Office 2013 is shipping in multiple flavors.

Microsoft wants you to get the online version, dubbed Office 365, because it's a subscription. Hedge funds like subscriptions a lot.

But the installable version is still available, only it will make you pay for daring to ask for it. First there will be the price. And then there is the operating system compatibility. Office 2013 requires Windows 7 or 8. Meaning you are out of luck if you are running Windows XP.

Which is why Microsoft ships Office every few years regardless anyone in the world needs it. Anytime they ship they make it impossible to use for a fraction of licensed users out there.

By the way, Microsoft also did that with Internet Explorer, requiring Windows 7 as minimum as well. I hear that Internet Explorer 10 is meant to be used on Windows 8 actually, and that the Windows 7 build is actually a proof of concept only meant to shut down voices out there. In reality, the "best" experience requires the latest operating system.

At this point, one might ask, why should I keep updating an operating system that is supposed to be the one and do-all thing, until the next version ships ? I know very well my current operating system does the work I need it to do very well, and only their provider is wanting me to throw in more money to them, or face the consequences of daring to use the now "old" operating system.

An operating system should run life long, and any application that requires only the latest operating system for it to install should be described as what it really is, a scam.