Microsoft Office 2013 license change - retail licenses now locked and cannot be moved

Steltek

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2001
3,294
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Licensing change from Office 2010 -- retail copies are now locked to the machine they are first activated on and cannot be moved to a new machine.

http://arstechnica.com/information-...e-2013-license-may-send-users-to-google-docs/

Really stupid change -- wonder if M$ will backpedal on this or not. If not, at least I know I won't be buying any future Office licenses. And, if they get away with it on Office, I wonder how much longer it will be until the same thing happens with Windows. . . .
 
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Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,292
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I guess I won't be hurrying to get O'13... I guess I'll just stick with O'10 until MS collapses and they stop supporting it.
 

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
8,874
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I agree, they will not get a buy from me with that kind of license. Retail means you should be able to do what you want with and install it anywhere (up to the limit of how many computers it says). If you deactivate it on a computer, you should still be allowed to reactivate it on another computer.
 

oynaz

Platinum Member
May 14, 2003
2,449
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I wonder how they intend to defend this decision in court. It is quite illegal in many countries.
 

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,292
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91
I agree, they will not get a buy from me with that kind of license. Retail means you should be able to do what you want with and install it anywhere (up to the limit of how many computers it says). If you deactivate it on a computer, you should still be allowed to reactivate it on another computer.

By buying it and installing it you are agreeing to whatever tripe they have written up in the EULA.
 

EagleKeeper

Discussion Club Moderator<br>Elite Member
Staff member
Oct 30, 2000
42,589
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The death spiral for Microsoft is in full effect, and management is expending a lot of effort to speed it up. Anyone who dares point out that the entire system is collapsing. Microsoft is unwilling to change, and that is very clear. Even if they wanted to, they are culturally far beyond the point of being able to. What was a slow bleed of marketshare is now gushing, and management is clueless, intransigent, and myopic. Game over, the thrashing will continue, but it won&#8217;t change the outcome.

Microsoft is running out of time, the grim reaper is knocking at it's doors.

And who is replacing it? I suspect that very few companies ate switching their desktops from a Windows platform to a Linux or Mac system.

I myself do not like the rules, but in terms of a death spiral, that is BS.

As long as the # systems sold with Windows exceeds that of the sum of competition, they are not going downwards.

System builders also are doing more Windows than non-Windows.

Enthusiasts/hobbyists are the ones that may be where "market share" is lost. That may be good, it alerts MS of trends that they need to be aware of and adapt to.

That market share lost there is just noise.
 
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JimKiler

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 2002
3,561
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Wait, didn't MS loosen installs on something last year, was that Office or something for the MS Store with downloaded apps?
 

pauldun170

Diamond Member
Sep 26, 2011
9,146
5,096
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Glad 2010 is working out great for me. guess I will be sticking with it for awhile.

HOWEVER,
I upgrade my computer every 5 years
I upgrade my Office almost every release.
Not sure if I am outraged yet

edit: Yeah I'm going to lean towards outraged
 

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
8,874
111
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Since I do not need Office for a business, I have no need to upgrade it. On my current home system, I still run Office XP ... I also have legit Office 2007 Ultimate (full retail package) so if I ever need to work with newer type files, I can easily do so (Office XP also has the compatability pack installed) Microsoft can keep their over priced software. I will not be a willing party to a Subscription Software method.
 

Mushkins

Golden Member
Feb 11, 2013
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Its stupid, but not nearly as stupid as it seems. They're doing this to help push towards the subscription option via Office365. $100 a year for the full office suite on up to five computers, a couple bucks a month per user for small businesses, or the old enterprise licensing model for big corps.

As much as we may hate to admit it, digital distribution and subscription models *are* picking up steam for these kinds of software. Nobody wants to drop $300 on MS Office or $700 on Adobe Acrobat only to have to do it again in two years, it's better for them and in many ways better for us to pay for it in smaller amounts over time. They avoid the sticker shock and sell way more copies to way more people, and we don't have to worry about not always having the latest versions or customer support.

With this move, they can go back to the bean counters and say "See, look how retail sales are going down and Office 365 subs are way up. Profit!"

The real outrage comes when the bean counters let them nix retail and OEM entirely and go to a full subscription model, then jack up the price to 3x what it was now that everyones already stuck with it.
 

JimKiler

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 2002
3,561
206
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Its stupid, but not nearly as stupid as it seems. They're doing this to help push towards the subscription option via Office365. $100 a year for the full office suite on up to five computers, a couple bucks a month per user for small businesses, or the old enterprise licensing model for big corps.

As much as we may hate to admit it, digital distribution and subscription models *are* picking up steam for these kinds of software. Nobody wants to drop $300 on MS Office or $700 on Adobe Acrobat only to have to do it again in two years, it's better for them and in many ways better for us to pay for it in smaller amounts over time. They avoid the sticker shock and sell way more copies to way more people, and we don't have to worry about not always having the latest versions or customer support.

With this move, they can go back to the bean counters and say "See, look how retail sales are going down and Office 365 subs are way up. Profit!"

The real outrage comes when the bean counters let them nix retail and OEM entirely and go to a full subscription model, then jack up the price to 3x what it was now that everyones already stuck with it.

I can get Office 2013 for $10 thru MS's eHUP program but chose not to. we have had my wife's andriod phone for 2 years but in the last year I started using Google Drive and their office docs plus i have a skydrive account. I see no need to pay for a subscription and Office 2010 has everything i need for home use that google Drive and SkyDrive do not.
 

Evander

Golden Member
Jun 18, 2001
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What a massive fuckup and ripoff this is. I might bight the bullet if they reduced the pricing to $50/$100/$150 for Student & Teacher/Standard/Pro, but $300 for a one machine Office is absolutely out of the question and will generate a lot of well deserved hatred towards MS
 

Mushkins

Golden Member
Feb 11, 2013
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I can get Office 2013 for $10 thru MS's eHUP program but chose not to. we have had my wife's andriod phone for 2 years but in the last year I started using Google Drive and their office docs plus i have a skydrive account. I see no need to pay for a subscription and Office 2010 has everything i need for home use that google Drive and SkyDrive do not.

Thats awesome and i'm glad there's a solution that exactly meets your needs, you're not their target customer though.

Home user sales of Office are small potatoes, and the Home and Student (no outlook) edition is already deeply discounted. This is all about the Home and Business and above because it includes Outlook, the de-facto email client for businesses small and large. The big money they're after is getting small and medium businesses to steer clear of buying retail licenses for Office and get them on the Office365 subscription model with business agreements. The more businesses that hop on board, the less focus Microsoft needs to spend supporting legacy software in business and enterprise environments, and the more money they make from contract licensing without retail outlets taking their cut.

There will always be retail and OEM licensing available for those home users who need or want Office, but they are by far the market segment Microsoft cares the least about on this one.

From a small business standpoint, $8/mo/user for everything Office365 comes with is a fantastic solution compared to system-locked $300 retail licenses. By the time your typical PC refresh cycle/warranty expiry is up, you're saving money over retail license or big-ticket enterprise licensing and you're getting way more features, support, and the benefit of no exchange server for your IT department to stress about.

The system locking is just one further push convincing small/medium business IT that migrating to Office365 subscriptions instead of managing traditional Office licensing is a smart move.
 

Steltek

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2001
3,294
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So if I cant even deactivate the license and install the license on a newer PC also??

No, you can't. The license (whether OEM or retail) now lives and dies with the first PC you install and activate it on.
 

TheSlamma

Diamond Member
Sep 6, 2005
7,625
5
81
MS is doing everything they can to force people over to Office 365, even in the enterprise it's getting miserable with the Exchange servers, once again you cannot upgrade Exchange like you could in the past, it's another migration process, but if you are on 365 it's all handled for you.

Edit: also Libre Office FTMFW
 
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finbarqs

Diamond Member
Feb 16, 2005
3,617
2
81
don't forget, you if you have to reformat your drive, you're screwed also. It's only 1 INSTALL. That's how they control it. Bad motherboard? SOL. Buy a new office! Ooooooorrrrr, buy office 365!!!
 

slicksilver

Golden Member
Mar 14, 2000
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don't forget, you if you have to reformat your drive, you're screwed also. It's only 1 INSTALL. !!!

MS has gone fully retard now I guess. I would think that they will change their stance soon as I cant think of one type of user who would want to get this version.
 

ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
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People pay for software these days? I thought most people started pirating Office back when it was $500 or something stupid like that.

I really wish Libre Office didn't suck so bad. It would be nice to get away from MS Office on home computers, but Excel seems to be the only one that knows how to make graphs or trend lines. Libre Office thinks the R^2 of every trend line ever is exactly 1.
 

JimKiler

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 2002
3,561
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Thats awesome and i'm glad there's a solution that exactly meets your needs, you're not their target customer though.

Home user sales of Office are small potatoes, and the Home and Student (no outlook) edition is already deeply discounted. This is all about the Home and Business and above because it includes Outlook, the de-facto email client for businesses small and large. The big money they're after is getting small and medium businesses to steer clear of buying retail licenses for Office and get them on the Office365 subscription model with business agreements. The more businesses that hop on board, the less focus Microsoft needs to spend supporting legacy software in business and enterprise environments, and the more money they make from contract licensing without retail outlets taking their cut.

There will always be retail and OEM licensing available for those home users who need or want Office, but they are by far the market segment Microsoft cares the least about on this one.

From a small business standpoint, $8/mo/user for everything Office365 comes with is a fantastic solution compared to system-locked $300 retail licenses. By the time your typical PC refresh cycle/warranty expiry is up, you're saving money over retail license or big-ticket enterprise licensing and you're getting way more features, support, and the benefit of no exchange server for your IT department to stress about.

The system locking is just one further push convincing small/medium business IT that migrating to Office365 subscriptions instead of managing traditional Office licensing is a smart move.

Good point, this is a cost savings to MS to more people to abandon legacy apps that then need less support services.

Wait, didn't MS loosen installs on something last year, was that Office or something for the MS Store with downloaded apps?

Office365 gives you 5 devices to install on so thus another way they are trying to be customer friendly, but one install for the retail license is insane when compared to 5 active devices for this.
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
1
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Office 2010 is still available so far, for those who want a perpetual license that can be moved to their next rig. It also can be installed on the primary user's desktop and portable, whereas Office 2013 would require buying two licenses for that.

Newegg and Amazon have ratcheted the price up on 2010. Provantage.com has it for $220something, though.
 

Raincity

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2000
4,477
12
81
don't forget, you if you have to reformat your drive, you're screwed also. It's only 1 INSTALL. That's how they control it. Bad motherboard? SOL. Buy a new office! Ooooooorrrrr, buy office 365!!!

You can reformat and install all you want, You just cant reinstall it on a new system drive without obtaining a new installation ID from MS.
 

Gintaras

Golden Member
Dec 28, 2000
1,892
1
71
I agree, they will not get a buy from me with that kind of license. Retail means you should be able to do what you want with and install it anywhere (up to the limit of how many computers it says). If you deactivate it on a computer, you should still be allowed to reactivate it on another computer.

Beware, when you buy a computer with MS Win8 OEM preinstalled - key is in BIOS, so, who knows if you want to change mobo on that PC?

I've same issue with new Lenovo laptop just bought - install new HDD - Lenovo says I have to buy Win8 again - they don't provide Recovery to media option on 1st boot, no Recovery discs come with laptop...Recovery made to USB drive won't work on new HDD or SSD...
 

finbarqs

Diamond Member
Feb 16, 2005
3,617
2
81
well microsoft hup works like the old ways... looks like that's the way to go...