For those looking to move up to an office suite, or even make a switch from a rival ecosystem, do be aware that you need to fully buy into Microsoft's vision of the cloud and make use of all of. Sep 23, 2015 - There will be casualties of this strategy. This week Microsoft released Office 2016 for Windows and Mac (following Mac's Office 365 edition in.

This week, arrives for Windows and the software is a major upgrade to the previous versions of Microsoft's productivity suite. If you're eager to use the new apps, they are available now, but first, you have to figure out how you'll purchase them. Long gone are the days of grabbing a box of CDs at the store -- today, subscriptions are the norm, but they're not the only way to buy. Because of that, you get several different ways to buy Office 2016, and you'll be forgiven if you don't know which one to pick. Microsoft doesn't exactly make it simple to tell the difference between your choices. To make the decision a bit easier, this guide will go over the three different ways to use Office and what you get with each pick.

Josh Miller/CNET Option 1: Office.com and Office Mobile apps -- Free provides completely free, but slightly limited, online-only versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and other tools. Around since 2010, the website has largely flown under the radar, overshadowed by the desktop versions of Office.

All you need to use it is a free Microsoft account, which you get. (Of course, if you already use nearly any Microsoft product -- Skype, OneDrive, Xbox Live -- you already have one.). Using Office.com, you can edit and create new documents, spreadsheets and slideshows, using many of the same features you'd get with Office on the desktop.

In many ways, it's similar to Google Docs, which is also exclusively online and free with a Google account. With free comes a few limitations. First, the online tools are missing some advanced features you get with the full versions, like tracking changes in Word, advanced chart types in Excel and many slide transitions in PowerPoint.

The other big drawback is that you cannot open and edit files that live on your computer. In order to open a file through Office.com, you'll need to store it in either OneDrive or Dropbox first. Luckily, you can easily save a copy of a file you create or edit to your computer without any hassle. Any changes you make are also automatically saved in OneDrive. When you're away from a computer, you can also use the free Office mobile apps for,.

Like the browser-based version, these apps have all the basic Word, Excel and PowerPoint features, with some limitations. If you have an Office 365 (see below), you'll unlock all of the apps' tools.

Office.com has free online-only versions of the Office apps. Screenshot by Sarah Mitroff/CNET Option 2: Office 365 -- Subscription is a monthly or yearly memberships that gets you the full desktop versions of Office, plus, email with Outlook, and a bunch of extras. With, the full versions include new sharing features that let you work together with others in real-time, integrations with messaging app Skype, a tool that uses Microsoft's search engine Bing to help you research while you're working and more. The most enticing reason to get a subscription is that you'll always get new versions Office when Microsoft releases them.

There are several different types of Office 365 subscription, each getting you different features. The two most popular subscription tiers are Home and Personal. Office 365 Home is meant for families, since up to five people can be on the same membership and you can install the Office apps on up to five different PCs or Macs, plus use the full versions of the Office apps on Android and iOS phones and tablets. You also get 1TB of storage for each person in OneDrive, plus 60 free minutes per month per user on Skype to make phone calls all around the world. Office 365 Personal is designed for one person with one computer to install the Office apps. You can also use the full versions of the mobile apps, and the subscription includes 1TB of OneDrive storage.