Microsoft‘s service pack is, along with Windows, one of the most pirated software. However, in an attempt to contain a war – apparently lost – Microsoft decided to use the famous saying: “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” and started to offer an attractive discount for users who are running fake versions of Office.

Discount Offer for Office Pirate Users
According to the Ghacks blog, some people began receiving in early December an offer from the company with a discount for a subscription to Microsoft 365 – the subscription online version of the suite of applications.

In addition, the promotional page also included warnings about the dangers of software piracy, such as security threats, data loss, lack of support for updates, etc. Click here and check out the plan, it is noteworthy that the values can change from country to country, and also that you must be a qualified user to guarantee the discount.

Microsoft does not mention on the website what the necessary prerequisites would be (apart from being a user who is using the program in a pirated version). However, according to the tabloid, logging into your Microsoft account can indicate whether or not you meet the discount rules.

“You will need to log into your Microsoft account to see if you qualify for the discount. It didn’t work for me when I tried it, I’m not sure if it’s because I have a genuine license attached to my account. I think it checks to see if you clicked on the pirated copy of Office link, but I can’t say for sure. It worked for my friend,” explained the site.

Difference between Microsoft Office (and versions) and Microsoft 365
Microsoft Office (Or Office 2019 and 2021, for example) is a combo of Microsoft applications that can be installed on your computer’s desktop. This is the traditional version of the program, for which you pay for a one-time purchase license. Microsoft 365 is the subscription version of this service, requiring a monthly or annual payment to access the services.

The most prominent difference between the two types is that, with Microsoft Office versions, you only pay once for the product, however, you do not receive updates, which would be the case with the 356 version (by subscription) which, despite the monthly payment, have updates whenever available. However, at the end of the plan, the benefits also end – as with any subscription product.