
That's so different from the way people have licensed software for decades that some have had a tough time wrapping their heads around the concept.Ĭomputerworld has pitched in by comparing perpetual licensing and Office 365 subscriptions several times, and discovered that the most important variables are first, the number of licenses a customer actually uses - or needs, which may not be the same - and second, the length of time between Office upgrades.īecause analysts have said the upgrade average is five years, Computerworld used that time span in its comparisons. The trouble with Office 365, however, is that once a customer has committed, he or she must continue paying the subscription fee or lose access to the software.

Office 365 Home Premium, which costs $100 per year - or $10 per month - includes the right to install a top-end edition of Office 2013 or the business-esque edition of Office for Mac 2011, on up to five Windows PC or Macs in a household.
