No, Microsoft Office Home and Student cannot be used in a business

With the holidays here, people are in the “big sale” mode looking for deals and specials all over. I saw a question this morning regarding the Microsoft Office Home and Student edition which someone saw on special and they wanted to know if this would be a good deal for a Small Business customer of theirs. The answer is contained right in the name of the product… It is Microsoft Office HOME and STUDENT and no, it cannot be used in a business.

Regardless of what any salesperson told you or what you may have heard from someone somewhere looking to separated you from your money, this is an absolute, guaranteed, no, it is not allowed answer. You can verify it for yourself by reading the Microsoft Software Licensing Terms for Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition online HERE.

In the licensing terms, you will find the following listed under INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS under section a. It says:

“Licensed Device. You may install one copy of the software on three licensed devices in your household for use by people who reside there. The software is not licensed for use in any commercial, non-profit, or revenue generating business activities.”

No tricky wording, no unreadable legalese, just plain and simple, it is licensed for installation in your home and NOT for use in any commercial, non-profit, or revenue generating business activities. It is the edition for HOME and STUDENT use, NOT business use.

So again, no matter what anyone else tells you to try to get your money, the answer is NO, you cannot use Microsoft Home and Student in a business or for business use, so please do not buy it for that and put your clients in an unlicensed spot.

As a reminder, you can look up the Microsoft Software Licensing Terms of many Retail Boxed Microsoft software products online at the License Terms for Software Licensed from Microsoft page.

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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