New subscription
Three months or so after launching Equipt - the new consumer subscription service offering access to Office and Windows Live OneCare - in the US, Microsoft has announced its launch in the UK. It looks like PC World had been given the first go at it and will be offering it in stores from 20th October.
In keeping with Microsoft's Software plus Services philosophy, Equipt requires an initial installation onto the PC, after which users have to shell out £59 (according to the press release, the FAQ says £59.99) per year for a service that can be used on up to three home PCs.
Equipt consists of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 - which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote - Windows Live OneCare, Windows Live tools (free stuff like Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Photo Gallery) and Office Live Workspace - a basic cloud computing service.
PC World is being positioned as the launch retailer but the word "exclusive" hasn't been used. We have yet to find out who else might be selling it. "We are very pleased to be the first partner to offer Microsoft Equipt through our PC World stores across the UK", Peter Duncombe, Trading Director of PC Peripherals and Printing at DSGI. "Microsoft Equipt has been developed to respond to customer demands for an easy way to get the essential productivity and security software in an all-in-one package."
We would like to hear from any users of some or all of these Microsoft products to know if they think this is a good idea. If you don't use them, will this tempt you to? Let us know in the HEXUS.community.
