A few weeks back, Microsoft announced its new licensing model for Microsoft Office 2013. More importantly, Microsoft announced that licensing would be non-transferrable.

“The Office 2013 software is licensed to one computer for the life of that computer and is non-transferable,” explained a Microsoft spokesperson in an email to PCWorld.

So what does this mean? Well, it means that if you install Office 2013 on your computer today and your computer crashes, is stolen, or is lost in a house fire tomorrow, Microsoft expects you to go out and buy a completely new copy of Office 2013. You can never re-install Office 2013.

As you can imagine, Microsoft has experienced more than a little backlash over this announcement.

Well today, Microsoft relented, announcing an update to its Office 2013 retail licensing agreement. Now, customer who purchase or have already purchased Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013, Office Professional 2013, or any standalone Office 2013 application can move the software to a new computer every 90 days. You can also sell or transfer the license to another user.

“Based on customer feedback we have changed the Office 2013 retail license agreement to allow customers to transfer the software from one computer to another,” explains Microsoft spokesperson Jevon Fark. “This means customers can transfer Office 2013 to a different computer if their device fails or they get a new one. Previously, customers could only transfer their Office 2013 software to a new device if their PC failed under warranty”.

“These transferability options are equivalent to those found in the Office 2010 retail license terms,” added Fark.

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