Surface 2 Office 2013 RT

[Stephen Pate]

Someone over at ComputerWorld insisted MS will prosecute users who use their Surface 2 tablets for business use.

Has anyone worked through that?

The official FAQ says

"Can I use Office 2013 RT for work or business?
As sold, Office 2013 RT is not designed for commercial, nonprofit, or revenue-generating activities. However, organizations who purchase commercial use rights or have a commercial license to Office 2013 suites that include Outlook can use Office 2013 RT for commercial, nonprofit, or revenue-generating activities."

To me that's totally bogus. Let's say someone pays me someday for writing something - oops "revenue-generating"

Or I go to small claims court to get my money back - oops "revenue-generating"

I do a poster for my church or charity - oops "nonprofit"

Or I work from a home office - oops "commercial"

I think the Office license restriction is unenforceable and is like the laws on grass, turning honest people into criminals.

 

[realwarder]

Somehow I don't think Microsoft will go around suing Small Business owners for commercial use. I can just imagine the headlines:

"Surface 2 - the least productive Office"

Microsoft want to promote Surface as a business tool.

That said, legally you need an Office User license and if you get one then it doesn't matter if you're on a Desktop, Tablet or Cloud. If you were to get Office 365 for instance you'd be covered and have great mail and other business tools like Lync Conferencing too!

 

[HeyCori]

I can only imagine this is just legal mumbo jumbo to protect Microsoft from any lawsuits. If a business is using Office 365 (or even an older version of Office) I highly doubt Microsoft is going to do anything if an employee starts answering emails on his Surface 2. But the legal protection is there if said employee finds a silly reason to sue Microsoft. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if compatibility issues is the reason why Microsoft put that in there, so they're not forced to make Office 2007 work with Office RT.

 

[ag1986]

That wording in the contract is why my firm will not go with Surface RTs as an option for the field staff. Pro is too expensive

 

[rhodri22]

Here's a link to the relevant story --> Microsoft Office for Windows RT: How to move to a commercial-use license | ZDNet

Basically Office RT is based on Office Home and Student, therefor the licence Office RT is identical. However Microsoft allows the commercial use of Office RT if used in accordance with other products and services, as described in the article above, services being an additional copy of Office 2013 that allows commercial use or a volume licence agreement with Microsoft that has a commercial use agreement within it.

 

[Stephen Pate]

That article is a little out of date since MS has update the Office 365 license. Actually, a 365 seat can be used with the Surface RT although you can't run full Office 2013.

In the UK there was a license upgrade for the RT for about $79.

I can't find it in North America yet - anyone seen it.

In any event, the forthright thing for MS to do is say "If you would like to upgrade this Home and Student version of Office 2013 for your business, here is how to do it and how much."

I'm going to message their marketing and PR people to see if they have a policy and "message."

 

[rhodri22]

The article contains the latest available information from Microsoft regarding Office RT 2013. It's also one of the best layed out and written articles on the matter. It describes the three methods to get the commercial licence for Office RT.

As described in the article, you can purchase any of the following Office 365 products to get a commercial licence - Office 365 ProPlus, Office 365 Small Business Premium, Office Midsize Business or Office 365 Enterprise. After purchasing any of these you simply need to sign in to the same Office 365 account in both versions of Office. You can also purchase a standalone copy of Office (in the traditional model) these include - Office Standard 2013 or Office Professional Plus 2013. Alternatively you can have a volume licensing contract with Microsoft, the ones that are only offered by Microsoft's resellers and not normally by Microsoft themselves. The best description of this I can find is this:

"To add commercial use rights to an existing copy of Office RT, customers can purchase an Office Home & Student 2013 RT Commercial Use Rights license for a Windows RT device. This perpetual license, priced at US$59 (Open License price, which is generally the highest fee a U.S. organization would pay in volume licensing) is available through Open and Select/Select Plus volume licensing programs only; it is not available through retail or OEM channels.Organizations cannot buy SA for the Office Home & Student 2013 RT Commercial Use Rights licenses, which is unusual. As a result, the license is not available through Enterprise Agreements, since all licenses offered through Enterprise Agreements are sold with SA."

EDIT

I forgot to add that something may be done about this in the near future as a new line in the licence agreement for RT 8.1 appeared:
"Office apps are governed by some additional terms and are part of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 RT and Outlook 2013 RT or MICROSOFT OFFICE HOME AND BUSINESS 2013 RT."
So it sounds like a new version might be announced soon anyway.

 

[txkimmers]

Ok, so here is a "If Thor is holding the hammer and touching it with his God magic, does that mean I could lift it?" question: If I use the Remote Desktop Connection to get to my work machine, I can certainly use the Office apps on my remote machine without violating any licensing terms, correct?

 

[rhodri22]

Ok, so here is a "If Thor is holding the hammer and touching it with his God magic, does that mean I could lift it?" question: If I use the Remote Desktop Connection to get to my work machine, I can certainly use the Office apps on my remote machine without violating any licensing terms, correct?

I have no idea. All I know is that after speaking with Microsoft support earlier in the year, the easiest (and cheapest) way to get commercial use for Office RT is to pay ?120 a year for Office 365 ProPlus.

 

[BaritoneGuy]

That wording in the contract is why my firm will not go with Surface RTs as an option for the field staff. Pro is too expensive

If your firm is licensed for Office on the desktop then you can use the Office 2013 on the 2 or RT for business use.

 

[Stephen Pate]

If your firm is licensed for Office on the desktop then you can use the Office 2013 on the 2 or RT for business use.

Only if you have enough seat licenses.

Surface 2 Buyers In For An Ugly Surprise | NJN Network

 

[stephen_az]

Only if you have enough seat licenses.

Surface 2 Buyers In For An Ugly Surprise | NJN Network

Perhaps you might want to point out you are citing your own article. BTW, that article just spews inflammatory garbage, rehashes other stories, and makes conclusions without any confirmation from a first party authority. Here is a suggestion. Instead of just continuing to repeat the same stuff, how about finding A SINGLE PERSON who has been prosecuted? This story was old a year ago and it is downright tedious a year later.