Microsoft removes one-off Office 2019 licenses from its Home Use Program

[Polycount]

In context: The software industry has increasingly begun to move from one-off license key purchases to "live service" subscription models. Though Microsoft hasn't yet gone that far with Windows itself, the tech giant is doing its best to push its cloud and subscription-based suite of productivity tools, Office 365, on customers.

As reported by Computer World, Microsoft has decided to remove one-off Office 2019 licenses from its Home Use Program (HUP). Microsoft made this decision somewhat quietly, opting to revise its HUP FAQ with the updated information in lieu of a major announcement.

The HUP, for the unaware, is a program that effectively allowed users to purchase a discounted version of the Office suite they use at work for home use -- provided they work at an "eligible company." Unfortunately for anyone who benefited from that program and enjoyed the offline experience that the standard Office 2019 suite offers, that will no longer be possible.

Moving forward, fans of the HUP will only have access to discounted versions of Office 365 Home and Office 365 Personal; both of which require annual subscriptions as opposed to one-off license purchases.

"Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 are no longer available as Home Use Program offers," the updated HUP FAQ reads.

To be clear, Microsoft has not yet blocked anybody from purchasing Office 2019 through normal avenues, and they aren't likely to do so in the near future. However, there are obvious business benefits that would come with turning one-time customers into recurring spenders, so perhaps they'll go that route a few years down the line -- only time will tell.

Lead image credit: Shutterstock

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/81407-microsoft-removes-one-off-office-2019-licenses-home.html

 

[tkabou]

I'm still content with my Office 2007, probably the best version ever.

The whole MS Office revisions (like so many other things these days) remind of a line from Tron: "this year we put a 12 on the box"

 

[Uncle Al]

Switched to LibreOffice years ago and never looked back. Microsoft chooses to enhance their revenue stream by putting the screws to their customers rather than invent new and exciting software. At this point I'm just one step away from moving to linux and dumping Microsoft completely ......

 

[Sergey Novikov]

Interesting

 

[gusticles41]

Boo hiss. Our company uses 2019. I've been taking advantage of the Home Use Program for years, and have advised my colleagues to do the same.

For anyone that's curious, 2019 Professional Plus was $14.95 before the change. Now a super awesome subscription to Office 365 Personal is $48.99/yr, 365 Home is $69.99/yr. Hardly a good accommodation.

 

[BSim500]

Switched to LibreOffice years ago and never looked back. Microsoft chooses to enhance their revenue stream by putting the screws to their customers rather than invent new and exciting software. At this point I'm just one step away from moving to linux and dumping Microsoft completely ......

We already ditched MSO for LibreOffice, not just personally but for a family owned small business too. Printable documents, invoices, etc, we need to share with others are in PDF, so DOCX v ODT compatibility is a non issue. The rest is all part of the great "Software As A Service" dumbing down ("rent Office for $1,000 per decade for life to be permitted to continue to type simple 1-6 page letters you used to use Microsoft Works 95 for...") LOL.

Dumping Microsoft Office was a lot less painful than anticipated, and the few lost features (VBA or simultaneous online collaboration) we never used is more than outweighed by the huge sense of liberation in stepping off that rat-race treadmill, not needing to "activate" or re-license anything, and several features which are objectively better, eg, better PDF export features or Libreoffice's HTML export that ends up about 6-50x less bloated, whilst MSO's exported DOCX to HTML is filled with page after page of "MsoListParagraph" utter gibberish that's virtually unusable for importing into web pages...

 

[wiyosaya]

I remain a happy WordPerfect user. WordPerfect makes Word look like and there is none of this subscription crap.

I really hate this subscription model fad. Everyone wants their proboscis in my wallet siphoning out my money. In most cases, a subscription only model will turn me completely away from a company like M$.

 

[libreoffice]

Wait a minute! People actually paid these multiple billion dollar, greedy corporations for their products when there are free alternative to be had.

 

[gusticles41]

Wait a minute! People actually paid these multiple billion dollar, greedy corporations for their products when there are free alternative to be had.

$14.95 for Office Pro Plus? Yeah.

 

[Impudicus]

All these subscriptions have only got me to move to alternatives... Libre office, Gimp, and even Linux where possible.

 

[McMurdeR]

Bought Office on HUP a few times, but I would rather find an alternative than subscribe to 365. This is a bad move.

 

[retsxel]

Gee, who predicted this nonsense... Luckily, I haven't used MS office in almost two decades. Open Office/Libra Office for the win!

 

[PEnnn]

Although I have Office 2000 and Office XP, I switched to Libre Office years ago.

Screw Micro$haft.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I'm currently using Office 2010. Thanks to this move it will be my last MS Office software. I'm not paying a sub for any software or game.

 

[dogofwars]

You could upgrade every few years and be fine with it. Now you have to pay every year and it's a connected product, we don't have enough connected thing already?

 

[Theinsanegamer]

MS constaly pushing for the cloud is so tone deaf, and the sad thing is people believe it. The software guys at work love the idea, and are debating moving to it for 3000+ users, and always try to talk up the amazing features like file sharing (anyone with a competent network already has this).

I cant help but facepalm. Outside of HR and payroll, which already have office 2016 licenses, everyone else makes basic spreadsheets and word docs. We have no need to dump tons of cash into the black maw that is office subscriptions, especially when open office, libre office, ece already exist. People just go stupid when it comes to subscriptions, they think they are getting an amazing deal until you point out the cost of a proper office license and how much cheaper it will be after 10 years, and the free alternatives.

If only linux could just get gaming and userspace convenience to windows 7 levels already.....

 

[arrowflash]

I, too, have been using OpenOffice for many years and it never made me miss Microsoft Office. It has all the features and functionality I ever needed. Also successfully pushed one of the companies I worked at to switch from unlicensed copies of Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.

However OpenOffice/LibreOffice Calc, compared to Microsoft Excel, is still a bit limited for advanced users who do complex work with huge corporate spreadsheets. The 1024 columns limit, lack of VBA support, limited database connectivity and the absence of a few quality of life features present on Excel are all issues I've seen raised by some spreadsheet gurus both personally and on the internet. Many companies and advanced users remain with Microsoft Office solely because of Excel. But home users and small companies have no reason not to migrate to OpenOffice/LibreOffice, I actually find them easier to use than most recent MS Office versions.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Many companies and advanced users remain with Microsoft Office solely because of Excel.

Yeah that is one of my passions. I do dabble in VBA a bit, but it is just a hobby. And one I can live without if it requires a sub.

 

[lazer]

Although I grew up with word and excel, I have come to hate Micro$lop and their ploys to suck money out of our pockets.

I now use free office software and it does nicely what I want. On my laptop, OpenOffice is good and on my tablet I use WPS (was Kingsoft). They do want I want and don't empty my pocket.

I recommend them to all. There are other free office software out there, but this is what I use...

 

[captaincranky]

I hope y'all realize that this is a test run for Windows as a subscription model.

With their new update and "build version" model, M$ can legitimately make the case that each "build" is a new OS unto itself.. And soon enough, they'll have enough suckers inhaling enough propaganda to give, "Windows as a subscription service", a test run.

I suppose if they can bilk enough additional money out of the rest of their software to continue to offer Windows as a perpetual license, that could be the case as well. But, where there's money to be made, greed usually wins out.

 

[willhen50]

I don't want to pay annually for a program, Office 2019 is a one time purchase; $99 annually is a RIPOFF.

 

[retsxel]

I don't want to pay annually for a program, Office 2019 is a one time purchase; $99 annually is a RIPOFF.

Agreed.
https://www.libreoffice.org/