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Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

Oldjim
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Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

http://hexus.net/tech/news/software/51725-office-2013-retail-permanently-assigned-single-computer/
Quote
When you install your new retail copy of Microsoft Office 2013 on your computer the license is tied to that machine for its life. If your machine goes kaput or you upgrade to a new computer then you can’t reinstall this copy of Office onto the new machine, you’ll have to buy a new copy which will be then tied to that machine. This new license is a lot like the Windows OEM license, but applying it to an application suite rather than an operating system seems far less reasonable. In effect the new Office 2013 retail and OEM licenses are the same.
Original source http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/does-your-copy-of-office-2013-die-with-your-comp...
20 REPLIES 20
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

Here's another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail -
The latest and greatest release (v4.0.0 : 7th-Feb-2013) of Libre Office - http://www.libreoffice.org
Cool
Oldjim
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Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

Yup
Also my Office 2003 does everything I want
Strat
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Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

I'm migrating away from Office 2003. It's a wrench but has to be done as the next copy I will have to buy Cry
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dvorak
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Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

I get a few licences for free, so doesn't bother me 🙂
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NedLudd
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Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

A good reason to stick with 2003!  Roll_eyes
Geoff,
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VileReynard
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Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

Why do people migrate?
Their documents have to be converted into the old format because no-one can read them.

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w23
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Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

When our French office at work upgraded to Office 2007 nobody could read their documents (we were using Office 2003) - until I used Open Office (more compatible with Microsoft Office than Microsoft Office at the time).  Tongue
I have to use Microsoft Office at work (though I'm still on 2003 (but now with the 'compatibility pack')) but I'm happy to use Libre Office at home.
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HairyMcbiker
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Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

Isn't DRM great ?  Sad Crazy
You pay £100's to RENT your s/w then you can't move it to another pc  Tongue Lips_are_sealed
HPsauce
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Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

I noticed that MS seemed to be pushing the subscription versions a lot more with Office 2013 and had to warn one of my customers to look out for that.
As it transpired they didn't need it anyway, just the Office Viewers.  Cool
As for the single-PC licence that seems to be somewhat unclear so far but definitely much "tighter" than previously.
On the other hand I just "upgraded" a Windows 8 PC requiring reinstallation and re-validation and it wasn't too difficult.
For reasons that aren't 100%  obvious I had to phone up twice a few days apart and do the long tedious number thing but it's all OK now.
The PC was originally an HP Pavilion Pentium D tower and was "upgraded" to an AMD64 dual-core HP Pavilion Slimline Roll_eyes
(so a lot of components were replaced, though I think it's the same monitor, keyboard and mouse  Cheesy )
7up
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Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

Still using 2003 here too. My partner uses 2007 though (you know the graphical version) and I think its utter rubbish.
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VileReynard
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Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

Actually, if you want proper typesetting you should be using LaTeX (free) and you can use LyX (free) to help with the learning curve.
You can get a pdf file as output which can be printed/viewed (free).
The entirely free components are freely available for Windows, Mac and Linux and are also free of charge.  Cheesy

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gleneagles
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Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

Quote from: w23
When our French office at work upgraded to Office 2007 nobody could read their documents (we were using Office 2003) - until I used Open Office (more compatible with Microsoft Office than Microsoft Office at the time).  Tongue
I have to use Microsoft Office at work (though I'm still on 2003 (but now with the 'compatibility pack')) but I'm happy to use Libre Office at home.
A relative of mine who works as a teacher but knows little about computers spent hours doing some reports using word 2003, took it into school and found it was not possible to read it on their system which I assume was word 2007.
Absolute scandal that a word processor that costs so much cannot read documents done in earlier versions, or perhaps it can with a compatibility pack but surely this should be built in as part of the main program ? Every time a new version of Office comes out are users going to be worried that documents printed on earlier versions may not work ?
I Only use Libre Office as it has all the functions I need.
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ejs
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Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

Of course newer versions of Microsoft Office can read and write files in the older formats.
In my experience, LibreOffice is worse at using .docx files than it is at using the old .doc format.
Presumably the security updates and support for Office 2003 will stop at some point.
Oldjim
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Re: Another very good reason not to buy Office 2013 Retail

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/20/office_2013_license_no_transfers/
Quote
Microsoft has clarified the licensing for retail versions of its Office 2013 productivity suite, confirming that boxed editions of the software are licensed for a single PC only and that the license may never be transferred, even if the user upgrades to a new PC.
I bet this won't hold up in the EU