Credit: Dreamstime
Conventionally, software vendors are supposed to oppose piracy. But even the most legitimate-good of them understand a basic principle: If someone can not afford to buy something from you, they will not, whether they get it at a cheaper price elsewhere.
Microsoft seems to have realized this as it sends discount offers to some users of its Office suite who use it in, ahem, less than legal ways.
Ghacks noticed that at least a few people who used a pirated version of Office got a message in the software tempting them with a 50 percent discount on a Microsoft 365 subscription, which includes all the major Office apps.
The promotional page that users were sent to also contains a lot of warnings about the dangers and general rudeness of software piracy, but it also includes a sweet discount on a year of service. In particular, was the discount only to Microsoft 365, and not the expensive stand-alone version of Office 2021, which is the more natural target for software pirates.
While Microsoft 365 costs $ 10 a month for one user, Office Home Business (and its perpetual use license) costs an expensive $ 250 for one machine.
The discount only appears for some users in some markets. If you think it’s a good idea to rush out and pirate Office in the hopes of getting a discount, you might want to think twice. Additionally, there are much easier (and safer) ways to save money on Office.
The messages of this targeted discount are clear: Not only is Microsoft pushing its subscription services hard for regular users, it wants to convert at least a few software pirates into software-as-a-service customers. It seems like a big order. It’s not like pirates do not have completely legitimate free options for editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. But still, you need to give Microsoft points for creativity.
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