Microsoft chief claims XP users welcome licence charges

Microsoft's UK MD is convinced a large number of Office users will upgrade to XP and claimed the majority of its customers have welcomed the controversial new licensing charges.

The day before the official launch of Office XP, Neil Holloway cited statistics from Giga Research Group, which claims that of the total Office 95, 97 and 2000 users, 50 per cent will upgrade.

Microsoft's new licensing strategy means that customers who don't upgrade by October will be forced to pay a greater price.

Holloway explained that to date the company's licensing strategy had been "too complex". He claimed: "Four out of five current Office users are happy with the new licensing charges."

The Office-installed base is vast, and Microsoft will need to convince these users to upgrade. Microsoft will be relying on revenues from Office XP to fund ventures such as Xbox and .NET.

Office XP users will initially be able to use the product 50 times before they are required to register either online or over the phone. After this, users can only reactivate twice.