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Practical IT insight from Tony Bradley

Home

Productivity Software

Microsoft caves to Office 2013 licensing backlash

Comments

Tony Bradley
| @techspective

PCWorld

Mar 6, 2013 8:05 AM

Microsoft has heard the uproar from customers over the draconian
Office 2013 licensing limitations, and it has relented. Today, Microsoft
announced an update to Office 2013 retail licensing agreement that should quell
the uprising and force customers to put away the torches and pitchforks.

Effective immediately, customers who purchase (or have already purchased) the
Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013, Office Professional
2013 suites, or any of the standalone Office 2013 applications can move the
software to another computer once every 90 days.

Microsoft changed the Office 2013 licensing in
response to customer backlash.

A couple weeks ago, Microsoft explained the Office 2013 licensing to specify
that it is non-transferrable. In a nutshell, if you bought Office 2013 and
installed it on a PC, and then that PC was stolen next week, Microsoft would
expect you to buy a brand new copy of Office 2013 to install on your new
replacement PC.

When I asked for further clarification, a Microsoft spokesperson told me,
“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.”

Apparently, that did not sit well with Microsoft customers. A post
on the Office News blog today announces that Microsoft has listened to the
customer feedback, and is immediately changing the Office 2013 licensing policy
to match the language of the Office 2010 retail licensing.

Even with the new Office 2013 licensing, Office 365 is a
better deal.

Now the Office 2013 licensing works like you’d expect it should. Purchasing
the license grants you the right to install the software on a single PC. If that
PC breaks, or gets lost or stolen, or you upgrade and replace it with a new one,
you can install Office 2013 on the new PC. You can also sell or transfer the
license to another user. The primary requirement under this license is that the
Office 2013 software can only exist in one place, and be installed on one
computer at any given time.

While this is a much more reasonable licensing policy for Office 2013, and it
will satisfy many Microsoft customers, the reality is that most businesses and
consumers should
be choosing Office 365 instead of Office 2013 anyway. An Office 365
subscription includes licensing for the full Office 2013 Pro suite on up to five
devices at a cost that works
out to be cheaper than buying the single Office 2013 license in many cases.

Related:

Productivity

Microsoft Office

Office
365

Microsoft

Tony Bradley

Tony is principal analyst with the Bradley Strategy Group, providing analysis
and insight on tech trends. He is a prolific writer on a range of technology
topics, has authored a number of books, and is a frequent speaker at industry
events.
More by Tony
Bradley

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