According to Computerworld, Microsoft raised its pricing on Office for Mac 2011 during its Office 365 event last month by as much s 17% and stopped selling multi-license packages of the application suite.

The move puts Office for Mac 2011 on the same pricing schedule as the new Office 2013 for Windows. The price increases and the disappearance of the multi-license bundles also makes Microsoft’s Office 365, a software-by-subscription deal the company has aggressively pushed, more competitive with traditional “perpetual” licenses.

But why? It seems Microsoft is using its Office package as a blackmail tool and pricing it higher. They had better be careful as there are other options out there.