Dan Warne02 March 2007, 4:09 AM
It's not cheating, according to Microsoft Australia, to buy Office 2007 Ultimate for 95% off its normal price, at just $A75 ($US59).
Microsoft is giving away copies of Office Ultimate 2007 to Australian uni students for just $A75 ($US59), or $A25 for a one year 'subscription', with a $50 fee at the end of 12 months to buy out the licence.
In a promotion called "It's not cheating", Microsoft is also encouraging students to blog about Office, in exchange for the opportunity to win a Vespa motor scooter, a $1000 voucher, an HP laptop, an MP3 player with a year's free music downloads or a Samsung mobile phone.
Claire Wiltshire, a student completing a B.A. at University of Sydney said, "even with student discount Office has been fairly expensive in the past. This is brilliant pricing – it makes it affordable.
"I wouldn’t be tempted to pirate it – I’d just buy it for $75 now.
However, Wiltshire said there was a fairly obvious agenda behind the move.
"I suppose they figure that students will inevitably pirate Office so at least they’re getting some money from them now.
"And also, it also gets people using the new 2007 version which I've heard is quite different to previous versions and some people have had problems adjusting to it."
Microsoft's spokesperson could not immediately provide the reason behind the promotion, which sees the software giant giving away the software at close to 5% of the original $1150 recommended retail price.
The extremely discounted price conflicts with Microsoft's existing 'student and home' pricing of $249.
However, according to the terms and conditions of the $75 promotion, students just get a licence key -- they have to source their own install CD of Office from their university.
UPDATE | Microsoft has provided the following responses to some questions put by APC:
Q: Why is MSFT doing this so cheaply?
There are three reasons:
Overview - Microsoft has long provided academic pricing for students attending Universities with Volume Licensing agreements. This offering is available to these same students.
- Microsoft has worked closely with universities so that students can now easily validate their student status online. This makes it easy for students to access this offer.
- Microsoft is offering this license directly to students for the first time.
- The online/download model eliminates the need for the CD distribution and product packaging.
Q: Is Microsoft doing this so students get a cheap first hit and then get addicted to MS products from uni onwards?
In an online survey and focus groups Microsoft ran earlier this year with University students, 88% of students regarded Microsoft Office as essential to their studies, but a sizable portion were deterred by the cost.
Cost is a significant factor in decision making.
With this initiative, we're giving students the ability to run the latest version of Office - and giving them access to innovative new features and components that directly address their study needs - eg. OneNote for note-taking.
Uni-students are not encountering Microsoft products for the first at this age - they have been using them for many years and have made it clear that they want to continue using them.
Q: Is the subscription truly a subscription service - if you quit after 1 yr is there anything else to pay or just the $25?
At this point the perpetual license is priced at $75. After a 1 year subscription the version of Office will fall back to limited feature mode.
If the pilot is extended, students will be able to continue their subscription for $25/year for the next two years, at which point they will own a perpetual license.
If the pilot is not extended, students will be able to put their $25 towards the $75 perpetual license, which they will then receive for $50. The student is not committed to any further purchase or payments of any kind after the initial $25.