Microsoft is so backwards, nobody wants to lease Office 2013

Microsoft this week raised prices of its Office suite by as much as 17% and eliminated multi-license packs, all part of a plan to push consumers and small businesses toward new subscription programs, analysts said.

On Monday, Microsoft unveiled pricing for Office 2013, the next version of its suite sold as a perpetual license, and for two new plans in the by-subscription Office 365 lineup.

The numbers revealed an increase of between 10% and 17% in the cost of a perpetual license, which gives the user the right to run the software as long as he or she likes. Microsoft also dispatched several multi-license SKUs, or stock-keeping units, for Office 2010, boosting the price of replicating those offers with Office 2013 by as much as 180%. And it pegged the prices of annual subscriptions to Office 365 Home Premium, aimed at consumers, and Office 365 Small Business, that let customers "lease" the software they've installed on their desktops, notebooks and tablets.

To make mobile use almost unbearable, rumor has it that Office for IOS will only function if you have a Office 365 subscription.   Why would anyone bother, Office is not a must have program anymore.