Pay-as-you-go Office 365 cripples apps if subscription expires

Microsoft's new pay-as-you-go Office 365 subscription plans differ from traditional buy-once software in one important aspect: When customers stop paying, the applications stop working.

Although that makes sense -- Office isn't freeware -- and the practice isn't new to consumer software, the difference between buying and renting software will quickly become apparent when an Office 365 subscription expires or is canceled, according to information posted by Microsoft.

ZDNet blogger and long-time Windows watcher Mary Jo Foley first reported on Office 365's behavior after a subscription runs out.

Office 365 Home Premium, one of the two software rental plans introduced Tuesday, requires that customers pay $100 a year or $10 per month for the right to install and run Office 2013 on Windows and Office for Mac 2011 on OS X, on as many as five devices. The other plan, Office 365 University, charges $80 for a four-year subscription to the same Windows and OS X suites.

Those suites -- Office 2013 for Windows includes seven applications, Office for Mac 2011 has four -- are installed locally, and run, as traditional-style software does, from a customer's hard disk or SSD (solid-state drive).

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Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9236352/Pay_as_you_go_Office_365_cripples_apps_if_subscription_expires

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