If you own the perpetual version of Publisher you can still install and run it after that date :)
If you have the cloud subscription version, you’re sadly out of luck.
I can see why MS did this, because for the subscription version, if they allow you to keep accessing the final version under subscription license it means they also have to continue to security patch that version like the rest of the suite, because they are still responsible for it.
Legally, it’s a very different paradigm from software that you sell one-time as an installer, and then have no further responsibility for.
And that is not a defense of Microsoft - rather, it’s a criticism of the intrinsic reality of cloud software.
The only commercial software that will never betray the user is software that comes with an offline installer, and a perpetual license (and even then, only if it doesn’t need the Internet to activate. Looking at you, Adobe…)
If you own the perpetual version of Publisher you can still install and run it after that date :)
If you have the cloud subscription version, you’re sadly out of luck.
I can see why MS did this, because for the subscription version, if they allow you to keep accessing the final version under subscription license it means they also have to continue to security patch that version like the rest of the suite, because they are still responsible for it.
Legally, it’s a very different paradigm from software that you sell one-time as an installer, and then have no further responsibility for.
And that is not a defense of Microsoft - rather, it’s a criticism of the intrinsic reality of cloud software.
The only commercial software that will never betray the user is software that comes with an offline installer, and a perpetual license (and even then, only if it doesn’t need the Internet to activate. Looking at you, Adobe…)
They could totally just send everyone with a Publisher subscription perpetual licence keys.