Microsoft is offering an impressive discount—up to 50% off—for its annual Microsoft 365 subscription to anyone using a pirated version of its Office software. The company hopes the offer will help curb the piracy of its products and create more actively-subscribed customers.
If Microsoft detects that an unauthorized version of Office is installed on a computer, an alert will appear by the top menu. It features a call-to-action telling those users they can get up to 50% off on a genuine Microsoft 365 subscription for a limited time.
Clicking through the message sends you to this page on Microsoft’s site. There, you’ll see a list of the risks that tend to accompany using counterfeit software, a few perks for the genuine version of the software, and two deal options—one for Microsoft 365 Family (for $99.99 per year) and another for Microsoft 365 Personal (just $69.99 per year). The offer spans the entire first year of an annual subscription that automatically renews.
Given that the steep prices are likely what steered those users to pirating the software to begin with, the handsome discount will probably go a long way to helping Microsoft mitigate its ongoing piracy issue. However, once that first year is up, these converted users might not be happy to see that full-price charge hit their account.
Microsoft’s Office Suite is a long-running pillar in the productivity software community, but that hasn’t stopped users from complaining about its steep cost. In turn, some within that community have turned to the dozens of free alternatives to Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Powerpoint.
It ultimately just comes down to whether or not you want to use Microsoft’s software specifically.
via BleepingComputer
