Microsoft dumps plans to offer Office XP on subscription

The trial of the system known as XP End-User Subscription Licencing succeeded in establishing that users and resellers were confused by the scheme.

Microsoft Australia's Office product manager Tony Wilkinson put the usual positive spin on the subject, telling news.com.au, "From their feedback, we learned that customers find subscriptions a useful method of purchasing software but are not ready to fully adopt this process."

Microsoft might have rolled out the subscription scheme of Office XP products worldwide, had its trial been successful. The company had already introduced a new licesning scheme for its volume customers that was initially frought with difficulties and what Microsoft called customer "misconceptions". Austrialia was one of the places the Vole encountered most resistance to its licensing changes.

Triallists involved in the latest scheme received a free perpetual Office XP licence, the site reports here . But even that failed to work... µ

See also:
Aussies still holding out against Microsoft licensing changes
Microsoft claims new licence deal "a massive simplification"
Australasians desert Microsoft for Linux