New.. Microsoft Office 2013 will be tied permanently to one machine.

[ranchhand]

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9236818/Office_2013_retail_licensing_change_tie...fic_PC_forever

Better hang on to your old copies of Office, or switch to Open Office.

[jman98]

They're not the first to do this. Nine years ago I had a 3rd party application I needed at the time and I had to reinstall Windows. This particular program wouldn't reinstall and I contacted the vendor. They told me to buy a new copy (which was updated from my version). I wasn't happy but I did it. I really didn't like the basic implication by the vendor that anyone who needed to reinstall their program was a thief who was trying to steal it.

A few years later, the same crap happened - Windows croaked and I had to reinstall. I bought another copy. The next time I had to reinstall Windows, I found a free alternative to the program and I've never given the company another cent. People will just do what I did and they'll look for free alternatives to Office like Libre Office.

I read an interesting article in the IT industry recently where one tech writer believes that Microsoft is currently under a losing strategy where they are trying to squeeze more and more profits out of software that he believes will continue to decline, specifically Office and Windows itself. It was an interesting article and if he ends up being right, Microsoft will end up being a shell of what they once were.

[Brainiac]

I had the same experience with a piece of software. After having to completely reinstall Windows, I tried to reinstall the software and was told that my serial would no longer work. I contacted the company and was told that I had to purchase the software again! I did, but was not a happy camper. The next time I had to do a Windows reinstallation, I just abandoned the software. I just did not agree with the company's policy and felt that they were fleecing their customers.

As for Office, I still use the 2003 version. It does everything that I need and I have no plans to upgrade anytime soon. And I can install it on multiple machines.

Brainiac

[JohnnyBob]

They'll renig within a few weeks. That would be too unpopular.

[jman98]

They'll renig within a few weeks. That would be too unpopular.

You may be right, but I have a feeling it will be a lot longer than a few weeks before they change this. They'll need months of complaints AND evidence that customers are moving to free alternatives first before they'll change this. A lot of consumers are sheep, so there's always some chance that they may be able to do this successfully.

[vhelp]

the office suites are all expensive. i still have the off2k pro cd's and use on my home pc, and is all i need and can still use docs from off2003, back/forth, mostly access database and excel, i also use powerpoint for quick screen cap to make tutorials of encoder settings. IMHO, office 2000 and 2003 are the best suites especially if you have the database module.

[Constant Gardener]

Nonmigratory software is best avoided, particularly when there are reasonable alternatives. Microsoft is gambling.

[MOVIEGEEK]

This is stupid, if a person has Office 2013 and Windows 7 then there's no reason to upgrade to 8*. I have Office 2007 and it's not locked to only one PC, sorry MS you lost a future customer because I will go to Open Office when this PC dies.

* besides the funky GUI.

[deadrats]

re: jman's and brainiac's experiences, if my pc died and a company told me that i would have to buy the software again to reinstall the legit copy i originally bought, i wouldn't even consider it, i would find a crack or a pirated copy and they can bite me.

this isn't the first time M$ has tried something like this, remember back when XP was first introduced M$ included that windows product activation technology and people were all up in arms because XP calculated a unique hash based on your hardware configuration and if you changed more than a certain bit of your hardware you needed to reactivate.

M$ eventually softened their stance a bit as pirated oem versions of windows XP made the rounds (remember "the devil's own" version?) and by the time Vista rolled around you could install Vista without a product key and try it for a while before buying it.

with Win 7 they took it a step further and you can still download Win 7 sp1 iso's legally and try the OS for a while before it requires activation (and even then it keeps working, it just pops up a reminder every once in a while) and with Win 8 they actually sold the OS for $40 for a while, which is unheard of by M$, i remember when windows cost hundreds of dollars (i think XP cost something like $300 for the retail version).

with regards to office 2013, only the truly stupid will buy it, other will either use a pirated copy, a legally free alternative like libre office or they'll get their hands on a copy meant for a non-US market, for instance legit copies of windows and office meant for the asian market cost in the region of $5, technically they can't be legally sold in the US, but let's be honest with ourselves, go to your local chinatown or equivalent and you can find anything you want.

[Hoser Rob]

No big surprises for me. MS is turning into Apple. #1 reason I switched to linux, though I still have one win7 partition. For dvdfab hd deccrypter.

Unfortunately, though this isn't an issue for me personally at this time, open or libre office is not really an acceptable substitute. It's not really compatible with powerpoint. A buddy of mine has a windows partition on his macbook for precisely that reason. And he hates having a windows partition.

[usually_quiet]

If you read the full article, it does seem that Microsoft adopted this policy to make their subscription-based version of Office more attractive to individuals. The subscription version is transferable.

I moved to Open Office for my home computer last year because I can't justify the cost of MS Office for personal use.

[Island_Dweller]

MS continues to do its hardest to piss off its customers. I was highly annoyed when I first opened Word 2013 and tried to use "save as" with the menu. MS is actually trying to shove Skydrive Pro down people's throats. I had to jump through hoops to get rid of it and modify the registry to get rid of it from Explorer's right-click context menu.

[MOVIEGEEK]

If you read the full article, it does seem that Microsoft adopted this policy to make their subscription-based version of Office more attractive to individuals. The subscription version is transferable.

I moved to Open Office for my home computer last year because I can't justify the cost of MS Office for personal use.

Yeah MS allows you install Office 365 on five devices but it's $99USD per year(or $9.99 per month), no thanks MS.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/pd/productID.259179900?WT.term=office+365&...45f1csgBZ6REnU

BTW: Office 2013 is $139.99 for Home and $399.99 for Pro.

[yoda313]

If you read the full article, it does seem that Microsoft adopted this policy to make their subscription-based version of Office more attractive to individuals. The subscription version is transferable.

Thats what I was thinking when I read the headline. I knew they had a cloud based version and they must be pushing it.

Yeah MS allows you install Office 365 on five devices but it's $99USD per year(or $9.99 per month), no thanks MS.

Holy crap!

How much is google docs? That sounds a lot better. Oh wait isn't google docs free still???

I'm glad I don't need any high powered office suites in the near or foreseable future. Otherwise I would switch to google or open office. Ouch.

[Constant Gardener]

If Office Pro was offered to consumers at the same low price that large corporate customers pay, it would be a winner. Alternatively, make it an inexpensive on-line add-on to Windows. After all, it is competing with free; while MS Office may be a superior product, it is hard to justify the $$$ wanted by retailers.

[El Heggunte]

Best-case scenario: I will keep using Office 2003 "forever".

Worst-case scenario: I will switch to Office 2007.

Anyway, if there is sufficient interest and demand, sooner or later the crackers will find a way to fool the latest and greatest Micro$oft anti-piracy techniques.

The only thing that doesn't let me switch to OpenOffice or LibreOffice is that their developers still stubbornly refuse to include FULL support for embedded fonts.

[hello_hello]

Personally I think a lot of it is bluff. The same thing is supposed to have applied to OEM versions of Windows, but from what I understand from a couple of people who do a lot of PC repair work, a phone call to Microsoft will get them to re-activate an OEM copy of Windows after upgrading a motherboard and re-installing Windows etc. It'd be interesting to see how long they could get away with denying people the right to use software they've purchased before they end up in court.

And yes, I use the word "purchase" because that's how they advertise it. Even the article linked to in the first post describes the changes to the "retail" version of Office. The very definition of "retail" is the sale of goods and services.... none of this licencing rubbish they stick into a EULA in an attempt to bypass a consumer's normal rights using contract law. If you can even find somewhere on Microsoft's own site where they're not advertising their software for sale I'd be amazed.

And don't get me started on this academic and OEM scam..... I can imagine the conversation at Microsoft:
"We have this really expensive software which students can't afford but we want them to use it".
"I know, why don't we take away more of the usual consumer rights from the students than we do from businesses, then we can justify charging them a lot less for the same software and businesses won't complain about having to keep paying full price"
"Great idea. And that way they'll keep using our software when they enter the workforce"
"LOL! But that's not the best part. When they stop studying and want to use our software for work, we'll make them pay for it again!"

I switched to Lotus Symphony myself years ago. It's free and does everything I need an Office suite to do and I much prefer it's GUI to anything Microsoft offer. Have Microsoft discovered tabs can be used in programs other than browsers yet or are they still coming to terms with being forced to add them to IE to catch up with everyone else?

[yoda313]

Have Microsoft discovered tabs can be used in programs other than browsers yet or are they still coming to terms with being forced to add them to IE to catch up with everyone else?

I suppose you could theoretically call the "ribbon" a tab in a way - scratch that I'm not sure that is the same thing since thats the redesigned toolbar. Besides at least excel has tabs and has for years with multiple spreadsheets open in the same window - if you mean it that way.

[El Heggunte]

But the so-called "ribbon" IS a set of *tabbed toolbars*, so to speak.

And in fact, they are much older than I thought:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_(computing)#Controversy says:

the ribbon concept has historically appeared extensively as "tabbed toolbars" in applications such as Sausage Software's HotDog, Macromedia HomeSite, Dreamweaver and Borland Delphi. Lotus developed early ribbon UIs for its product eSuite. Screen shots are still available in an IBM redbook about eSuite.

[yoda313]

But the so-called "ribbon" IS a set of *tabbed toolbars*, so to speak.

And in fact, they are much older than I thought:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_...g)#Controversy says:

Well looks like I was closer to the mark than I thought Thanks.

[hello_hello]

It's not quite the same thing as real tabs.

[jagabo]

I switched to Open/Libre Office a few years ago.

The writing is on the wall: Microsoft is planning to make Windows a subscription product too. I deduce this from all the talk of a yearly update cycle starting with Windows Blue.

[usually_quiet]

I switched to Open/Libre Office a few years ago.

The writing is on the wall: Microsoft is also planning to make Windows a subscription product too. I deduce this from all the talk of a yearly update cycle starting with Windows Blue.

Software companies love the idea of subscriptions. Subscriptions provide a more even and predictable cash flow. People will grudgingly pay a yearly fee for some software they deem essential, like security software.

[Ai Haibara]

Isn't Adobe already trying something like this with Photoshop and the CS versions of their programs? (I use PS Elements and The GIMP, so I haven't been paying close attention. ) I think I've seen complaints about it, but so long as people are willing to go along with it...

Microsoft's been wanting to go subscription-based for everything, including Windows, for a number of years now, AFAIK.

[Brainiac]

I have Premiere Pro CS6, Photoshop CS6 and After Effects CS6 retail. AFAIK, you can install each onto a max of two computers, as long as the computers are not used at the same time. If you uninstall a program, you must deactivate it on that computer before you uninstall it. Then you can reinstall it onto another computer.

I hope Adobe doesn't abandon their retail versions or limit installation to one computer for life.

Brainiac