Office 2013 and Office 365 installations and transferability

 

A few weeks ago, we announced the new Office for consumers, including the all new Office 365 Home Premium, Office 365 University for college and university students, and traditional Office suites: Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013 and Office Professional 2013.

Since then we've received questions about the number of installations people get with the traditional Office suites, transferability, and how they compare to Office 2010. With that in mind, we want to offer some clarity on the matter, to help customers make the best purchasing decision.

Here's how our Office 2010 and Office 2013 licenses compare:  

*An exception is granted when the software is on a PC that is replaced under warranty.

It is important to note that Office 2013 suites have consistent rights and restrictions regarding transferability as the equivalent Office 2010 PKC, which was chosen by a majority of Office 2010 customers worldwide.

We think this new lineup offers unmatched choice and value for students, families and everyone in between.

  • For those looking to use Office on multiple devices - Office 365 Home Premium works across up to 5 devices (Windows tablets, PCs or Macs) and can be activated and deactivated across devices.
  • For those who only require Office on one device - The Office 2013 software is licensed to one computer for the life of that computer and is non-transferable (consistent with the rights and restrictions of Office 2010 PKC). In the event that a customer buys the Office 2013 software and installs it on a PC that fails under warranty, the customer can contact support to receive an exemption to activate the Office 2013 software on the replacement PC.
  • For college and university students - Office 365 University works across 2 devices (Windows tablets, PCs or Macs) and can be activated and deactivated across devices.

If you're interested in getting the new Office, we encourage you to go here to explore which offering will give you the most value.

--Jevon Fark, Office Team

 

Office Blogs Comments

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  • This is not fair. I think Microsoft should reconsider this policy. So I pay $399.99 for Office Pro my computer is stolen or brocked. Guess What? I need to pay again to have Office in my new computer. No way.

  • The BIG LIE comes to Redmond.  Until now, retail licenses for MS products allowed them to be moved from computer to computer with very few limitations.  Serial monogamy for a program, so to speak. This was the primary operational difference between retail and OEM licenses, which were restricted to a single machine (though once upon a time, OEM licenses could be moved, too).

    Claiming that the Office 2013 license terms for the retail product have not changed from previous retail versions is completely false.  If this were said under oath in court, it would constitute perjury and may even draw some time in jail.

    I seriously wonder if it will even survive the class action lawsuit that I consider to be inevitable if the license is not revised.  While there is a clear nexus between hardware and software that is purchased with it, what us old folks call "OEM" software, this does not exist between any hardware and the shrink wrapped box I buy at Fry's, Staples, Walmart, etc.  I really think this could open the door for a successful class action law suite.

    Another very gray - and contestable - area is exactly what constitutes a computer and when does its life end.  Software lives on hard drives.  Does the failure the hard drive mean the computer itself has reached end of life?  Not to any one not in the employ of Microsoft, I think.  What about the complementary issue: moving the hard drive to a new motherboard?  The software is on the same hard drive, so what died?  The software is still only in one place, in the hard drive, but the hard drive is now a different place.  By any ethical measure, this should be perfectly within the terms of the license.  I have one copy of the software and it is on one computer.

    As may be, just because Microsoft wants to move everyone to a subscription, i.e. Office 365, there's no reason people have to obey.  Without a doubt, Office 365 is pretty reasonably priced, but what if I don't want to keep paying for it forever?  That's why people buy houses rather than renting them, buy cars rather than leasing them, etc.  

    Some folks will move to Office 365, but they are the ones who would have ponied up the a retail box, particularly the 3-PC Home and Student boxes.  However, I think many more will now move to OpenOffice, LibreOffice, WordPerfect and some players to be named later,.

    What won't happen is that all those folks running pirated copies will see the light and mend their ways.  They didn't spend the money to be legal before.  In what fantasy world do these far more onerous license terms mean they will suddenly go legit and buy anything from Microsoft?

    Frankly, this is from the same folks who decreed that Windows 8 could not be made to boot to the traditional interface.  It's a huge restriction with no perceptible up side for the folks shelling out the money that Microsoft wants to collect.

  • Effective immediately, we have changed the Office 2013 retail license agreement to allow customers to move the software from one computer to another. We made this decision based on feedback from our customers who asked for additional flexibility in this

  • --Jevon Fark, Equipo de Office Hace unas semanas, publicamos esto para clarificar los nuevos términos

  • Use Ubuntu, it's not only better but also free.

    Then you don't have to put up with this.

  • Ok, somebody has some sense of what's right and wrong at Microsoft. You have made one step in the right direction regarding Office 2013 by changing the onerous licensing to a single device. The next step is to change the same policy towards PowerPivot in Office 2013. On the one hand you claim to want to provide BI to the masses, however, by removing PowerPivot from most versions of Office, except for volume licensing or O365.

    It was included in all versions of Office/Excel 2010, however, now we are being forced to buy volume licenses of Office 2013 (which is a minimum of 5) or move to Office 365. The problem is you ar enow adding SO MANY variations of Office 365 it's extremely difficult to know what's in and what's out.

    Yes, folks, that's right. If you want PowerPivot (or Power View), you can't go to your local Best Buy or Amazon and buy it -- for any price. And if you upgrade from any version of Office 2010 (like many of us who pre-purchased - thereby helping Microsoft makes it's sales numbers last year) to any version of Offiice 2013, you lose PowerPivot in the process. Period.

    Come on Microsoft, you had been doing so well with a noticeable change in becoming easier to do business with. Please don't follow the Oracle route of being a major PITA to deal with and making things much more complicated.

    Let's see you finish the right move by adding PowerPivot and PowerView back into any version of Office 2013 and Office 365. BI to the masses!

  • Hello Folks, Yesterday, the "TechNet eNews - Revisiting Windows 8 and Your Feedback" mailing went

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