Microsoft has recently launched its Officer 2013 software last month and has announced that the licenses for the software are non-transferable. What does that imply for the end user? Basically you can only install the software on one machine now, as opposed to previous versions of Office. With previous versions, if something happened to your computer and you had to buy a new one, you didn’t have to buy new copies of Office as well. Not anymore. The newest Office 2013 is tied to a single computer.
What happens if end users want to use Microsoft Office on multiple devices? Well Microsoft is advising its customers to get Office 365, its cloud based offering that allows users to use the software on 5 different computers or mobile devices. However Office 365 is a subscription based service charged at $9.99 per month or $99.99 annually. This could be a move from Microsoft to enhance its customer base for its cloud based offering.
Microsoft has had issues with pirated software and this seems to be the reason why such policies are being enforced. We are not too sure if customers loyal to the Microsoft brand will be too pleased with this change in policy.
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