back to article Microsoft targets online Office bundle at US cheapskates

Microsoft has tied up with ailing US retailer Circuit City to launch its Office and security subscription service which hits the market bearing the moniker "Equipt". The software giant said that it has handed Circuit City the new product line, with plans for the retail chain to start punting Equipt from mid-July. It will carry …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Doomed

    Software As A Service (SAAS) is doomed, will go nowhere and is a waste of time for all concerned.

    Paris as she even knows to buy a retail boxed copy of Microsoft Office Professional.

  2. Geoff Mackenzie

    Missed the boat ...

    Compared to Google's offerings that looks kind of expensive for a cheapskate option.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Call the Police!

    Knowing how bad their software is, can they now be charged with "going Equipt"! No? Suit yourselves!

  4. dwr 50

    MS Office Rip-off

    Micro$ will end up making a fortune off of this Crap. Bill said 20 years ago that, someday, all software would ONLY be available on-line. It looks like someday has arrived.

    Acer Aspire 5315-2153, $348 Walmart Special,Mandriva Linux 2008.1 Spring Edition. The fist Linux distro where everything worked, on this laptop, the first time !

  5. Jasprt2

    Ultimate controll...

    It's all about money... The key piece of this is RESIDUAL income for Microsoft.

    Part of it is obviously a way to control piracy - you can't bootleg what you can't have - but the bigger part is making a user not just "pay to play", but to pay on a recurring schedule. KaaaaaChing$$. This is the same reasoning behind leasing automobiles - the Dealer can make money once on the lease and then again on the subsequent sale.

    The convienince part of online software is that it is more convienient for MS to bill you annually than to try to entice you into making a major purchase on the bi-annual release of thier latest and greatest... MS is a marketing machine - NOT a software producer. The software is secondary to the money.

  6. Chris C

    Could they be learning?

    Wow, could Microsoft actually be learning something here? In my opinion, $70 per year for Office still isn't a great price if you only have one machine, but if you actually have two or three systems you want to install it on, then the $70/yr price point does seem reasonable to me. My problem is that I don't want "online" software. I want the standard offline software, even if it is limited to one year (like antivirus products). If they offered the standard offline software at this price point, I think they'd see a lot more interest (and a lot less piracy).

  7. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. Doug Glass
    Joke

    Dismal Security

    Oh yeah, I can just see government agencies, research facilities, schools and corporations trusting their secrets, industrial or otherwise, to the security geniuses at Microsoft or their agents. Given Microsoft's security track record and today's dangerous, paranoid and super competitive world, they have no business asking anybody to trust them to hold data secure.

    I wouldn't trust this bunch of miscreants to keep a surprise birthday party secret, much less anything of real importance such as financial data, nuclear plant safeguards information and, well, anything.

  9. Steven Knox
    Gates Halo

    Let's See..

    I've got 3 PCs, so one license = $70/year. Assume 3-year software cycle = $210 total -- or I could go buy a 3-PC copy of Office Home & Student for $109 on Newegg....

    Oh, wait... I've got OpenOffice.org

    Never mind!

    <- Should El Reg retire this guy now?

  10. Raife Edwards
    Boffin

    Microsofts dream-world...

    Lets see... First we have PERPETUAL security-problems... creating untold headaches to all consumers and, indeed, the entire computer-industry.

    Then, we have PERPETUAL activation and authentication... treating everyone like crooks, but mostly, robbing consumers of their most basic property ownership-rights.

    And, now we have PERPETUAL payment... to Microsoft (which, BTW, will also allow Microsoft to impose "updates", and changes, on consumers without mercy).

    And, soon... I suspect... Microsoft will also, finally, try to implement their "per user" licensing-scheme (its already in the works).

    And, all of this is for the consumers benefit..?

    Lets get one thing straight. Microsoft has been ripping people-off for decades. And, none of this is what consumers want. Nor, does it, in any way, benefit anyone other than Microsoft.

    I think Microsoft is desperate, and, they are, clearly, trying to stave-off their own, well-deserved, obsolescence.

    Poor Microsoft... profits that are five-times higher than any other manufacturing-industry (profits that actually exceed those of illegal-drugs)... just, werent enough.

    So, Microsoft needs even more, forcibly-extracted, revenue, and even greater control over customers (and their computer-use/choices)..?

    No thanks.

  11. Geoff Mackenzie

    Re: Free PCs from Microsoft

    Fantastic. I'll take 20. And clear the CMOS.

  12. cp

    Open Office

    Just download Open Office, it's free works extremely well and is fully compatible.

  13. marc

    One of fee would be better

    Like Steam. You pay for a game, and you can run it on any PC. Only one at a time though. It's Fair.

  14. Matthew Kibildis

    Security Flaws

    You chaps always complain about security flaws...but really, isn't this just part of life?

    Like, if you have a product that millions of people use, there are always going to be people that try to "break" it...isn't this thought just natural?

    Don't we live and die? Don't we get illnesses?

    BROOKLYN IS NOT EXPANDING

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    An idea whose time has already passed

    Let's see now, the Equipt service "includes Office Home and Student 2007, Messenger, Live Mail and Photo Gallery, as well as security bundle OneCare"

    Sad - $70 per year, while most of what they're offering can be had for free to the home consumer. The drop in software replacements are all already out there:

    - OpenOffice for your common office tools;

    - Pidgin for IM;

    - Thunderbird or Evolution for mail, your ISP probably already provides your maildrop;

    - ClamWin, Avast, or even AVG (please disable linkscanner, thank you) for anti-virus;

    Not to mention a number of good Linux OS's out there that would let you pass on the AV, if you don't have to deal with things that are only written for windoze.

    As for online storage, be serious M$! Online storage should be viewed as public storage, and handled no differently than email - don't put anything out there you wouldn't want to become public knowledge. So it's not an inherently desirable, high value service to begin with.

    Given the credible low and no cost alternatives to the rest of it's features, subscribing to Equipt would be money wasted.

    Way to go M$, there's nothing like being 4 to 5 years late to market.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Halo

    US

    Real cheapskates use ThePirateBay.

  17. Brian Hall
    Dead Vulture

    The target suckers are ...

    Doug Glass:

    "aimed at the consumer rather than business market". Duh. You had to read three sentences in to notice, though.

    Anyhow, I think the demographic they're aiming at is aging rapidly. It'll be interesting to see who uses this, and for how long.

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