There have been some very minor reports about this in the past, but I've actually received word from what I consider to be a pretty reliable source that the next release of Microsoft Office (likely in 2013) will be subscription based instead of a one-time purchase. As you might know, Microsoft Office suites are pretty expensive ranging from $150 all the way up to $500. If they were to move to a subscription model for selling Office, one would assume (and hope) that the fee would be less money. I would think this would be on a yearly basis and since you would have to pay each year, the cost per year would be much less than the prices now to permanently own that copy. Subscription would also make it easier to upgrade the user to newer versions of Office when they are made available.