Microsoft VARs praise Office 2013 licence U-turn

Vendor bows to customer pressure and rules that Office 2013 licences can now be moved from one PC to another

Microsoft has bowed to pressure from small business resellers and consumers by reversing its decision to make Office 2013 licences non-transferable.

SMB resellers were left angry when the vendor announced the initial decision last month, claiming it was pushing their customers onto Office 365, which was made generally available to businesses last month.

They claimed that although the subscription-based cloud product had a lower entry cost for customers, the recurring nature of the payments meant they ended up paying more in the long run.

Microsoft's global partner chief Jon Roskill denied that the decision forced customers into the cloud.

On its official Office blog, Microsoft announced that due to customer feedback, the decision is being reversed.

Microsoft's senior marketing manager Jevon Fark said on the blog: "Based on customer feedback we have changed the Office 2013 retail licence agreement to allow customers to transfer the software from one computer to another.

"This means customers can transfer Office 2013 to a different computer if their device fails or they get a new one. Previously, customers could only transfer their Office 2013 software to a new device if their PC failed under warranty."

Licences for Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013, Office Professional 2013 and the standalone Office 2013 applications will be transferable with immediate effect.

The licensing agreement now states that users can move the software from one of their computers to another, but not more than every 90 days, except if hardware fails. All customers must remove the software from the previous device and are not permitted to retain copies, the agreement adds.

Resellers disgruntled about the original decision have now praised the vendor and branded this afternoon's decision as a welcome development.

Storm IT's managing director Paul Spelling said the vendor is obviously seeing sense, and NCI Technologies' boss Andy Trish said he was very pleased with the decision.

"This is really, really good news for customers, and also for resellers," he added. "The way traditional licensing was sold is so that it was transferable, and this decision means it goes back to that system, which is slightly less complicated. It is much better for the industry."

Licence Dashboard's business development manager Matt Fisher initially came to the vendor's defence on its decision to make the licences non-transferable, and praised the U-turn.

He said: "Microsoft should be praised for listening to its customers. It is good to see that Microsoft has had a change of heart and reverted back to the same licensing rules it applied to Office 2010.

"This episode has shown both the value of making a noise when things aren't quite right and also that Microsoft is willing to listen. This is a win-win scenario, as the customers get what they want and Microsoft is painted in a positive light for being flexible."

Microsoft's Fark added that listening to customer feedback was a "key ingredient in [the] formula for success" and that the vendor was grateful for the responses it received.