In a reversal, Microsoft says it will now charge all small businesses that have registered their websites through Office Live Small Business an annual domain registration fee, even those companies it had already promised free website registrations for life.
Starting October 1, all customers will have to pay £7.99 a year (£10.99 for .co.uk domain, and $14.99 in the US) to renew their custom web address.
The move means that the software maker is going back on a promise it made last year. As part of a series of changes made in February 2008, the company said that new customers of Office Live Small Business would have to pay for domain renewals after the first year, but promised that early customers of the services would get their domains registered for free "in perpetuity."
In a statement on Friday, Microsoft acknowledged the shift.
"Yes, it is a change," Microsoft said in a statement to ZDNet UK's sister site CNET News. "As you know, we made a decision in February 2008 to begin charging $14.95 (per) year for custom domain name renewals for new customers. Now, we're asking all customers to pay this same fee once their domain comes up for renewal."
Microsoft did say that the price is quite competitive and noted that the majority of its Office Live small business services are still offered for free. Those who want a website for free have the option of moving their site from a custom domain and onto their own portion of the Office Live domain.
However, Microsoft notes that while the website will transfer, other data could be lost.
"All e-mail accounts on the expired domain name will be automatically removed and e-mail messages will not be saved," Microsoft said on its website, adding a link to a page offering methods of backing up such data.
The move comes as Microsoft is shifting more of its online attention toward bringing the full Office suite on to the web, as opposed to ancillary services. Free, browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote are coming next year as part of Office 2010.
The Office Live Small Business tools date back to the earliest days of Microsoft's Live push, first announced in late 2005 and released in final form in November 2006.
