Renting is second nature here in America - I recently hired a car for a week for about the same price as filling its tank, and time-poor urbanites can even pay to borrow man’s best friend for a weekend (www.flexpetz.com ). Letting, rather than buying, a house makes sense when times are hard.

Microsoft has a contribution of its own to the new austerity chic: for the first time it’s offering its bestselling Office software (a suite of programs that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) for rental. Instead of having to find $150 (£75) for the full package, customers at Circuit City electronics stores will soon be able to rent the packages, renamed Microsoft Equipt, for $70 (£35) a year. Renters will get the same support and updates as owners and will enjoy a free upgrade when the next version of Office is issued. Stop paying, and the software stops working. What’s happening here is likely to reach you in Britain next.

Renting may be cheaper than buying, but squatting for nothing is cheaper still. For the past year I’ve spurned Bill Gates’s software in favour of the free OpenOffice suite (www.openoffice.org ). Its open-source word processor has a spellchecker; the spreadsheet can read all my files; and I don’t miss the fancier features found in the latest, bloated version of Office.

If I do need to work on the go or share documents with colleagues around the world, I can sign up to Zoho (www.zoho.com ), which lets me work on and store files online - again without spending a dime.

Equipt is a sensible step forward for Microsoft, although I think it has underestimated the economic crisis ahead. When the SUV is stranded on the driveway, the bank is demanding the mortgage and even Fido is getting repo’d, I suspect the last thing the average American will spend money on is software that’s free elsewhere.

seattle@sunday-times.co.uk

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