Interesting news from the US today that Microsoft is offering to lease the Student version of Office with its One Care security suite and Live web services for around $70 (£35)  a year.

The offer has been announced only for the US and I'm waiting to hear from Microsoft to see if it will be introduced into Britain. But, considering that it includes three licences and is not much more than you would pay for virus protection anyway, it is the kind of deal that could make the subscription model work because you are getting a continuing service for your money as well as use of the software.

It would be cheaper in the near term to buy the Office Home and Student edition, which packs Word, Excel, Powerpoint and One Note (but not Outlook or Access) and costs just £80 with three licences from PC World, and you can get it cheaper still bundled with a notebook but you don't get the services.

Both deals show that Microsoft is having to level down its prices in the face of fiercer competition (the free and good OpenOffice offers broad support for Microsoft Office formats) and falling hardware prices that can mean a machine costs less than the software running on it.

The subscription deal has the advantage of potentially wooing customers into using Microsoft's online services at a time when the company is trailing in the battle for web revenues.

Software subscriptions will only work if you get some value out of the continuing payments. Last month we got blurb from a company called PC Powerdown about a switch that will shut you PC and peripherals off on schedule. It costs £30 plus £10 a year 'licence renewal' fee apparently entitled you to upgrades. It would take a lot of persuading to get me to sign up to that one.