Microsoft is cutting the cost of Office, but will more people buy it?

Office 2010 will be cheaper, which could reflect its reduced value in an era where online apps are free, or Microsoft's attempt to expand its paying customer base, or both of these and more…. Microsoft announced the UK prices for Microsoft Office 2010 this morning and, like the US prices unveiled last month, they're down. (For details, see: Microsoft Office 2010 priced from free .) There are plenty of reasons for this, though it's hard to know which have been most influential. The main ones may be the arrival of online office suites and competition from Open Office, both of which are free. Limited as they are, they must reduce the perceived value of Office, to some extent. But there has also been the huge success of the cheap Home and Student version, which you can install on three PCs. At Christmas, this was one of Amazon.com's top three best-sellers. Indeed, Microsoft says Office has been the top selling PC software product, including games, at US retail for the past seven years. That success has led to the launch of the Office Home and Business version at £239.99, which might have the same effect. That is, it could encourage more Office users to pay a reasonable price for a proper copy, rather than use a pirate version. And, to be frank, if you reckon you can't afford to pay roughly £1 a week (assuming the usual Amazon discount) for five top class programs then you're not being entirely honest with yourself. Another factor is the prospect of a reduction in the cost of packaging and distribution

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Microsoft is cutting the cost of Office, but will more people buy it?