Microsoft "Albany" Offers Office and Security as Subscription

News.com is reporting that Microsoft has confirmed a subscription service is in the works for the next consumer version of their Office Suite. "Code-named Albany, the product has a single installer that puts Office Home and Student, OneCare, as well as a host of Windows Live services, onto a user's PC. As long as users keep paying for the subscription, they are entitled to the latest versions of the products. Once they stop paying, they lose the right to use any version."

Comments

Get Less for More! FAIL.

[inTheLoo]

Most of the services you are touting are already provided or are more generous for previous versions. Free updates? by most reasonable software vendors, yes. Install on more than one computer? Not the subscription model. Price? Well, if I was dumb enough to pay the full $400 for M$ Office and installed it on four computers, I would not feel as raped and I'd get to keep using it as long as the computers are bearable and I'm not sick of rebuilding them. Or ... I could just use Open Office and get something with zero restrictions at no cost. The subscription model is going to fail them because they are competing with free by trying to chisel every last nickel out of their customers.

Future Malware.

[inTheLoo]

Would you like to boot today? Your subscription has expired, please enter a valid credit card.

You can imagine the mechanism will be hijacked right away and your credit card details will go to some server in Albania. Not that that's much worse than your Microsoft set of subscriptions is now.