Inspiration
In today's world, software budget can become enormous from buying apps, cloud services, movies, games, music, etc. This idea originated when I found myself hesitating upgrading my computer because my old one has a free copy of MS Office on it. I was also resisting purchasing an Office 365 yearly subscription when I only use the products occasionally. After spoken with families and friends, I realize that many more people have the same dilemma. I can further imagine that this dilemma is even worse with the underserved groups around the world.
What it does
Taking advantage of the "Sharing Economy" like Uber and Airbnb, this idea creates a marketplace allowing the corporation and individual subscribers to make some cash on the side by sharing their licenses for a small fee. This idea also allows individuals with no subscriptions to use the products as needed basis, e.g. pay by the hours.
Business Benefits for Microsoft
Office 365 corporation and individual subscribers become the "sales team" for Microsoft because subscribers are more willing to buy and keep the subscriptions when they can make some money back. Office 365 licenses are, therefore, used by more populations including underserved groups around the world.
Demo instruction
I integrated a Paypal test sandbox as the payment method and utilized MS Graph API to manipulate user account. Once paid, the user is re-directed to a page with more instructions, in order to log into Office 365 account. Below are the instructions:
Go to https://licenseshare-route-licenseshare.7e14.starter-us-west-2.openshiftapps.com Click on “Notices” on top navigational bar. Click on “OrganizationA” to enter OrganizationA’s Store. Click on “Buy” button on MS Word product. Pay using Paypal’s Sandbox test account - Enter username “uganda@gmail.com"/password “ugandaHelp”. Click on Check Box and “Agree & Continue” button. Click on “Pay Now”. Then “Continue to Merchant” at the bottom of the Receipt. Click on “Start Clock”. Go To “office.com" and enter username “devpost@pwchen.onmicrosoft.com" and password “TestHack3”. Start using the product until time expires. (Demo is hardcoded to expire in 10 seconds.)
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