It's not absurd: it's a perfectly reasonable and entirely rational deal. Microsoft Office is commercial software costs roughly $300. If you want to use it for

It's not absurd: it's a perfectly reasonable and entirely rational deal. Microsoft Office is commercial software costs roughly $300. If you want to use it for commercial purposes, you pay the price. However, there's a special deal where you get a Home & Student version for a third of the price, on condition that you don't use it for commercial purposes (ie as a replacement for the version you should be buying). A lot of commercial programs are available in cheap student versions or in free versions for home (non-commercial) use. This is standard industry practice. It's not a Microsoft thing.