With the January 29th launch of Office 2013 as well as the launch of Office 365 Home Premium, Microsoft apparently wants to do away with the previous version for Windows, Office 2010, as soon as possible. In fact, a new report says that Microsoft officially ended sales of Office 2010 just a few days after the release of Office 2013.
PCWorld.com reports that while Microsoft offers "end of life" dates for its Windows operating systems, it does not do the same for Office software. Previously, sales of older Office products stopped about six months after a new version was released. However, PCWorld.com reports that an online forum post from a small PC system maker stated they received the following notice from their software distributor:
Please be advised the following skus for Office 2010 will be EOL on 1/31/13. "X-Distributor" will be allowed to sell-out existing inventory until it’s supply has been depleted.
While Microsoft is no longer officially selling any copies of Office 2010, there may still be a few units that are on store shelves. While those remaining copies can still be bought at or below their suggested retail prices at some locations, other retailers have raised their prices on the software. An example is Amazon.com, which is selling the disc version of Microsoft Office Home & Student 2010 for $169.99, $20 higher than its previous price.
People who buy a new copy of Office 2010 will be eligible to receive a free subscription to the equivalent Office 365 Home Premium SKU until April 30th.
Source: PCWorld.com | Image via Microsoft