Businesses can't use Office on Windows RT tablets!?

One of the attractions of Windows RT tablets to business was to have been that it was coming with a baked-in version of Office 2013. And, so it will, it's just that you may, or may not, be able to use that edition for "commercial, nonprofit, or revenue-generating activities." Say what?

If sounded odd to me too, but Windows RT tablets will come with Office Home & Student 2013 RT and Microsoft expressly states that it is "not for use in commercial, nonprofit, or revenue-generating activities."

.....The Windows 8 Pro tablets and Surface devices, with x86 processors, are meant for the mainstream IT market and will support a business version of Office 2013.....

Read more at source:
Businesses can't use Office on Windows RT tablets!? | ZDNet




UPDATE:
Microsoft: Relax, You can Use Office 2013 RT for Work Too


Cue the freakouts. And the anti-Microsoft bloggers—here’s a completely random example—jumped right on this non-story in a bid to quell momentum for the Surface.

The thing is, Microsoft is aiming Windows RT, and thus Surface RT, at both consumers and businesses. And it has announced a coming management infrastructure for Windows RT in businesses. So how could this be true?

Sorry, that was a trick question. It isn’t true.

“I wanted to clarify Office on Windows RT devices for non-commercial use,” a Microsoft representative told me last night. “The answer on our site was incomplete. While Office Home & Student 2013 RT Preview and the final edition are not designed for commercial, nonprofit, or revenue-generating activities as sold, organizations do have options for using the applications commercially – including purchasing commercial use rights or licensing any edition of the new Office with commercial use rights.”

According to Microsoft, you will be able to obtain commercial use rights for Office RT via Office 365, Office Standard or Professional Plus 2013, a Commercial Use License (which will be detailed in the coming days), or through volume licensing. The way it was described to me is that you simply obtain a regular Office 2013 license and can then use Office 2013 on the RT tablet commercially.

In other words, nothing to see here. Sorry, haters.
 
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WIndows RT also doesn't interface directly with AD, the way Windows 8 Pro will.
 

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WIndows RT also doesn't interface directly with AD, the way Windows 8 Pro will.
Yeah, but neither do iPad's, and MacBook's...but these are showing up in enterprise environments.
 

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Yeah, but neither do iPad's, and MacBook's...but these are showing up in enterprise environments.

And in many ways, that drives us crazy. SCCM 2012 is a step in the right direction there, as is BlackBerry Mobile Fusion.
 

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Yeah, but neither do iPad's, and MacBook's...but these are showing up in enterprise environments.

And in many ways, that drives us crazy. SCCM 2012 is a step in the right direction there, as is BlackBerry Mobile Fusion.

Yes, tell me about it. We have core software developers who were approved to buy MacBook Pro's and Air's, and now we have lots of other employees who also want Apple products because they are "better" (according to them). So, now we are looking at Ultrabooks and such because they look and feel more like a Mac...even if they are far less functional that a traditional business machine.
 

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We're split 50/50 PCs to Macs in our company and I can tell you that Mac's may be good consumer PCs but they are terrible in the enterprise. They don't work well at all in a Windows environment and require much more support than PCs do, so they are not only more costly as devices to buy but more costly in support by quite a margin. We use them because we're a graphic company but it's our PCs that do all the large work, the Macs get the smaller jobs and color correction stuff. If it wasn't for fonts I don't even think they would be needed. The worst is that with every iteration of kitty cat flavor Apple comes up with something always breaks, they are terrible for any legacy support. If you can get by without them you should.
 

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I don't really comprehend, why not? Is it not kosher to hand an employee a Windows RT tablet with Office that isn't for commercial use? It seems like one of those white crimes that will be brushed aside as I know a few people that use Office 2010 for non-commercial use, for commercial use.
 

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I don't really comprehend, why not? Is it not kosher to hand an employee a Windows RT tablet with Office that isn't for commercial use? It seems like one of those white crimes that will be brushed aside as I know a few people that use Office 2010 for non-commercial use, for commercial use.

Granted it may be easy enough to look the other way, but thats something that I can see getting a large corporation in trouble when their software licenses are audited. If its an employees BYOD it might be OK, but I don't see a company handing out RT devices if you can't use the Office version thats installed at work. Just the fact that the Home and Student version doesn't contain Outlook might be enough for most companies to steer clear. All Microsoft has to do though is call it Office RT and rewrite the EULA.

EDIT: lol, Kebero's post wasn't there when I started typing mine.
 

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Outlook?

Meh!

The big deal-breaker with the Student version for
ME is that there's no MS Access or PowerPoint.

And I use them both.

But my copy of 2010 Pro will do me for a while.
 

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Outlook?

Meh!

The big deal-breaker with the Student version for
ME is that there's no MS Access or PowerPoint.

And I use them both.

But my copy of 2010 Pro will do me for a while.

Either way its a watered down version thats really not suited for a workplace. Office 2007 Pro here.
 

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    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
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    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
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    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
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    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
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    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
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    Stock heatsink fan
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    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
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    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
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    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
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The Office RT version has PowerPoint...

It's the Home and Student version of Office, which is the primary target group of Windows RT tablets.
 

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    ASUS R9 270
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    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
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    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
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    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
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    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
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    Microsoft Touch Mouse
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    Internet Explorer 11
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    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
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