Just when I thought I was done reporting on the licensing transfer issues surrounding Office 2013. There has been some confusion on how or when transfers can happen for those that actually “buy a copy” of Office instead of subscribing to Office 365.
We soon learned that you buy it and that’s it, no transfers. The only exception would be if you had a PC die that was under warranty. Microsoft would allow you to transfer it once to your replacement device. Now it seems that they have changed their tune a bit.
Microsoft announced today that the EULA is getting revised to allow transfers after all. Effective immediately, Office 2013 owners have the option to transfer their license to a new PC once every 90 days.
The change will affect Home and Student 2013, Home and Business 2013, Prof3essional 2013 and stand alone Office 2013 applications like Word. So why did they change it to this much more reasonable system?
As Microsoft states, “A key ingredient in our formula for success is listening to our customers, and we’re grateful for the feedback behind this change in Office licensing.” This is one thing that I like about Microsoft, they do listen. Okay, they don’t always make changes if they feel it isn’t best for the company’s direction (like bringing back the start menu ISN’T happening) but they still try to understand their costumers and make changes when they feel it is the right thing to do.
Here’s the full wording of the new EULA revision for Office 2013:
Can I transfer the software to another computer or user?
You may transfer the software to another computer that belongs to you, but not more than one time every 90 days (except due to hardware failure, in which case you may transfer sooner). If you transfer the software to another computer, that other computer becomes the “licensed computer.” You may also transfer the software (together with the license) to a computer owned by someone else if a) you are the first licensed user of the software and b) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement before the transfer. Any time you transfer the software to a new computer, you must remove the software from the prior computer and you may not retain any copies.
I’m personally a little surprised they are allowing transfers every 90 days, as I figured they’d probably settle for something like once every 6 or 12 months, but if you constantly swap out your main machine for whatever reason, this is probably going to be great news for you. What do you think of Microsoft’s decision to change their Office 2013 EULA policy? Share your thoughts below.
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