Thursday, March 7, 2013

Microsoft Office 2013 traditional suite (retail box) no longer allow installation in more than 1 PC

Microsoft has just launched their Office 2013 suite, which is generally available in 2 different formats:

  • the cloud-based Office 365 chargeable in yearly subscription basis, one subscription entitled to installation in 5 devices regardless PC, laptop, tablet or Mac.
  • the traditional Office 2013 as Full Packaged Product (FPP - retail box) or Electronic Software Delivery (ESD - Internet download), paid once in a life time for the license.
The previous version of MS Office 2010 FPP products allow installation in multiple computers:
  • MS Office Home and Student 2010 - up to 3 computers within the same household
  • MS Office Home and Business 2010 - 1 computer and 1 laptop (mobile device) used by the same user
  • MS Office Professional 2010 - 1 computer and 1 laptop (mobile device) used by the same user 
However, the new MS Office 2013, regardless Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013 or Office Professional 2013, is only licensed for 1 user and 1 computer only.

Beside this, the previous license agreement for MS Office 2010 retail products is transferable from one computer to another. You can uninstall the legitimate copy of MS Office 2010 from one computer, and use its license key to install and activate a new copy of MS Office 2010 in another computer, not more than one time every 90 days. You can also make a one-time transfer of ownership of the software and license to another user (i.e. sell or give it to another person).

The new MS Office 2013 was initially non-transferable, meaning once it is installed and activated in one computer, no other computer can use the same license, regardless the original is uninstalled or scrapped or not. This include situation when you want to shift from old or damaged computer to a new computer.

Anyhow, due to numerous protest by the users, there is news that Microsoft has just changed their policy to also allow MS Office 2013 to be transferable now.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Hint: Click on the "Older Posts" link to continue reading, or click here for a listing of all my past 3 months articles.