Have you noticed how people add the phrase “in old money” when using a new, unfamiliar way of measuring or categorising something? You hear football pundits saying, for example, that Leyton Orient are in EFL Division 2, that’s the 4th Division in old money. This expression dates back to the decimalisation of Sterling in 1971, when shillings, florins, tanners and 240 pennies to the pound were replaced with pounds subdivided into 100 new pence. Shoppers would need to take a ready reckoner with them to convert prices into something more understandable “in old money”.
Why show the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, you ask? The top hat he is wearing still has a price tag attached in old money. It would appear that you could purchase his hat for “ten and six”, that is ten shillings and six pence or 52.5p in new money! He also came up with a wonderfully appropriate quote for us as you will see below: Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t.
In a world where we are being bombarded by emails from suppliers with a mention of Coronavirus or Covid-19 in the subject line, and ample opportunities to attend webinars on every conceivable aspect of the impact on business, Microsoft now offers us the chance to use that immortal phrase “in old money” about their product lines!
While Microsoft do have offerings which support the “new normal” – Teams allows for communication and collaboration with members of staff working from home, for example – this is not the focus of their latest announcements. No, they have decided to change the names of their ubiquitous Office 365 brand!
The product remains the same for now, but names have all been changed, and in a move reminiscent of UK decimalisation, it is reusing terms but with different values (for example 12 old pennies becoming 5 new pennies/Business Premium no longer describing the subscription for the email and Office software combo).
You can read the rationale behind the rebranding here. Here are the headlines:
Office 365 is now Microsoft 365
Office 365 Business Essentials is now Microsoft 365 Business Basic
Office 365 Business Premium is now Microsoft 365 Business Standard
Microsoft 365 Business is now Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Office 365 Business and Office 365 ProPlus are both now Microsoft 365 apps.
We will do our best to guide you through the changes and remind you which product you need or indeed have “in old money”!
As a bonus present, Microsoft also have a feature update for you – 2004. Where our customers are accessing their work computers remotely, we have stopped the automatic applying of patches to ensure that the machines don’t turn off, just in case they fail to turn on again. You can rest assured that this new update will not be installed on computers under our management until we are certain that it won’t have an impact on customers who are working from home.
As you become accustomed to the New Normal of a life of social isolation under the lockdown, please be assured that Computer Troubleshooters is still here to guide your business through the IT maze.
Unlike Microsoft, we won’t be meddling with our branding – Computer Troubleshooters – Technology Solved.