Microsoft has updated its Home Use Program (HUP) for business users. The tech giant is shifting the HUP to an annual subscription model for Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019.
The HUP program allows employees at selected companies to buy the same software for home that they use at work, at discounted rates. Users had to purchase it as one-off perpetual licenses, but now Microsoft is making the program available on the basis of annual subscription.
In Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, the company confirmed, “Microsoft is updating the Home Use Program to offer discounts on the latest and most up to date products such as Office 365, which is always up to date with premium versions of Office apps across all your devices. Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 are no longer available as Home Use Program offers.”
HUP will now come with a 30 percent discount on purchase of annual subscription for Office software. Overall, the customers now will buy “Office 365 Personal” a year for $48.99, and “Office 365 Home” a year for $69.99.
The tech giant has further clarified that the users who have already purchased a perpetual license through the Home Use Program will still be eligible for HUP program benefits on future renewals even if they leave the company.
Microsoft recently announced the end of Skype for Business Online from July 31, 2021. It has said that it will begin onboarding new Office 365 customers to Teams for chats, meetings, and calling as its default meeting tool, starting from September 1, 2019.
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