Microsoft Office as a standalone piece of software can be expensive, especially if you don’t really need all the features and functionality. To ease that price burden, Microsoft has a Microsoft 365 subscription that lets users pay a monthly subscription to access Office and a bunch of other services for a much cheaper rate.
Granted over time it might end up being more expensive, but it’s one way of dealing with a substantial upfront cost. That being said, there are some who have decided that piracy is still the best option for them, but now it looks like Microsoft is trying to tempt those pirates with a generous 50% discount.
According to a report from Ghacks.net, it seems that some users who are running a pirated copy of Office are now seeing a message in their apps where it reads, “Get up to 50% off. For a limited time, save up to 50% on a genuine Microsoft 365 subscription”. There is a link accompanying the message which when users click on it, they will be directed to a website where Microsoft warns users about the dangers of using pirated software.
Keep in mind that this offer is only valid for the first year of subscription, meaning that after that, users will have to go back to paying full price for Microsoft 365. It’s an interesting approach where instead of trying to go after users by suing them, they are offering a discount. How effective it is remains to be seen, but perhaps it might spook some users who thought Microsoft didn’t know about them using pirated software to start paying for the genuine article.
Filed in . Read more about Hack, Legal, Microsoft, Office, Piracy, Security and Windows. Source: ghacks.net