equipt

Microsoft starts selling Office subscriptions through Circuit City

Nicholas Carlson · 07/02/08 11:00AM

Microsoft can't convince customers that they need the new version of Office anymore, so they'e begun to sell it as software-as-a-service, bundled with security software. "Security is basically the No. 1 thing that gets attached with a PC," said Microsoft group product manager Bryson Gordon. The product, code-named "Albany" and now known as Equipt, will cost PC buyers an extra $20 a year over the $49 per year price Microsoft charges for its OneCare antivirus software. Why don't they just let users download the software? That might seem easier, but retailers like Circuit City move a lot of Xboxes and Windows PCs, and the software giant can't afford to leave them grounded as computing moves to the cloud.