# Office Live website builder HELP!



## barryd999 (Mar 30, 2011)

Sorry if this is in the wrong place or wrong forum

Over the past few months I have been working with a charity in the UK setting up several websites using the Office Live Website builder which is free (or was!)

For some reason it all seems to have changed. After much searching I have managed to get back in and design my site and another site but I keep seeing information saying that its all changed and there is a new plan and something about transfering in April 2011! I think its Office 365 but Microsofts information is as clear as mud and who do you contact?

I am in a complete panic now. I and my collegues at the charity and several small businesses have spent many many hours developing these sites. Are they now going to be lost? I need to set new ones up for others. How? Surely they cant just make a free service chargeable?

I understood and though through Microsoft this service was free. Sorry if I am panicing over nothing but I need some serious assurance that all is well. If they are going to be turned off or transfered to somewhere else where there is going to be a charge then this has dire consquences for me, my career, my collegues and clients.

Please please tell me I have this wrong.

Thanks
Barry


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

Good news. Office Live will continue to run until at least Oct. 2011. After that you get three months free of MS Office 365. Bad news. I don't know what happens after that.


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## barryd999 (Mar 30, 2011)

Thanks for the reply. I have managed to get a response from Microsoft who really just sent me a whole load of links which I havent had time to look through yet.

I think the 365 thing is going to be about £6.50 a month. It has all sorts of bells and whistles but I dont see any mention of the website builder.

In any case I think its extremely unethical if Microsoft have been promoting a free website builder only to then start charging people who have now developed websites. Im sure its probably not even legal, I dont know.

I will look into what they have sent me in more detail but in the meantime I need to find another reliable free site builder that isnt suddenly going to disappear or start charging. Any ideas?

Regards
Barry


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

Don't do anything until more info is available. 365 is considered a rival to Google Apps. so it's not a direct successor to what you have. Finally, there might be an exemption for non-profits.


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## barryd999 (Mar 30, 2011)

Thanks. In the meantime however I have people waiting for me to set up new websites. There are 500 members who use the charity for advice and help. Many of them want websites. We have advertised that we can help them with this and have set a few up already using the Microsoft Website Builder. It has been taken away and from what I see we no longer have a tool available to create new ones. Dont know what I can do.


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

Thread moved to: Web Serving and Management


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## barryd999 (Mar 30, 2011)

Update

Today one of my clients which is a charity has had an email saying there website will be deleted at the end of April and they have to subscribe to Office 365.

It is however much worse than I first feared when I started this thread. On looking into this it seems its not just a case of paying the $6 a month to keep the website going it all has to be redone!!

This amounts to weeks and weeks of work which a year ago when they were first set the cost of developing these sites and my time was funded by an EU grant. These charities and their members do not have the capability to redo their sites themselves and there is no longer funding available to pay me to do it for them.

If this is true then it is a disgrace. I also hear that the new website builder is not as good as the old one but I have yet to try it out.

Can someone confirm that these sites really will disappear and that we really do have to redo them? I have emailed Microsoft but as yet have not had a reply.

If they have to be redone and paid for I see no reason why anyone would sign up for 365 when Google sites is completely free and IMO better anyway.

I dont think many would have minded paying to continue with the service but have Microsoft lost the plot in expecting users to completely redo their sites? Worryingly I myself have a large site which took months to put together, has hundreds of images on it but I have not recieved this email today. So how many others are in the dark.

Im sure they have looked at the legal ramifications and are sure they are safe but I imagine there will be a few looking to take them to court.


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

The $6.00 rate is for not for profit orgs. In the U.S. 501(C)3s qualify. I know you're in the UK. There are special deals to use 365 but I can't speak to the need to redo the site. Maybe your Email will be answered with some good news.


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## barryd999 (Mar 30, 2011)

Corday said:


> The $6.00 rate is for not for profit orgs. In the U.S. 501(C)3s qualify. I know you're in the UK. There are special deals to use 365 but I can't speak to the need to redo the site. Maybe your Email will be answered with some good news.


Thanks for the reply. However its not a case of just paying the $6 or whatever. It doesnt matter if its even free for not for profit companies the issue is that the site "appears" to have to be built from scratch. I was lead to beleive last year that it would seamlessly transfer over to 365. So far my investigations yesterday tell me that this is not the case. 

The huge document sent out from Microsoft pretty much says this as well. I gather its not even the same software so no doubt setting up the new site will involve learning a new system. This is where the problem lies. My clients do not have the expertise to do this or money to pay someone like me to do it for them.

Two emails I have sent to Microsoft have bounced back. One stating it doesnt accept emails which was actually a reply to one sent to me last year by a MS representitive and one to another mail box said the MS mail box was full! I sent a generic one on a form from the MS site but so far have had no answer. If someone could just provide me with the correct contact details this would be a start so I could start a dialogue. They keep pointing me to the ASK forum site but its hopeless. There is virtually nobody on it.

I really would expect better from the worlds biggest software company.

Very frustrating!


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## Laxer (Dec 28, 2010)

See if you can get any information out of their representatives...

Microsoft Office 365 Community


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## barryd999 (Mar 30, 2011)

Laxer said:


> See if you can get any information out of their representatives...
> 
> Microsoft Office 365 Community


 
Thanks. I signed up and posted 24 hours ago. Its not a proper forum and I have had one reply in 24 hours that basically said your screwed and you should have known about it for ages. His suggestion is that I carry out the work for free!

I still have no idea how to contact Microsoft directly. Maybe I should apply for job there or something and work on it from the inside!


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

UK phone number (+44) 0844 800 2400


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## barryd999 (Mar 30, 2011)

Corday said:


> UK phone number (+44) 0844 800 2400


Thanks. After much transferring and being given other numbers to call I did finally speak to a lady who was very helpful and spent considerable time trying to find an answer but as I suspected we already knew the answer. 

There is nothing that can be done apart from rebuilding the site in either 365 or another web builder. I do get the impression from the conversation and the various forums I have been on that Microsoft regret going down the website builder and hosting route but possibly not as much as my clients will.


Thanks everyone who posted.


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## Laxer (Dec 28, 2010)

Thank you for the follow up and good luck with your clients.


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