nancy_gohring
Writer

Microsoft kills Equipt subscription offering

news
Feb 18, 20092 mins

The Equipt package included Office Home and Student 2007, OneCare, Office Live Workspaces, Windows Live Mail, Live Messenger, and Live Photo

After offering it only since July, Microsoft is discontinuing its Equipt package of software and services.

The move follows the company’s decision to also kill off OneCare, the security software that was included in the Equipt package, but it may also be related to Circuit City’s demise. The retailer, currently in liquidation, was the only outlet to sell the Equipt package in the U.S.

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Equipt is a package that includes Office Home and Student 2007, OneCare, Office Live Workspaces, Windows Live Mail, Live Messenger and Live Photo. Users paid $70 a year for it.

Microsoft began selling Equipt in Circuit City stores on July 15. Late last year, Equipt went on sale in the U.K. also.

Microsoft decided to discontinue Equipt after it announced in November that it is developing a no-cost anti-malware product, Morro, to replace OneCare. “As a result of this new offering and the discontinuation of OneCare, Microsoft Equipt, which includes a subscription to OneCare, will be discontinued after April 30, 2009,” the Equipt Web site says.

Equipt users are eligible for a prorated refund for unused months of their subscription and a free copy of Office Home and Student 2007. Users can fill out a form on the Equipt site to receive those benefits.

nancy_gohring

Nancy Gohring is a freelance journalist who started writing about mobile phones just in time to cover the transition to digital. She's written about PCs from Hanover, cellular networks from Singapore, wireless standards from Cyprus, cloud computing from Seattle and just about any technology subject you can think of from Las Vegas. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Computerworld, Wired, the Seattle Times and other well-respected publications.

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