Microsoft Slashes Office 365 Price After Office 2016 Launch; How To Get Your Discount

Good news for people upgrading to Windows 10: Microsoft has announced a 50 percent discount on the first year of Office 365 Personal to those who've upgraded their operating system and are still using Office 2010 or earlier.

Customers who want to take advantage need to visit the pre-installed Get Office app on Windows 10.

The news follows Tuesday's release of Office 2016, the first major upgrade to the Office suite in three years. Reviews indicate the upgrade alone offers little more than Office 2013, but it represents a shift for Microsoft toward the suite being upgraded to be more like a service -- much like Windows 10. Office 2016 doesn't offer many new features, but with Office 365, the suite will benefit from regular upgrades.

The trick for Microsoft was to get customers hooked onto the subscription model. For many, buying an upgrade every few years has worked fine, and some users don't care about having the latest and greatest software all the time. With this offer, an Office 365 Personal subscription would cost just $35, compared to $399 for Office Professional 2016, which included the same set of apps.

The subscription also offers extras like 1 terrabyte of OneDrive space and 60 minutes of Skype credit per month. The subscription is, however, limited to three devices: one PC, one tablet and one phone. Homes looking to install on more devices can opt for the Home subscription, which ups the limit to 15 devices but costs $99 per year.