The fact that Microsoft Word has to be a subscription is upsetting. I already paid for it why do I have to pay again
Yes please be mad about it, genuinely- You used to be able to purchase a single disk to install it and use it forever after that initial purchase of one key. It sickens me to see all this stuff which used to be a one time purchase be shunted under a subscription now.
"Why is pirating going back up?!"
This. This is why. People don't mind paying a high price for software if it's only the once, or every 4-5 years.
But having to pay a high price regularly? Especially in the cases where you lose access to your own work if you don't?
That's why people are pirating software.
It’s possible to buy a non-subscription version of Word; Microsoft just intentionally makes it very difficult to find (and also expensive).
However, I know a guy who knows a guy website: MS Office Pro for $50. If the link starts going to a Page Not Found, just search the site; they usually have some form of this sale available.
Worth noting: while $50 is still more money than $yo-ho-ho, that money is a great way to make VERY clear to Microsoft that we DO want one-time-purchase products, not subscriptions.
My laptop just died. If it can't be fixed and I need to replace it, this post is gonna be a real life saver, because my family has been sharing an old version of Word that came with a limited number of lifetime licenses, and we're fresh out.
Get LibreOffice. It's fully compatible with MS Office, but it's free and open source. You're welcome. :-)