License 6.0 License 6.0 removes the only competitor Microsoft has left--older versions of Microsoft. Under it, software will automatically expire unless the benighted user continues to pay Redmond. Touted as "software as service" it's really just "software as rental," designed to extend the monopoly rent Microsoft gets on its commodity Office applications. Remarkably, CIOs have fought back--which is the first step in improving the productivity people get from computers. If you don't take control of your software, it'll take control of you, and upgrading as you see fit is a very basic sort of control. More interestingly, Microsoft is offering discounts to customers who then agree to never consider a competitors product. Anti-trust anyone?