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Microsoft confirms Equipt kill date

Dead man walking

Microsoft has told Equipt customers that the subscription software package will be killed off on 30 April 2009.

The date comes three months after the company confirmed plans to ditch the Office and security subscription service in November.

Microsoft only began selling Equipt to consumers late last summer in the US via the now bankrupt retail store Circuit City.

By early autumn the firm started flogging the service, which came bundled with Microsoft’s collection of security and anti-virus products (OfficeLive and OneCare), to UK customers.

But come November Redmond had fallen out of love with Equipt and decided to pull the plug.

As we reported last month, however, the company was taking its time over confirming a kill date for Equipt. Today it told any remaining subscribers to the service that Equipt would be discontinued after 30 April 2009.

MS said that applications included in Equipt would “no longer be fully functional” after that date.

It confirmed that Office Home and Student 2007 won’t receive subscription licence updates and will enter “reduced functionality mode”. Effectively customers will only be able to view Office documents, but they won’t be able to create or edit docs via the service.

Meanwhile OneCare will no longer receive periodic security updates – making the product obsolete if used within Equipt.

“You should uninstall Microsoft Equipt from all computers after April 30, 2009,” said the firm in an official bulletin on its website.

“We recommend that you install another version of Microsoft Office and replace your antivirus software. To uninstall Microsoft Equipt, use one of the following procedures, depending on your operating system.”

Microsoft decided late last year to drop the Windows Live OneCare consumer security service in June 2009 and said it would be replaced by a free product, codenamed Morro, which remains under development.

“As a result of this new offering Microsoft will end subscription services for Microsoft Equipt in the first half of 2009,” a Microsoft spokeswoman told The Register last month. ®

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