Microsoft is Offering a Half-Price Rate on Microsoft 365 for Software Pirates

Jan, 2022 - By WMR

The company has made efforts to convert pirated software users into licensed users.

Microsoft 365 and Office are the most frequently used tools in schools and offices. But many people cannot afford to buy genuine software, so instead of that, they switch to pirated software from third-party websites. Three out of every five users use pirated software on their PC for work, bringing a small user base to the company that uses licensed software. So now Microsoft has been approaching these pirates with an offer to slash their license rate by a 50% discount.

The initial step of this offering is stated as showing a restriction ribbon bar on the pirated copy of MS Office 2019. Then the company delivered the alerts to these pirates of the 50% discount on Microsoft 365. This discount is applicable to personal and family subscriptions. These packages endow the benefits of discounted subscriptions for a maximum of 6 people.

Although this offer seems good, most of the pirates are still using their pirated copies of the software, because of the multiple user features. After opening the pirated tool, the platform features a window that consists of a link to the licensed Office app. From that window, users are going to get their discount. Every year, these licensed tools are going to be billed. Since the pirates are comfortable with never paying a bill for their tools, there has been some sort of hesitation towards the offer. This offer could become a reward for locating pirated software all over the world.

Since Microsoft 365 provides an auto-update every year, the offer might be sufficient to pique some subscribers' interest in the auto-renewal feature. These users usually buy their license once and then forget to update their license. There is also a possibility that users might be tempted by the cloud space provided by Microsoft 365. This cloud feature, unlike other apps, cannot be easily pirated. If the company offers some extra cloud space to the pirates, they might have a chance to gain subscribers.