{"id":5925,"date":"2012-06-19T08:46:24","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T07:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/?p=5925"},"modified":"2012-06-19T08:46:24","modified_gmt":"2012-06-19T07:46:24","slug":"office-in-windows-rt-not-licensed-for-business-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/5925-office-in-windows-rt-not-licensed-for-business-use.html","title":{"rendered":"Office in Windows RT: not licensed for business use?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Journalist Jon Honeyball remarked<\/a> on Twitter that the version of Microsoft Office in Windows RT, and therefore in the first Microsoft Surface Tablet, is Office Home and Student 2013.<\/p>\n

I was sceptical, but it is there on the spec sheet<\/a> [pdf]:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We already knew that Outlook is missing; but now it seems possible that Office in Windows RT is licensed only for non-commercial use. Here is the statement<\/a> about Office 2010 Home and Student:<\/p>\n

\n

I own or work for a small business; can I use Office Home and Student 2010 at my work?<\/em><\/p>\n

No. Office Home and Student 2010 is licensed only for non-commercial use for members of your household.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Such a restriction would blow so large a hole in the positioning of Windows RT as the ideal BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) for business that I am inclined to believe it will be changed for Office in Windows RT.<\/p>\n

Then again, Office is a huge business for Microsoft and it is easy to hear the internal debate over this. \u201cYou cannot just give it away\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another possibility is that Microsoft will come up with some licensing deal which permits use of Office in Windows RT at work, for a suitably Enterprisey fee.<\/p>\n

Update<\/strong>: Note that Microsoft has already announced a few things here<\/a> about Windows RT licensing:<\/p>\n

\n

Windows RT Virtual Desktop Access (VDA) Rights: <\/b>When used as a companion of a Windows Software Assurance licensed PC, Windows RT will automatically receive extended VDA rights. These rights will provide access to a full VDI image running in the datacenter which will make Windows RT a great complementary tablet option for business customers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Companion Device License:<\/b> For customers who want to provide full flexibility for how employees access their corporate desktop across devices, we are introducing a new Companion Device License for Windows SA customers. For users of Windows Software Assurance licensed PCs this optional add-on will provide rights to access a corporate desktop either through VDI or Windows To Go on up to four personally owned devices. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This means that if you have a PC licensed with Windows Software Assurance, you can access a virtual desktop from Windows RT without further charge. <\/p>\n

Generally, I believe Microsoft also allows you to use Remote Desktop into a physical client without an additional license, provided it is single-user. In other words, only one user at a time can use a physical Windows 7 installation, whether sitting at the machine or remotely.<\/p>\n

None of these provisions covers Office on the client though. They are concerned only with remote desktop access of various kinds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Journalist Jon Honeyball remarked on Twitter that the version of Microsoft Office in Windows RT, and therefore in the first Microsoft Surface Tablet, is Office Home and Student 2013. I was sceptical, but it is there on the spec sheet [pdf]: We already knew that Outlook is missing; but now it seems possible that Office … Continue reading Office in Windows RT: not licensed for business use?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[586,662,999,1015],"class_list":["post-5925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-microsoft","tag-microsoft","tag-office","tag-windows-8","tag-windows-rt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}