Microsoft Offers OneCare & Office Via Subscription Model

Microsoft will finally offer their Equipt service this month, a $70 yearly fee that provides Windows Live OneCare and online tools as well as Office Home and Student 2007. The idea is having a bundle where all applications are kept up to date in an affordable package. In this case, if the costs were taken for a year, the bundle is still cheaper than buying a boxed copy of office, with the benefit of antivirus protection built in (for reference, Office costs $150, and OneCare costs $50).

The service will be sold at Circuit City stores nationwide. As Ars points out, the company stresses that they will not be making a complete transition to subscription-based models.

Microsoft has released more details about its new software subscription bundle that went into testing in mid-April. The bundle has been officially dubbed Microsoft Equipt and will be made available in mid-July 2008 at nearly 700 Circuit City stores in the US. Equipt licenses will cost $70 per year and will include Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Microsoft Office Live Workspace, and Windows Live tools.