Microsoft Office 2013 RT commercial licenses now available

If you're running Windows RT, you already have access to Office 2013 Home & Student, but last month there was a bit of controversy over the fact that Office 2013 Home & Student can't be used for commercial purposes. If you want to use Office in a business setting, you'll have to purchase a license, which are available today according to Software Ruminations. This means that businesses can now purchase licenses for their RT devices and use Office 2013 commercially to their hearts content.

The cost of a single license is £45 (about $71.44), so make no mistake, Microsoft will definitely be making some money here. Of course, there's nothing technically stopping you from using Office 2013 Home & Student commercially, but if Microsoft finds out, it probably isn't going to be too happy (meaning you might find yourself in court). Also, we're assuming that you'd have to live with your dirty conscience, which is never any fun.

Good news though – if you already have a license for Office 2013 on your desktop, there's no need to buy a new one for your Windows RT device. Software Ruminations wonders if Microsoft will require another license for any new versions of Office that pop up on Windows RT – we'd hope that Microsoft wouldn't require a new license in that case, but then again, we wouldn't be all that surprised if it did.

In any case, commercial licenses for Office 2013 Home & Student are now available, so companies can begin using the program for business purposes on their Surface RT tablets. In other words, it's time to party. Be sure to have a look at our story timeline below for more information on Office 2013.