Microsoft Office Should Be Licensed By Activity
By
Staten Island, NY Posted: 12/5/2015 1:00:00 AM
A lot of people are paying for Office licenses that they rarely use.
For consumers and small companies, there are two ways to buy Microsoft Office. You can pay $150 and install Office on one computer, or pay a $100 annual fee and install it on up to 5 computers.
A lot of people who have a laptop and a desktop select the 5 computer license because paying $100 to install it on both is cheaper than paying $300 to get 2 copies, but in reality, they're overpaying, because chances are, they're only using it on one computer at any given time.
Big companies pay for Microsoft licenses based on the number of simultaneous users, but they don't offer that option for consumers and small businesses.
The corporate licensing model makes a lot of sense, because you are only paying for active users. Just because you install it on a computer doesn't mean you're going to use it every day. In the case of a laptop and desktop owner, chances are the desktop is turned off when the laptop is turned on.
People like me who own multiple computers should be able to buy a 1 user license, and install it on as many computers as they own, as long as they're restricted to using it on one computer at a time.
Microsoft can easily determine whether Office is being run on two computers at the same time, so they should be able to offer pricing based on the number of simultaneous computers you plan on using, just like they do with corporate accounts. Even without strict tracking and enforcement, by requiring a Microsoft ID and password to install Office, they could easily track patterns of large scale abuse. So typical home users would be able to pay for just one license.
Joe Crescenzi, Founder
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