to get Linux to operate like a normal operating system in 2025. Most peopledon't have time to fiddle around with "configurations".

[@jorgealzate4124]

​​@@johncoops6897the only configurations I have to "fiddle" on any modern Linux distro is with video games on Steam. All the basic stuff that the 99% of non gaming users expect from a PC (Internet browsing, office suite, email and comunication apps) just works after install. Is it different? Yes it is, also are Macs, and people pay a fortune for a worse experience than Linux

[@takeabowtothemoon]

@@johncoops6897out of curiosity, do you remember what version of linux you used last? the newer flavors are much better than the old ones and don’t require half as much configuration, in my experience.

[@gazmodius]

​@@johncoops6897I installed Linux mint and I haven't had to configure anything. I even wanted to install the Microsoft .NET framework for modding and it wasn't that hard through wine as a complete Linux dumbass. And normal people would never do that. All the menus are graphical

[@plaane]

@@takeabowtothemooni’ve seen the same comments as yours for about 10 years now. 2025 is finally gonna be the year of linux desktop, right? 😂

[@mccafferyfamily]

my dad already told me he was thinking of getting a mac despite having a new high end PC due to his annoynace with what he thought was a mandatory subscription to use windows. As a mac / linux / windows user...The obssessive push for purchasing unwanted products in Windows is really annoying.

[@patfisher22]

Mac is no different with license.

[@MedCreativityPlant]

I also noticed this the day before the video was posted: price went up by too much, so I went to turn off the renewal. After going through the account management portal, I saw that I could continue on the existing plan - so I cancelled the subscription because that's just a putrid, underhanded thing to do.

[@christofinb]

Thanks for this video! I'll keep an eye out for this when considering a Microsoft 365 subscription but I just tend to only use the free version anyway. Generally though I often find online subscription services extremely misleading and sneaky. Free trials, in particular, rely on the likelihood that up to 50% of customers will forget to cancel, which I find reprehensible for exploiting users oversight. Billions of pounds from subscriptions I believe come from customers who either: A) clicked on a free trial intending to cancel but forgot, or B) subscribed by accident, unaware of the automatic renewal. I find this just simply unfair and should be unlawful! Moreover, many services make subscribing extremely easy with just one click, but hide the cancellation option deep within hard-to-find menus. I find this completely unacceptable!

[@charltm]

I think I heard the FTC was supposed to be taking action against the “one-click subscribe, one-hour unsubscribe” practice. Also, some subscriptions are just WAY too expensive. 12 bucks a month for an app is crazy. ++ any apps that only have subscription as their ad-free option. I don’t mind chucking a few bucks one time if it’s something i use often, but a subscription for that is dumb. (15 dollars for no ads IbisPaint? Really?)

[@Stan-at-KangarooIslandTV]

My work was too cheap to pay for Windows so we use Google Docs, which now I quite like using on the daily. Plus no screaming goats, yet. 🐐

[@Wellness-y8f]

Same here.

[@spacewolfjr]

Gemini is very goaty

[@SophiaWoessner]

@@spacewolfjr At least from my experience, that goat has avoided docs

[@rolfs2165]

My smartphone gave me a notification the other day about "exciting new features" with Google, which do include screaming goats (Gemini, AI "summaries" in Gmail, and such).

[@biomseed]

​@@rolfs2165 and that's why I still haven't updated to Android 15

[@irishwolfhound1987]

I've said it before and I 'll say it again we need a way to properly support this amazing channel! Watching these videos knowing I have ad block fill me with immense guilt .

[@charltm]

honestly, i’m suprised shrimp hasn’t been made eligible for Super Thanks yet

[@hadi96100]

Open/Libre Office & DropBox, save yourself a bundle, and no Copilot in sight.

[@caturdaynite7217]

I use open office for my cost adverse clients. The clients with Linux get Libre office for free. I think MS is going to force people to the free programs when they have a choice, i.e. not mandated by your employers IT department.

[@wilko2]

ONLYOFFICE is the best. It's basically the same as MS Office which is what most people have been using for decades already, so it's not to much of a hassle to switch over.

[@Seth9809]

How ad is goggle docs?

[@ramr7051]

How much free storage on Dropbox? Also libre office is not very stable in my experience. Still thankful that they're there though.

[@LokiOdinssnn]

@@ramr7051 "Also libre office is not very stable in my experience" when did you last use it? iv never had issues with it.

[@The1970stef]

Thanks for the video, managed to navigate to cancel subscription and was offered to downgrade to the subscription I currently use. This video needs to go viral and also brought to the attention of Trading Standards in the UK

[@Markyparky56]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm months away from renewal so hadn't been notified the billing was going up, but I popped into the dashboard to check and unsurprisingly it was saying my next bill would be £85 rather than the expected £60. As others I'm sure have already said, you can find the option to revert to a non-AI plan by attempting to stop recurring billing, then select the classic plan.

[@S.J.Howland]

I will check out and see if there is option for business users to opt out of Co-pilot. I had a sales rep open ticket because I wasn't responding to her emails about the latest features in the 365 business. And I told her that I didn't need her help, in fact as a writer and author, I probably won't be using co-pilot either.

[@lmpeters]

It probably depends. Lots of Microsoft's business customers are in highly regulated industries with strict data protection rules, and Microsoft can't (yet?) sell Copilot to them at all.

[@S.J.Howland]

@@lmpeters I just contacted microsoft they do have a business classic, you must speak with a repsenative to switch it over.

[@swlchl]

I think they should just make Copilot a separate subscription instead of integrating it with Office and causing this chaos... but this is Microsoft.

[@drunkenhobo8020]

I think everyone has seen the explosion in Nvidia's share price due to AI so they're all scrambling to show that their AI-related products are just as ubiquitous and used by everyone. Even if it's just because they've been forced on everyone.

[@carly09et]

The under layers of Copilot are the core of Windows 11 - neuron layers in the file system (hidden streams attached to files) - the problem is it eats a lot of storage.

[@tgheretford]

But that would make them less money and prevent Copilot becoming the de-facto standard for AI (same principle applied with Internet Explorer during the browser wars).

[@patrickblakethesaint]

I wish I could turn ai off for everything I use... it almost never helps me... Google is on that ai tip as well... ugh

[@aiaikawa4012]

They won't do that because then nobody would bother with copilot lmao

[@rgoonewardene380]

I am a couple of years younger than you Mr Shrimp, and work in IT. I have been spending a lot of time removing Copilot from computers, because I think it is a security risk. Who knows what information is being gathered, where it is being stored, and who can access it. I’m also with you on the I need MS Word to express my thoughts, and feelings, not to allow a computer to regurgitate a collection of nonsense from training sets. Oh! I have a degree in AI. 😂

[@wooglefishes]

Best video of the year! THANK YOU! Clicked cancel subscription and suddenly the old price is there, the only difference is no AI, which is what I'd been trying to turn off anyway!!!

[@martelvonc]

Thank you for this video. I just checked my newly renewed (at my usual price) Microsoft 365 subscription and lo and behold they had done the forced upgrade to me too to be charged when it renew NEXT year. In the US they are required to have it be easy to change so I didn't have to talk to anyone. We are now goat free again. Huzzah!

[@SocksAndPuppets]

When I bought this computer, I had an option to buy Office Home 2021 for £40, and that comes with word, excel, and powerpoint etc etc... it's a single time purchase without a subscription, and I struggle to understand why I'd "upgrade" to 365 at all, I don't want to pay twice as much every year for software that has no extra features I want.

[@trishgreydanus7004]

Same choice here, but I am not working on anything away from home as Shrimp is doing.

[@SocksAndPuppets]

Yeah... my solution to that is, if I know I want to work on something elsewhere, I just put the file in my own webspace, and then download it on the remote computer, and continue working on it - or if it's small I email it to myself - or I put it on a thumb drive and just carry that with me. I'm not enough of a power user to need constant cloud access.

[@petraharwin9670]

Thanks for highlighting this. They have been really sneaky with this one.

[@SirEnVo]

So glad you mentioned Clippit because that was exactly what I was thinking when you were describing Copilot. To my surprise, it's actually worse than Clippit 😂

[@klop4228]

I'm also glad I finally have an explanation for why the whole internet calls Clippit "Clippy". Though as a kid, I admit I kind of liked Clippit. He sat in a corner and didn't really bother you.

[@Styphon]

"It looks like you are writing an email message. Can I write it for you? I'll even make the same typos and grammatical errors that you usually make." Artificial Stupidity.

[@K-o-R]

@@klop4228 I had it set to the cat. It went to sleep after a while.

[@lmpeters]

As I recall, in the U.S. version of Office 97, the assistant's name was Clippit, but it was changed to Clippy in later versions. There were also a wide range of cartoon-like characters you could choose from, with different animations but exactly the same behavior.

[@klop4228]

@@lmpeters I do remember the differing assistants, though I don't know if I ever worked out how to actually change it

[@PlanetZhooZhoo]

Thank you for this. I noticed yesterday that my Office 365 has now even upgraded and changed its name to Copilot mid-subscription, and I kept telling it when it asked that I didnt want it switched on.

[@Tailsteak]

You are not only one of the most informative and innovative KZbinrs I follow, you are (and I mean this as the highest compliment) one of the gentlest. I would say that fully half of the other KZbinrs I follow, telling a story like this, would have been making hyperbolic threats around minute 5.

[@AtomicShrimp]

Thank you. Yeah, I just don't find it productive to be running in circles squawking when there is a problem to solve.

[@nobody4911]

the screaming goat analogy made me laugh out loud. but on a serious note, business practices like that are extremely shady, thank you for uncovering and explaining it!

[@charltm]

i recently watched a video essay on Wreck-it Ralph, so when screaming goats were mentioned I thought of the sequel lol

[@saulysw]

I think screaming goats needs to become a meme for stupid new features. It started here!

[@leebetts5196]

Thank you so much for this information. I have just down-graded my subscription to what I originally had. I hope this informative video goes viral. Bravo!

[@sandrosliske]

I couldn't not read "There are FOUR LIGHTS!" in Patrick Stewart's voice.

[@Ratkwad]

Jeeez i remember that episode

[@rickyoswald]

Four lights from four candles

[@Laffy-ix5xy]

That's exactly what I thought 😂

[@leerobinson8709]

Useful video, thanks. I just don't see in my head at least, why people continue to reward companies that nefariously up sell you, or in other cases, remove functionalities or even add them actually. Sometime this might be sponsors, advertisements etc or any new unwanted "feature" that could disrupt your busy work flow... The entire thought process behind this is either the person will be too stupid, computer illiterate, busy etc to notice, rather than confronting the customer directly and be open and candid with them thoroughly explaining what is happening with their clear choices laid out. There is no excuse for this, we live in the age of communication and have many ways to cheaply and effectively do this (like MS notifies you to upgrade to Windows 11 constantly within Windows 10) but they choose instead to disrespect it's too loyal customer base. It is a shameful borderline scam, in my opinion.

[@khap60]

that was very helpful!! My subscription would have renewed in June with the added "features" for $129.99 and I canceled and signed up for the basic one for $99.99! Thank you for that info! I would not have known w/o your channel!

[@LucretiaArc]

Thanks for the heads up, I wouldn't have known this was the reason for the price increase otherwise. It looks like they do offer a switch from Personal to Personal Classic as part of their retention strategy when you try to cancel your plan, but not as part of the "Switch Plan" feature. Very frustrating!

[@stew_redman]

I'm glad you caught this. I didn't. The only reason I keep a 365 subscription is for my daughters and the online storage is cheaper than Google.

[@reubenmckay]

As usual, corporate greed driving business decisions with no consideration for end users.

[@zenaku666]

Almost like centering our society around the accumulation and flow of wealth is a bad thing huh?

[@littlenyancat5754]

Why have consideration of end users when you know they don't have a choice?

[@technoman9000]

They are beholden to the shareholders to do whatever they can to make the number go up, so there is no guilt or sense of responsibility.

[@RBTVN]

Capitalism is the disease, Socialism the cure.

[@GrimS117]

I have subscriptions > manage > cancel reoccurring payments > The option to swap back to 356 classic (these options were in my native language so the actual text could be different (Dutch))

[@stephenrupp2]

We need to get this video trending. Thank you for this information. As users, we need to keep companies in check for this kind of shady behavior.

[@Robzooo7]

Clippit was actually the official name in all territories. Clippy is just a nickname that stuck and was later adopted by Microsoft.

[@No_True_Scotsman]

Whoa, that's a Mandela effect! Definitely thought it was Clippy.

[@phyphor]

I was able to get the actual basic option to appear only by choosing to cancel. This also meant I didn't have to wait for a representative in chat.

[@eloquentsarcasm]

I refuse to use anything like Siri/Alexa or that imbecillic Copilot garbage. Microsoft is on their last irritation with me, the next one means I'm switching to Linux. I might be a bit of a Luddite, but I hate this AI driven foolishness.

[@dwavenminer]

Linux and its Windows compatibility layers (Wine/Proton) is better than ever now... So you can have all the advantages of Windows (all the applications made for it), without all the disadvantages (windows itself)

[@SirEnVo]

I'm 100% the same. I've never stuggled without using it either 👍🏻 There is defiantly sinister motives for the push of AI and personal assistants.

[@NocturnalTyphlosion]

i sometimes use google's non-llm assistant to play music in the shower but thats it, it's gone way too far, and its so stupid

[@jamesharding3459]

Must be nice having computers as toys for fun in and of themselves rather than a means to an end.

[@lenasolarova]

Go for linux! I was surprised how fast i got used to it and love the amount of customization while keeping everything simple. Something microsoft forgot how to do 30 years ago

[@oogajiggawooga]

Thank you so much for bringing this to everyone's attention, I've just downgraded in time to not cost myself an extra $40/year. I hate this push of AI bs, but sticking it in and charging you for it with no clear "out" should be criminal

[@Vok250]

The first analogy is also exactly what Spotify did when they introduced their new e-book nonsense. Don't forget to go opt out and save yourself some money.

[@samwise1491]

Oh my god thank you, I never use that feature. I get to save a pound a month. Now I'm wondering what other subscriptions I've been "upgraded" on

[@WingedAsarath]

Thank you for this! I hadnt received any email from Microsoft about a price increase but i absolutely loathe generative AI and find it ethically repulsive, so didn't want it anywhere near my 365 subscription. Switched to the Classic plan to avoid it completely. Thank you ❤️

[@WhyShouldnt_I]

Let's not talk about Acrobat Reader that pushes AI summaries of anything you're reading

[@kathleenralston2192]

I know! That keeps popping up lately and I don't want it. Is there some other app that you know of that's good for reading documents? That's all I want.

[@inventiveusername5191]

I use Sumatra PDF reader. First got it after wondering why Acrobat,a simple pdf reader or so I thought, was taking up so much hard drive space. The answer, supposedly, is so that it can harvest lots and lots of your data...

[@kwarra-an]

and when I actually wanted to use that feature (procrastinated too long on a uni assignment and needed to read a lot in a short amount of time), they make you pay for it! Plus, it's limited to quite a short document (so what's the point?). Pushy, AI, *and* it's expensive and not particularly useful.

[@applegal3058]

When they last updated our readers at work I somehow went and reverted back to the old layout. Never say any AI pop-ups yet.

[@elif6908]

@@inventiveusername5191 I’ve downloaded Okular just because I couldn’t figure out how to highlight in Sumatra 😂 I swear if Sumatra got a good UI revamp I would recommend it to everyone.

[@johnsim2059]

My subscription just renewed at the higher price, now I know why. If I try to cancel my subscription online I am then presented with the option to switch plan with Family Classic being an option - but only takes effect from the next renewal i.e. next January.

[@heyjude1971]

Same here. At least we can stop it for next year... I'd honestly pay more to NOT have to deal with Copilot at all.

[@chrisstott3508]

In the interim, if you want to run out a little of your existing subscription, you can disable 365 updates, then 'downgrade' to pre-Copilot version 16_0_17531_20120. I tried to post more detailed instructions here, but the post was removed :(

[@kerim.peardon5551]

I just got a new computer and between Dell, Microsoft, and McAfee, I get at least 1 popup on my desktop every day, plus "tips" popping up in Word. Like you, I'm online looking up how to nuke all the pop-ups. I've had a hone computer since 1996; I do not need tutorial guides popping up, and I sure as hell don't want ads.

[@mansun694]

Thank you for taking the time to produce such an eloquent video and saving me some money. In my case, my UK subscription for MS 365 Family is not due until Aug 2025. On checking the subscription details, the price had indeed been increased without notification, as you had shared (a 31% increase). On turning off the option for recurring payments, I was then given the option to “switch” subscription to MS 365 Family Basic. The customer experience feels very unpleasant when a corporation use such underhand tactics to force through a change. Thank you again.

[@LamentingEnemy]

I love Office and, er, strongly dislike many aspects of AI assistants, so this is not only an entertaining video but a money-saving one. Thanks for doing Microsoft's work for them!

[@notlone7721]

This sounds very illegal

[@hazelhazelton1346]

That's what the EULA is for. It lets them do whatever they want, whenever they want to.

[@zenaku666]

@@hazelhazelton1346 yeah, it is strange that it's basically an open secret that no one actually reads EULAs yet they are still somehow considered legally binding and serve as proof of informed consent. All this despite the fact that it is demonstrably provable most signers are neither informed or likely would consent to some of the terms.

[@AdamOwenBrowning]

@@zenaku666 If something very untoward happened to a customer, they were told "You signed the EULA!" and it made its way to court... there is a fair chance to judge would say exactly what you're saying - that pressing "Accept" doesn't really prove the customer was informed or understood at all. It's why very few EULAs and now have a "simplified" version, and many have a little scroll-bar that you MUST scroll to the bottom before you can press accept. It's companies bracing for the eventual, once-in-a-decade judge who calls them on how silly the system is - they are giving themselves an extra layer of deniability to be able to say things like "The system has proof the customer scrolled all the way through the agreement and therefore have to have read it!" The crap will hit the fan eventually and some sort of change must occur. Perhaps that's just the nonsense that sits in my head from working in law with this taught idea that our jurisprudence enables change for the better, under the pressure of the public and scrutiny in the light of day. It doesn't always, but let's hope!

[@lordofthe6string]

I have had a big multi-year project happening for a while that requires windows, and I am so sick of it I cannot wait to be done with it. Technology used to be fun.

[@Cyfrik]

"Technology used to be fun." Mood

[@nonarygaming]

Just want to show my appreciation for the first part of the video with the four lights software, especially the customer service rep saying “first of all, there are five lights” and the search results talking about how there might even be more. Genuinely hilarious background work.

[@debibaird]

Thank you for posting this vid ❤ Like you, I use MS products for my thoughts and tasks -- no need for Copilot. I am in the USA. Downgrading was as simple as hitting "cancel subscription," scrolling through the doom warnings to the classic plan with features I originally chose 6-weeks ago and selecting "switch plan." LOL sneaky!

[@trexvalleygirl2770]

Perfect timing. That co-pilot just randomly uploaded to my phone today (despite my settings to ask first before downloading). I had no clue what it was until your very helpful video. I uninstalled it. Thank you.

[@pastasauce99]

Microsoft still sells a perpetual office 2019 license with the entire suite for $60 on their official site. Hidden only showing the 365 subscription. But I get the convenience of having multiple desktops with office. I hate subscriptions

[@poeterritory]

Microsoft has become very consumer unfriendly. Even their upgraded Outlook Calendar has basic scrolling removed.

[@IceBlueLugia]

I didn’t even get an email for the price increase. Just saw that Copilot was added and didn’t question it. Saw this video and tried cancelling, then they gave me the option to downgrade

[@jauchcraft]

Holy shit, I didn't even see any communication from them... I am so lucky I stumbled upon your video!!! I hope more people see it. Already changed my plan to the "classic". Used the cancel option. You click cancel and the next page has the option to change the plan to the classic

[@filmnobelpreis]

I wonder how things will develop once Microsoft realises that they could make even more money if the version with Copilot was the cheapest and we would pay more for a version without.

[@lmpeters]

That won't happen for a while. The backend processing required for Copilot is still too expensive for them to offer it at a lower price. Which should be a good enough reason for Microsoft not to try to force Copilot on its users, but that would require them to think rationally in the middle of a hype bubble.

[@charltm]

@@lmpeters​​⁠no, but what if they offered the goat free plan at a price in between the goat plan and the top plan? Using the prices from the video, offer the copilot plan at the current price (105), make the non-copilot one more (155) and leave the top tier alone (200). The price for running copilot would be covered by the users paying for the opt-out. It would be an absolute asshole move, but it’s microsoft, so 🤷🏽‍♀️

[@fredericapanon207]

Shhhhh don't give them ideas!

[@bk14biker]

I would never pay for anything like 365. For starters, I wouldn't upload possibly sensitive or personal documents to cloud based storage purely for security reasons. Once you do, and become dependent upon their services, you are a cash cow to be milked. I'd rather spend my money on something more useful and put up with the slight inconvenience of not having access to my stored information at anytime and from anywhere.

[@poruatokin]

365 can be used 100% offline.

[@juliantheapostate8295]

Sensible

[@ThePoxun]

Virgin Media do something similar but they frame it differently. When you have to contact them because they can't maintain their systems properly and you have no internet for the third time in six months they then try and sell you on the 'new package' which has more features/channels/speed/new router at the same price. What they don't tell you is that price is an introductory one and three months down the line will go up by 30% automatically. They also don't tell you that switching will lock you into a new two year contract. They also sometimes have similar prompts on their website and try and hide the introductory part with a little * beside the price and a footnote buried at the bottom of the page in a size 6 font. Other times on the website its clearer that it is an offer price. I suspect they switch the wording depending on if they feel you will complain later or not.

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

If they don't mention things like the price increase or that you're starting a new subscription, that is illegal and you'd have grounds for a good court case so long ss you did confirm that at no time were you made aware of these charges (be it over the phone, on the website or through an email).

[@SheyD78]

@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley Oh there'll be enough mentions of it buried somewhere it's hard to find to keep them legally safe. Going to court for it is going to bankrupt an upset customer long before it significantly hurts the corporation, after all they already have lawyers on retainer.

[@Kanbei11]

​@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValleyit'll be in the contract they send you together and you'll need to use the 14 day cooling off period to escape it. They also frame their prices as discounts on the insane tier that nobody uses, I was told that my internet would be £60 a month but I could get it for £45ish simply by clicking a button in my account

[@acera12345]

Virgin media did this with my broadband, kindly upgraded my speed. Then 2 months later put the price up. Then introduced my old speed on a new lower priced tier.

[@lanceanz]

Thanks for this. In a couple of weeks 'm due for a $NZ50 increase in my Personal plan. After watching I asked Copilot how to downgrade to the Classic plan and it gave me a very nicely written answer. I love Copilot, but I don't think I'll ever need Copilot 365.

[@askhowiknow5527]

God forbid you be in charge of what YOUR computer, a tool you own, does.