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Mr. Laz 02-19-2013 11:37 AM

Microsoft Bullies Users Into Office 365 Services
 
Microsoft Bullies Users Into Office 365 Services
Brian Proffitt posted 3 hours ago


Microsoft has confirmed Office 2013 licenses will be locked to one PC and one PC only, halting transfers of the office suite software to replacement computers and perhaps forcing users to use its new Office 365 services.

If you install Office 2013 on any PC, that licensed copy belongs to that computer for the life of that PC. $Deity help you if you lose that computer to hardware failure, age, or theft, because pfft! there goes your copy of Office 2013, even if you have the box with the license key and the installation discs.

This revelation has caused, as one might expect, some consternation in the tech community, if only because it puts the smackdown on the long-established practice of moving copies of Office to another computer when the need arose. Typically, a copy of Office outlasts at least one of my PCs, because the functionality of Office from one version to another isn't usually great enough to warrant a switch upon hardware upgrade. Especially for the price tag of Office.

Apparently, Microsoft is on to cheapskates like me, and is beginning to enforce corporate-like licensing on consumers now.

Just The Facts

Here's what PC World's Tony Bradley learned when he reached out to Microsoft.

"I asked Microsoft for clarification, and I received this official response: 'Office 365 Home Premium works across up to 5 devices (Windows tablets, PCs or Macs) and can be transferred across devices. The Office 2013 software is licensed to one computer for the life of that computer and is non-transferable.'"

The wording of Microsoft's response to Bradley is noteworthy: the software giant is clearly telegraphing that if you want ease-of-portability, then you should move to the subscription-based Office 365 model.

(See also Microsoft Office 365 Is Not A Good Deal For Singles)

But that strategy makes little sense: while it is true you can have access to Office 365 on multiple computers at the same time, that's not the same thing as being able to take the one copy of Office you own and move it to another computer, deleting the copy on your first PC or allowing the copy of Office to deprecate when the machine is taken to the nearest recycling center.

Users pretty much get the fact that you have to buy multiple licenses of Office (or other locally installed software) when using it at the same time. But now Microsoft is saying that their software is forever tied to the first PC on which you install Office 2013.

Curiously, Microsoft is trying to justify this move with the somewhat whiney excuse that they've done this before.

"Office 2013 has the same licensing provisions around transferability as the equivalent Office 2010 package, which was the package purchased by most Office 2010 customers," the company told Bradley.

Um, not quite. Computerworld did some digging and learned that while there was language in Office 2010's EULA that seemed to limit one licensed copy to one PC, there were allowances in the legalese made for shifting from one PC to another.

"'You may reassign the license to a different device any number of times, but not more than one time every 90 days,' stated the EULA for Office Home & Student 2010, the most popular consumer version of that edition. 'If you reassign, that other device becomes the 'licensed device.' If you retire the licensed device due to hardware failure, you may reassign the license sooner.'"

That kind of language has been removed from Office 2013's EULA.

Like A Good Neighbor?

When I examined the pricing differences of Office 2013 versus Office 365 earlier this month, I was making the presumption that when you used a copy of Office 2013, you would be able to use that copy of Office 2013 for a hypothetical full three-year period.

Three years is a reasonable time to expect a computer to run and still be fast enough to keep up with the software Joneses, but it's not unreasonable to expect the inevitable loss of PCs due to breakdowns, theft, or disasters. That skews the pricing model a bit for the single-PC users that would have otherwise benefited from using the local versions of Office 2013.

If you recall, for one PC using the various Office flavors for three years, the cost breakdowns were:

Office 365 Home Premium: $299.97
Office Home and Student: $139.99
Office Home and Business: $219.99
Office Professional: $399.99

But if you factor in the possibility of a PC replacement (planned or otherwise) within those three years, for whatever reason, you get a pricing model like this:

Office 365 Home Premium: $299.97
Office Home and Student: $279.98
Office Home and Business: $439.98
Office Professional: $799.98

So, if you have any plans to update your hardware soon, Office 365 looks like a much better bet, unless you are using the version of Office with the least features, Home and Student. And, if you are worried in any way about unplanned loss, then suddenly Office 365's subscription plan looks suddenly like an insurance policy.

Microsoft is clearly trying to push users into getting connected to its own ecosystem, hoping Office 365 and the just-released to the public Outlook.com will tie users into their services just as Google/Android holds its users in quiescent (and revenue generating) thrall.

The key difference is that while Google uses the freemium model for attracting users, Microsoft seems to be applying the use-this-or-pay-more model.

Charming.

loochy 02-19-2013 11:40 AM

keygen + crack FTW

htismaqe 02-19-2013 11:40 AM

So glad I'm an Open Office user.

**** Microsoft.

Buck 02-19-2013 11:41 AM

Well there are still free alternatives that should accomplish 99% of the same stuff you can do with office, unless you have a really specific need.

htismaqe 02-19-2013 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loochy (Post 9415500)
keygen + crack FTW

The new registration mechanisms in Windows 7/8, Enterprise Server, and Office 2013 prevent that.

Even if you can crack it, don't expect validation to last more than 3-4 weeks.

loochy 02-19-2013 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by htismaqe (Post 9415509)
The new registration mechanisms in Windows 7/8, Enterprise Server, and Office 2013 prevent that.

Even if you can crack it, don't expect validation to last more than 3-4 weeks.

they will find a way

QuikSsurfer 02-19-2013 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loochy (Post 9415500)
keygen + crack FTW

That validation probably won't last long at all.

QuikSsurfer 02-19-2013 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by htismaqe (Post 9415509)
The new registration mechanisms in Windows 7/8, Enterprise Server, and Office 2013 prevent that.

Even if you can crack it, don't expect validation to last more than 3-4 weeks.

Yup

htismaqe 02-19-2013 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loochy (Post 9415512)
they will find a way

They already have a way. It's just not permanent. And since all validation going forward is going to use a similar mechanism, it will be a constant cycle of cracking, blacklisting, cracking, blacklisting.

the Talking Can 02-19-2013 12:39 PM

you can only play that record on one record player, son....

loochy 02-19-2013 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by htismaqe (Post 9415509)
The new registration mechanisms in Windows 7/8, Enterprise Server, and Office 2013 prevent that.

Even if you can crack it, don't expect validation to last more than 3-4 weeks.

You say that Windows 7 has this new fancy mechanism?

It hasn't caused any problems for me in 2 years

QuikSsurfer 02-19-2013 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loochy (Post 9415794)
You say that Windows 7 has this new fancy mechanism?

It hasn't caused any problems for me in 2 years

You can crack Office 2010 serial in Win 7, no problem. It's just when you run updates (office updates) that you have to reapply the crack. Not a big deal.

htismaqe 02-19-2013 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loochy (Post 9415794)
You say that Windows 7 has this new fancy mechanism?

It hasn't caused any problems for me in 2 years

It's actually only in Windows 7 Enterprise (and maybe ultimate).

The only solution to date is to permanently fool your machine into thinking it's still in the 30-day eval period.

htismaqe 02-19-2013 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuikSsurfer (Post 9415868)
You can crack Office 2010 serial in Win 7, no problem. It's just when you run updates (office updates) that you have to reapply the crack. Not a big deal.

With Win7 Enterprise and Office 2013, being able to reapply the crack is iffy.

You have to register with a key server and finding one that M$ hasn't blacklisted is sometimes difficult.

ModSocks 02-19-2013 02:33 PM

Libreoffice.

**** you Microsoft.


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