Topic: Does your copy of Office 2013 die with your computer?

[Nemesis]

Link to full article

"A perpetual license of Office 2013 can only be installed on one personal computer. This means that the customer can only install it on one device, either a desktop or laptop, but not both. If the customer has a system crash, they are allowed to reinstall Office on that same computer. If there are problems with this process, customers can contact Microsoft technical support"

Interesting but it still doesn't quite answer my question. If I upgrade to a new computer and decommission the old one, or if my old PC dies, can I move my retail copy to Office 2013 to that computer? Another reply from Microsoft PR;

"No, the customer cannot transfer the license from one PC to another PC."

[Nemesis]

A longer article on the topic

[Nemesis]

They have backed off.

Link to full article

"Based on customer feedback we have changed the Office 2013 retail license agreement to allow customers to transfer the software from one computer to another," Microsoft's Jevon Fark said in a blog post on Wednesday. "This means customers can transfer Office 2013 to a different computer if their device fails or they get a new one."

Well partly anyhow.

A Reg reader wrote to ask whether the new license terms apply to OEM copies of Office 2013 that come pre-installed on new PCs. We asked Microsoft, and a spokesman informed us that no, they do not.

The terms for OEM copies remain much the same as the original Office 2013 terms: the software is tied to the hardware it came on, and the license can only be transferred to someone else if you give them the entire PC.

[FCM_SFHQ_XC]

Doesn't matter too much, they usually only keep the hardware IDs stored for something like 90-120 days before it could be cleared so this change really is only legal wording wise for the most part.

[Tulwar]

Back in the Day, you bought a disk.  As long as you had that disk, you had a license.