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Microsoft punishes idiots who purchased a "perpetual" license of Office 2019 for Mac by disabling it next month, pirates unaffected (www.theverge.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/48806122

A license verification certificate expires and when it expires, Microsoft Office for Mac assumes it's unlicensed even if it has been fully paid for.

So, any idiot who paid for Office 2019 for Mac "perpetual" will lose access to it next month.

The same will happen with Office 2021 and Office 2024 in the future.

Pirates are unaffected, only who paid for the product gets punished

Good job 👍🏻

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[–] -5 points 3 months ago (10 children)

Well, you're not wrong, but who the heck buys a "perpetual" license for a Microsoft product unless it's for a company? And especially why pay for stupid boost water office if you could have libre for free?

If it's not stupidity then at least ignorance. Doesn't mean Microsoft is an arse for doing that.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    who the heck buys a “perpetual” license for a Microsoft product

    Office used to always be a perpetual license, so nearly average person that needed an office suite bought one.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (2 children)

    Doesn't change my point. Why pay for it? Either just use it for free or get libreoffice. If I pay a thing from a corpo like MS, behavior like that is totally to be expected. Why even be surprised?

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago* (1 child)

    It's different for the average person, they don't usually know about alternatives and are fine paying for software from a company like MS.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago

    But isn't that just the definition of ignorance? I just do something I know nothing about and also don't care to inform myself beforehand?

    Like me going to the garage with my car. They could tell me whatever they want and I have to believe it. That is ignorance I pay with probably spiced up bills of things I never needed.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    Idk what reason youd have to buy that and its honestly irrelevant. Just because a company is known for being shit doesnt mean we should just accept it and start calling people stupid when they get fucked over.

    "Oh you decided to get treatment from USA Medicality Corp. Inc. and they killed you and your entire family. Damn youre such an idiot theyve been killing families for years!" is a bad take if you ask me. The company should be held liable for their actions.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (2 children)

    I never paid for a single Microsoft product.

    I get your point but why is ignorance to be accepted but corpo behavior isn't? I mean sure, fuck MS for that, but who is really surprised by a US-company enshittifying their already bad crap? Can only be people who don't really know what they're doing there. Which is ignorance.

    Your example kinda lacks in the regard that everyone needs insurance but noone needs Microsoft office. Otherwise same point (assuming there'd be a good free healthcare alternative): if you died because you're ignorant to the things that matter in this world, and you refused to educate or inform yourself beforehand... Well?

    If I leave my front door wide open, I can't be surprised when someone comes in and robs me blind. Just because I don't know burglaries exist.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (1 child)

    The example was mostly a shitpost but it got the point across. And yes, ignorant/stupid people will always exist, en-masse actually. For varying reasons, be it cultural, education, emotional, religious or just pure ignorance, people end up in shit because they have different outlooks, needs and experiences. The reasons seldom matter to me since its usually not the victim that actively tries to end up in the shitter but the perpetrator that actively attempts to exploit them.

    Luckily companies arent people, no matter how much US government wants them to be. They should, to the nit-pickiest of levels, be restricted by the law and punished when they break it.

    Victim-blaming to me seems inherently ignorant in itself. How does one even come up with the idea of blaming someone whos the victim of the crime? No matter how ignorant or naive they seem. And especially when its from a well-known shit company like Microslop?

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    since its usually not the victim that actively tries to end up in the shitter but the perpetrator that actively attempts to exploit them.

    Fair point. I stand corrected. Guess I wash a bit too harsh in judgement.

    Victim-blaming to me seems inherently ignorant in itself. How does one even come up with the idea of blaming someone whos the victim of the crime?

    Touché. That was indeed ignorant of me.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (1 child)

    The sheer idiocy of this take. Libre Office (or other open source alternatives) haven't been around forever, and paying for software you use isn't exactly an outlandish idea.

    I work with Excel a lot for work. I've been tempted for a few years to buy a perpetual license for my personal machine because using the same software is just easier. I haven't, and obviously now I won't be.

    But don't put down paying a reasonable price for a perpetual license for software you use often. It's thinking like that that's gotten us all-subscription options.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago

    The sheer idiocy of this take. Libre Office (or other open source alternatives) haven’t been around forever, and paying for software you use isn’t exactly an outlandish idea.

    Just ignoring your ad-hominem... Libre's around for 15 years. Ok, if you're forced to use that shit due to work, you have not much choice. Except another job :) As I haven't worked for the last 3 decades, I don't know how much of that shitty MS still goes around. Paying, of course. But not for microsoft or most of the other US-corpos that destroy everything they touch. And even if i would be forced to pay, there are tons of grey-market OEM-keys. Get Office for some cents. If that goes extinct, buy current version for some cents. You're legit (MS doesn't care anyway, and never has) and cheap. Also if you're long enough in the market to say Libre's not been around forever, you also know that MS regularly kills products no matter how "perpetual" your license was.

    It’s thinking like that that’s gotten us all-subscription options.

    Nope. It is, has been, and will be just ignorance. People who don't know better and/or don't WANT to know better and/or simply don't care at all. The sum of my subscription-costs comes down to vpn, usenet-indexer and usenet and the rest are monthly donations to several FOSS-projects. It's either lifetime-deals (expecting them to end way before MY lifetime ends) or no deals. Lifetime-deals are always a gamble though.

    If people willingly pay for netflix, spotify or leased cars...well, you will own nothing, rent everything and be happy. There's a reason they can regularly raise prices and still not loose a significant portion of customers. I probably spent six-figures on steam and bandcamp/other-music-sources. Not one cent on spotify&co. And if i couldn't afford to buy, I'd pirate it. But surely would not RENT stuff.

    And there has been numerous studies over the last decades as to how piracy does NOT affect sales in any noteworthy amount.

    So, how is my fuck-us-bigtech-or-pirate-stance the culprit for all-subscription-options? I'm the minority :-)

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