Posted on 02/15/2013 6:25:19 PM PST by ExxonPatrolUs
Microsoft yesterday confirmed that a retail copy of Office 2013 is permanently tied to the first PC on which it's installed, preventing customers from deleting the suite from one machine they own and installing it on another.
The move is a change from past Office end-user licensing agreements (EULAs), experts said, and is another way Microsoft is pushing customers, especially consumers, to opt for new "rent-not-own" subscription plans.
"That's a substantial shift in Microsoft licensing," said Daryl Ullman, co-founder and managing director of the Emerset Consulting Group, which specializes in helping companies negotiate software licensing deals. "Let's be frank. This is not in the consumer's best interest. They're paying more than before, because they're not getting the same benefits as before."
(Excerpt) Read more at m.computerworld.com ...
I’ve been happily using Open Office for free for at least 5 years.
Open office works great.
They are targeting me, I just installed office 97 on my new win system. I downloaded open office just in case they didn’t support 97 any more
Nothing wrong with using Office 2007.
I use Open Office, my only gripe is I haven’t figured out how to use Korean letters. (or more accurately hangul)
Worth every penny I paid for it.
If the number of customers is constant (and dropping, due to recessions) then the company has to tighten the grip on existing customers. Just like Obama.
Unfortunately, at some point people will realize that hacked versions are an increasingly good value for the money. MS was even so kind to design the hack right into their products. As the industry rolls back from polished rows of cubicles and necktie-wearing engineers in white shirts to dirty warehouses and fly by night companies, businesses will see less value in compliance - especially if to stay legal you have to pay twice and thrice for the same product.
with Linux
So Microsoft is conceding defeats to Google Docs?
I’ve replaced Microsoft Word with Kingsoft Writer. Faster and does all that I need with a better interface, IMHO.
The FR community continues to surprise and delight!
I have found features missing in Open office that I need. In power point I can adjust character spacing by a 1/10 of a point. I haven’t found this in Open Office.
I wonder if you could install it on a virtual machine and them move the virtual machine to a new location?
Pretty soon a copy of MS Office 97 will cost more than the latest release from Microsoft. I have a couple of them, and they do everything I need to do. This is important, because Open Office spreadsheet graphing is useless.
I still love Win98, and use it in arcade machines. It gets the job done for the simple things I have to do on trailing edge equipment, which I have BOXES of. I am Mad Max of the info superhighway. Suck it, Bill Gates!
Office 2000 still works on my Windows 7/64bit/8gb ram machine for my limited purposes -— Word and Front Page.
I’d much rather stick with WordPerfect.
To this day, people are still surprised at what they can do on a Linux system -FREE! Twenty dollars for an old used computer if you don't already have one and a free download onto CD for the install and she's right, mate!
apparently their strategy is to reduce the number of people buying ms-office.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.