Microsoft: Office 2013 license is for just one PC, FOREVER
Microsoft has clarified the licensing for retail versions of its Office 2013 productivity suite, confirming that boxed editions of the software are licensed for a single PC only and that the license may never be transferred, even if the user upgrades to a new PC. Over the past week, Office users around the web have expressed …
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LibreOffice will need to upgrade their servers
...to cope with a sudden rush of downloaders. No WAY would I buy something like that. Presumably their will be some devious addon in Microsoft Ugrade to enforce it. I don't know, no Windows 8, no Office, looking at Linux, what is the world coming to.
Open source
Open source or even OSX now appears to be better value.
Considering the fact that I have moved 'Office Professional 2010' three times, from one Win 7 laptop to another and which now resides on my bootcamp version of Win 7.
Microsoft may change their opinion when no one in their right mind buys it.
Does
Does 'Bend Over' Ballmer have us over a barrel with our trousers down?
@AC 00:38 (was: Re: Does)
Who is "us", Kemosabe?
It certainly isn't me & mine.
Re: @AC 00:38 (was: Does)
Nope. Count me & mine out of that royal "us" too.
Haven't touched any of that shit since XP... and yes, that was perfectly legit. Still have one of the early fully holographic CDs to show for it.
Good luck to those of you who believe you're enjoying the squalid racket. I must confess, I'm actually slightly enjoying watching the spectacle of Microsoft growing ever more desperate and more merciless in its reaming of its remaining flock. I wonder how long the show can go on like this.
Re: Does
Maybe he has you, but not me.
I said goodbye to MS crapware years ago. I have one old laptop with XP breading dust bunnies in the back of the closet just in case I ever need it but my primary laptop and desktops are FOSS all the way.
OK, not all of my software is FOSS. World of Goo and Minecraft may be closed source but they are both available on Linux, and companies that support Linux get my support..
Re: @AC 00:38 (was: Does)
I've got an XP cd that's even holographier than yours!
It is, unfortunately, a counterfeit copy.
Re: @AC 00:38 (was: Does) @jake
So? You expecting applause or something?
@AC 02:46
If you haven't touched any MS stuff since XP what makes you think you are qualified to judge what it's like now? At least I've touched Firefox 18 and think it's shit.
Re: @AC 02:46
I bet you have only tried it on Windows .... Try it on Linux it is not shit.
It is better to work with than Chrome IMO - copy and pasting bulk text for example works better with Firefox.
Re: @AC 02:46
"copy and pasting bulk text for example works better with Firefox." -- Whhaaaaat?
Re: @AC 02:46
>>I bet you have only tried it on Windows .... Try it on Linux it is not shit.
What kind of defence is that exactly? If they can't get it to work on the world's main OS then it IS shit. If they want FF to be a mainstream browser than a Linux one, it's kind of important they prioritise the Windows experience.
Re: @AC 02:46
>it's kind of important they prioritise the Windows experience.
Why? Why would it be important to prioritise an old, closed proprietary platform so obviously in its death-throws and which comes with a proprietor imposed browser and userbase too stupid to know any better anyway? That would be stupid.
Re: @AC 02:46
"Death-throes". Things that are dying rarely have the strength to throw things all that far. Hell, even Arthur had to get Bedivere to throw Excalibur into the lake.
Re: @AC 02:46
Judging from current sales figures, the main OS is Android.
Re: @AC 02:46
Whoops. Sorry HFG - knew that. Looks like there's plenty of stupidity to go 'round. ;)
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Paging Dr RICHTO
Emergency on Microsoft licensing thread. Crash team to Microsoft licensing thread.
BEEP BEEP BEEP...
Re: LibreOffice will need to upgrade their servers
Perhaps, Microsoft's real reason was to find a way of making Office 2010 look good?
MS Office Pro+ 2013, retail price £389.99 (seriously???)
My girlfriend has an iMac and a Macbook Air, because of the way the licencing works with her appleid she only bought pages once (with the "free" credit that she got with the student discount), when she got her air it should have come with Mountain Lion, as it didn't they gave her a free upgrade, which then (as it is iTunes software) she could then also apply to her iMac too (for no extra cost).
Re: @AC 02:46
according to the Linux and IOS community Windows has been dying since 3.1WFW, but until someone tells M$oft and the general PC buying world that it is, people will still buy it in their millions.
OS's are like religions, always the one you worship is better than anyone else's but you cant prove the existance or reasoning to believe why yours is so superior to the masses
Re: Does
Nope.. I'm afraid its just you. I suggest you bring your own lube. Supple Steve is a bit forgetful these days.
Mine's the one with the the Fedora 18 install disk on the pocket.
@AC 13:55
Linux is everywhere, in just about every modern electronic device everyone comes into contact with. Windows runs on PCs: Those quaint old big, heavy, slow, hot, ugly, noisy, expensive machines your parents used to use. These days people use slick, light, nifty, efficient, truly portable gadgets for an ever increasing amount of their computing. Tablets, phones, phablets... they run Linux and iOS. Microsoft has tried, desperately, repeatedly, for years, to muscle in on those important growing markets. LMAO. Microsoft remains an insignificant little blip in those important growing markets. Windows runs on PCs. Microsoft is hanging from the past by a very thin thread.
Re: @AC 02:46
> What kind of defence is that exactly? If they can't
> get it to work on the world's >main OS then it IS shit. If
> they want FF to be a mainstream browser than a Linux
> one, it's kind of important they prioritise the Windows
> experience.
I thought the Windows Experience(TM) was _supposed_ to be "shit"...
Re: @AC 00:38 (was: Does) @jake
"Re: @AC 00:38 (was: Does) @jake
So? You expecting applause or something?"
Jake, i am applauding you right now. In fact i think i can hear someone next door doing the same thing.
Re: @AC 00:38 (was: Does) @jake
That's not the sound of applause coming from the chap next door - he's just read this
Re: @AC 02:46
Maybe you can't, but I know I can because I made quite a long list after my first year with Linux encompassing the install experience on up, from organizational matters like the frequency of releases to technical issues like copy-on-write for process spawning.
So if the PC dies
The thieving bastards are going to mug you for more dosh
F*&k that for a game of soldiers.
Re: So if the PC dies
But how appropriate that the MS spokesman for this was Mr Fark...
...while it's certain that most awful things in this world stem from incompetence rather than malice Microsoft's recent actions seem so stridently uncuddly that they smack of Götterdämmerung of the 3rd Reich sort, i.e. the belief that the common people have failed the majestic vision and are not worthy of it, all that remains is darkness and fall.
Re: Götterdämmerung
My thoughts exactly. This behaviour is symptomatic of a company that has finally woken up to the fact that its old business model has failed and is panicking over its increasing irrelevancy, hence the push to rentism to try to secure a revenue stream. And as with all such situations, everything they do merely fans the flames of their own demise, as more and more customers realise they are being shafted and start looking for alternatives.
Re: So if the PC dies
Indeed, it sounds as though you need to insure your software too.
Otherwise, if someone steals your laptop, you have to fork out for another copy of Office too.
On the bright side, the thieves will have a legal copy of Office, having it physically in their possession.
"No piracy was committed during the theft of this device."
You have a license to install, not a license to use.
Re: So if the PC dies
Not just that.
It is yet another MSFT - OEM manufacturers "rub my back so I rub yours" which should be questioned on competition grounds. How the f*** do you prove your warranty claim If you assemble your PC yourself or you buy it from one of the few remaining small manufacturers?
Yeah, I know - they are now extinct. MSFT programme of assisting HP, Dell and Co in providing unfair competition advantage has practically eradicated them.
Though this may backfire. I can see a neat business model here - just provide 10y warranty on a computer at the cost of let's say 30% of office license. Hardware is so cheap nowdays that this should be able to cover upgrading motherboards, hard disks and power supplies for 10 years :)
Re: So if the PC dies
"mug you for more dosh"
- That's the Microsoft way. People are catching on. You don't have to get screwed - open source is professional, even best-of-class quality now. MS are milking their cash cow now for all it is worth, because it's about to keel over and they know it. But there are a few tens of billions in that ugly old ribbon-ised cow yet....
Re: So if the PC dies
Problem is - there is no legal definition of 'PC'.
If I change my monitor, does MS think I have a new PC? How about the graphics card? Case? Hard disk? Processor? New motherboard, same processor?
So technically it's easy to challenge on the grounds of non-specific legal vagueness.
And then if - hypothetically - a court discovered that installing a new version of Windows, or even just reinstalling the old version, also creates a new PC, there's any number of interesting legal challenges to that.
Re: So if the PC dies
Microsoft Knock Knock Joke:
"Note the italicized portion above (emphasis ours). What it means is that the only way to give or sell your copy of Office 2013 to someone else is to physically give it to them, by handing over the actual computer that the software is installed on.
Under these terms, you can't even transfer the software to yourself. If you buy a new PC, you're expected to buy a brand-new retail copy of Office to go with it, even if you uninstall it from your old machine.
That Microsoft would be so brazen as to license its software under such terms beggars belief. And yet, as it turns out, that's just what it has done."
Microsoft - "Knock Knock"
Consumers - "Who's there?"
Microsoft - "Microsoft."
Consumers - "Fuck Off."
Ahhhhhh Haaaaaaaa Haaaaaaaaaaaaa this bullshit from Naziware Land just gets more, and more and more insipid.....
It's funnier than your mother in law having a car crash......
Re: So if the PC dies
"You have a license to install, not a license to use."
Interesting point... does that mean that Office won't come with an End User License Agreement anymore, and will be an End Machine License Agreement? The machine is licensed, but not the user?
I can kind of understand it if the software comes installed OEM, in the same way that you usually can't transfer a Windows license from a PC you buy in a shope, but it appears this is wider than that.
Re: So if the PC dies
Ah Eadon the MS rants continue...
Re: So if the PC dies
MShave historically tied the OEM versions to your motherboard. If that dies and a replacement is needed (most direct replacements still work) then you need to ring them up and chat. Ive only had to do that on a couple of occasions out of 1000's of activations (MAK rather than KMS) and have had no issue at all. In the old days of XP rarely wanting a reactivation it was an automated response.
Re: So if the PC dies
@Bill the Sys Admin "Ah Eadon the MS rants continue..."
I rant against MS, Oracle and others when they do evil things, which is often. Do you approve of MS treating everyone like prisoners with their draconian licence terms and suffocating DRM? You approve of this rent software not own it bullshit?
Then in that case, my friend, you deserve no freedoms to use your computer and software you paid for how you please.
Most users will fall into Microsoft's trap. This is a switch and bait tactic by MS. It is surely illegal - an abuse of the consumer's rights. In the same way people object to race horses in burgers, they have a right to complain about licences that prevent one taking software one has paid for and installing it on whatever machines we bloody well want.
There you go, another rant :)
Re: So if the PC dies
@Bill the Sys Admin - thing is, in this instance, I have to agree with Eadon.
... I know, I know, don't worry, the sky isn't going to fall down. But the point is that without a new strategy, Microsoft is in real trouble, and if they self destruct, that leaves the field open for a new player to move in, take control and everyone to end up hating in 15-25 years time.
Choice and standards must now be the watchwords.
Re: So if the PC dies
In this instance I have to agree with RyokuMas. Did the Universe undergo some alternative reality distortion?
"Choice and standards must now be the watchwords" - indeed and they always have been. Fair competition is the only way capitalism works in a healthy and openness and standards provide that. But we also need licences that give us the rights to use the computers and the software we please in a fair way too. We should own what we buy. MS says we do not own the software we have bought.
Who wants to pay for something that they then do not own? With open source software you own it, it is yours. Open source treats people like adults, MS treats their customers like children or prisoners.
As someone else said, pirates treat their customers with respect and take out the DRM that makes people's lives unfree and inconvenient. This is a capitalist view - give people good stuff and they will pay.
Re: So if the PC dies
"Whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make mad".
I must say though, it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people.
@P Lee
"On the bright side, the thieves will have a legal copy of Office, having it physically in their possession."
Pure unadulterated genius sir!
Horses for courses
"In the same way people object to race horses in burgers, they have a right to complain about licences that prevent one taking software one has paid for and installing it on whatever machines we bloody well want."
Not quite the same way. In the case of burgers, it says "COW" on the packaging so people get upset when they find Shergar on the inside. In the case of Office, it already says "FOAD" on the licence terms, so what's to complain about? If you don't like it, don't buy it.
Re: So if the PC dies
EMLA - END MACHINE LICENSE AGREEMENT.
No, doesn't have a nice ring to it.
What if a small 'accident' happens to my keyboard, mice, monitor, PSU, motherboard, graphics card, but not my hard drive, and I have to replace all of them? Is it still the same INSTALLED software and I don't even need their insurance, right?
It reminds me of a friend that restored a Volkswagen Beetle to working condition. Only the frame with the serial number was original, all else, tires, windshield, doors, steering wheel, pedals, seats, headlights, taillights, fenders, was new. The engine was still the same block, but every internal component, gasket, valve, belt, headers, battery, cabling and spark plug was replaced as well. It was the same car, registration wise.
MS can go Fark itself.
Re: So if the PC dies
Probably, but I always say my motherboard died but its in the same case and they've been fine with Windows OEM (Unless they don't allow that now).
Re: So if the PC dies
@Eadon
'You approve of this rent software not own it bullshit?'
Just to correct you on one point: The end user acquires a license to use the software: They do not then OWN the software (or rent it for that matter). This also applies to open source - it's subject to terms and conditions as stipulated in the license.
It's a common mistake/misunderstanding, but the distinction is quite important.
Other than that: Nice rant :)
Re: So if the PC dies
But what if one argues that Microsoft sells the LICENSE, which then counts as a sale and therefore invokes exhaustion?
Re: So if the PC dies
quote: "MS says we do not own the software we have bought."
I don't think you understand exactly what it is you have bought. The reason they are called EULAs is that you have not bought the software, you have bought a license. If you had bought the software in its entirety, you would have the legal rights to make as many copies as you like and sell them on for whatever price you chose. That is why what you purchase is called a License, legally they cannot let you buy the software without you also gaining the resale and copy rights.
In this sense, it's more like buying a service, so it would be akin to saying that you do not own the right to do what you wish with the engineer who is providing the tech support you purchased. You bought the tech support (license), not the engineer (software that performs the licensed function).
For the inevitable car analogy, imagine you purchase (lump sum) an agreement with the local garage for free ongoing servicing of your car (an End User Service Agreement). You are not entitled to relocate their servicing equipment as you see fit (you have not "bought the servicing", only the right to have a service performed at your convenience), and in this case they are also refusing to service any car you bring in (license the hardware, not the user), only the original one covered by the agreement. It may be more restrictive than you are used to, and you are of course free to decide to terminate the agreement and look elsewhere (and most would, tbh), however they are perfectly within their rights to ask for those restrictions, and to enforce them.
I'm not going to buy Office 2013, nor am I going to rent Office 365, but I don't for one second feel entitled to demand MS change their terms to fit me. They just lose me as a customer instead :)
quote: "Who wants to pay for something that they then do not own?"
Rented accomodation, lease agreements (cars, printers, colocation racks etc.), theatre tickets, and service agreements all seem to sell well, and they do not give you anything to "own", they simply enable the use of something that is owned by someone else. The company I work for seems perfectly happy to lease printers, for instance, and several friends rent their accomodation. In that sense, I would hazard that the answer to that questions is "quite a lot of people are perfectly happy to pay for (the use of) something that they do not own". :)
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