Microsoft 365: New subscription level for private users

Microsoft Terms a third subscription level for the consumer version From Microsoft-365: alternatively to the unchanged personnel and family subscriptions, there are now Microsoft 365 Premium. This corresponds to the Familiy-ABO Plus Copilot Pro, whereby all users of the family subscription are now allowed to use the AI ​​assistant and not just the “main subscription”. The separate Copilot Pro subscription is canceled. Microsoft 365 Premium builds on Family; So it always contains licenses for up to 6 users. There has been no copilot expansion for Microsoft 365 staff at least so far.

Microsoft 365 Premium costs 22 euros per month or 219 euros per year and is therefore significantly cheaper than the previous station wagon with the separate copilot-pro-subscription, but also almost twice as expensive as Microsoft 365 Family. Premium subscribers also receive access to the “Frontier” program and thus to experimental AI functions and the new office agents. So far, the latter has only been working in the web versions of the Office programs, but that should change very soon.

So far, so that users of the private customer subscription “Microsoft 365 Personal” (a user) and “Family” (6 users, each 5 devices) were able to use the AI ​​assistant copilot (largely), they have so far needed an additional subscription called “Copilot Pro”. This cost about twice as much as the Microsoft-365 subscription itself. In addition, only the main user of a family subscription could use the copilot functions; The up to five additional users each needed their own copilot subscription, each for more than 20 euros per month. The Microsoft-365 accounts alone-without addictions in the Copilot-also contain the AI ​​assistant, but severely restrict its use. For example, only 60 interactions (credits) are possible per month.

Microsoft promises that you don’t have to create a new account for the premium subscription. Both Copilot-Pro-subscriptions and Microsoft-365-Family/Copilot-Pro-Kombi subscriptions can be converted to Microsoft 365 Premium. At the same price, the former now get the office apps and other benefits such as OneDrive memory; Previous station wagons are becoming cheaper.

Microsoft has not yet updated the German-language websites with the subscription plans for private users; In our MS-365-Family test account, the changeover to Premium is already offered, so the price is known.

And again new icons

At the same time, Microsoft announces that the design of the icons for the office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, OneDrive and teams) announces-for the sixth time since the introduction of Office for Windows.

Anyone who is curious, “how a subtle update of our Microsoft 365 symbols signals deeper changes” and why the symbols of starting programs “goals for whole experiences that are complex ideas, product capabilities and brand identities in a single, memorable image” Microsoft’s iconography article can be informed about the design philosophy behind the new symbols.

We think it is good that the separate Copilot subscription disappears and the combination with Microsoft 365 becomes significantly cheaper for private users. It is even better that the AI ​​assistant is available to all six possible accounts of a premium subscription and not just the main user as before. Whether this happens out of pure customer friendliness or-somehow more likely-due to poor sales at the copilot subscriptions, does not matter. However, it would be even nicer if the subscribers from Microsoft 365 Family and Personnel who are not interested in the AI ​​assistant were not put the copilot icon in front of all corners in the programs. But such a courtesy-at least as an opt-in-is rather not to be expected from the currently Ki-drunken company from Redmond. And as far as the new icons are concerned: for free. Microsoft is certainly more important than the customer. After all, they have refrained from gluing a copilot lettering to every picture.