April 18th, 2008
Microsoft Launches Beta of Software Subscription Service
By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews
It’s been bandied around for some time: a subscription-based version of Microsoft Office, and on Friday, Microsoft launched just such a service, code-named Albany, in private beta form. Albany includes more than just Office, however.
Albany is a bundle of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 (which contains Excel, Word, PowerPoint and OneNote), Windows Live OneCare, and Windows Live Mail, Messenger and Photo Gallery, with a single installer.
Of course, why I would want Windows Live OneCare is beyond me, because although it’s improving, I still wouldn’t trust my PC to it. However, security software is one of the segments where a subscription model is common, so linking OneCare into the bundle makes sense.
In a press release, Microsoft Group Product Manager Bryson Gordon said:
We’re breaking new ground by delivering Microsoft Office in combination with security and communication tools, plus ensuring our customers are on the cutting edge with the very latest versions. We found from our research that when you bring these categories together and keep them automatically updated, a subscription model makes a lot of sense.
At the same time, we are definitely not straying from our traditional software sales model. There will always be a significant number of users for whom purchasing a perpetual license to the latest version of Office is still the best choice. “Albany” just gives customers more choice and addresses the needs of those customers who value having the latest and greatest version of Microsoft Office.
OK, so they will still have a way to buy products in the normal manner. But a subscription model for Office has been proposed before, so this plan isn’t surprising. What’s unclear is pricing: Microsoft hasn’t announced that.
LZW says:
I think if you install about any microsoft product before the first service pack, then you are a beta tester! They should rename this office subsciption to the alpha version!
I’m thinking about trying out vista since there is a service pack for it now, see if it’s ready for prime time!
This whole subscription concept is what commenter’s use to call “software as a service” and I think it could have a place in the market as a new type of share but the way microsoft will go about it is all wrong I believe.
Suppose you download a brand new video game and by the time you’re done playing it, you discover the author has already developed a new episode for the game and all you have to do is subscribe to the “new content” service and your game is automatically updated! (no need to search google)
If office subscriptions work, then it’s more likely that the upcoming windows 7 will also be a subscription service!
You want to network a new home printer you just bought? Subscribe to the windows file and printer sharing service… ($4.95 a month)
April 18th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
John Corliss says:
Yep, sooner or later, Microsoft will find a way for us all to ditch our hard drives and simply hand over our paychecks directly to them.
It will be a cold day in HE** before I’ll buy in to any software rental scheme. Anybody else who does is a fool, simple as that.
April 19th, 2008 at 5:39 am
Jon Newman says:
Why would I want to rent access to software online? I already “rent” the software that I install on my computer as it is. And to rent from someone who can’t even manage to get SP1 to install on my computer…why would I?
April 20th, 2008 at 1:49 am