cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Any MS licensing experts out there...???

pawhe955
Grafter
Posts: 111
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Any MS licensing experts out there...???

Hi,
Got loads of PCs at home (with most running OpenOffice out of choice) but the latest MS Office I have is on only one machine and is 2003 - however, kids are using 2007 at school, and therefore want this on their laptops.... so started investigating Student editions......
The MS site seems to suggest that there is only one Student edition, and that it has only 4 components (NOT including Outlook, which I'd like to have) and can be installed on 3 machines concurrently......
However, having Googled for resellers, there is a website (www.software4students.co.uk), being a "Microsoft Gold Partner" and  "Authorised Education Reseller" that appears to be selling different versions of Office 2007 (e.g. Standard, Pro Plus, Enterprise, etc.) under Student/Education Licenses. However, not only are they doing different versions Office (which is different to the MS website information), their licensing information suggests that the software can only be installed on 2 PCs - a main/desktop, plus a "2nd portable device used by the primary user"....  (which used to be the "standard" licensing conditions for single-license software).
Although the initial 'interest' in "www.software4students.co.uk" was due to their software being cheap, it's raised the questions as to what exactly they are selling (OEM versions, not Student versions?), and whether there are actually "real" versions of MS Office Student editions that legitimately include Outlook....??  Would anyone know for sure???
Many thanks,
8 REPLIES 8
shutter
Community Veteran
Posts: 22,206
Thanks: 3,769
Fixes: 65
Registered: ‎06-11-2007

Re: Any MS licensing experts out there...???

Why not see if you can contact MS and ask them a direct question?  failing that , ask them if the website is "legit" and it is safe to buy, why is the licensing different for same product direct?
pawhe955
Grafter
Posts: 111
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Any MS licensing experts out there...???

Hi,
I'm actually trying to do that at the moment - was initially hesitant, 'cause typically not easy to find a contact (that will actually answer) for this type of question. I'd already found and followed a 'wizard' on the Microsoft UK Website, to a link that states "Contact a support professional by e-mail, online, or phone", and when I try it, I currently keep getting:
"Error:
An unknown application error occurred. Please try again in a few minutes."    ( on IIS, do you reckon??  Grin )
Hence the post.
Further digging (esp. Microsoft Forums)  seems to suggest that  the website mentioned might be selling 'standard' licenses (e.g. not Student) - possibly OEM - under the guise of Student licenses (they also ship only "media kits" or a "CD Mailer" - apparently no box...... )... so I'll probably be steering clear of them... (If something is to good to be true, it usually is....).
I'm probably still going to try and pose a question to MS, about the what the website is actually selling, and whether it is possible to purchase a version of the Home and Student license that include an Outlook component.....
Cheers,
samuria
Grafter
Posts: 1,581
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎13-04-2007

Re: Any MS licensing experts out there...???

I used to ring MS a lot and their staff never no their own rules and are as confused as the rest of us. It used to come down to concurant use so you could have one copy on 3 pc's as long as it wasnt in use on more than 1 pc at a time.
I wouldnt worry to much about it Bill wont go without his tea if you use it on 2 pc's
artificer
Grafter
Posts: 1,850
Registered: ‎11-08-2007

Re: Any MS licensing experts out there...???

have you considered open office?  it can read all the formats.  it's a large download, but can do pretty much everything any of the microsoft products can do.  no license fees.
xpcomputers
Grafter
Posts: 461
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎13-04-2007

Re: Any MS licensing experts out there...???

Quote from: artificer
have you considered open office?

Reading the OP's first post, I think I can deduce that pawhe955's answer to that question would be a resounding "YES"!
... I quote from the first post:
Quote from: pawhe955
Got loads of PCs at home (with most running [color=red]OpenOffice out of choice[/color]) but the latest MS Office I have is on only one machine and is 2003 - however, kids are using 2007 at school, and therefore want this on their laptops.... so started investigating Student editions......

Bold & Red added by me to add emphasis!
artificer
Grafter
Posts: 1,850
Registered: ‎11-08-2007

Re: Any MS licensing experts out there...???

oh, duh!  how did i misread that?  sorry.
VileReynard
Hero
Posts: 12,616
Thanks: 582
Fixes: 20
Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: Any MS licensing experts out there...???

Make them justify the MS$ 2007 version over any other version you can supply.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

pawhe955
Grafter
Posts: 111
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Any MS licensing experts out there...???

@axisofevil:
By "them", do you mean make my kids justify 2007?
Rock & a hard place on that one - their school have "chosen" to use Office 2007, so that's what they're learning (with it's new and different  "ribbon" interface and possibly new features) - so it seems wrong to insist that they continue to use, and therefore have to concurrently learn, the older style interface for (office suite) applications at home. Kids have enough to learn nowadays, and adding to that burden seems a little unfair......
@samuria:
I agree that MS' licensing can sometime seem "restrictive" - but if/when I feel *obliged* to buy MS software (like in this case, for the benefit of my kids education), I always want to get it in the most cost-effective manner - which in the case of MS Office seems to be "Home & Student" licenses, which *explicitly permit* you to install in on (and use it on) 3 PCs concurrently - hence I want this particular Office edition, at the lowest cost I can get it. But having found somewhere that was purportedly selling H&S licenses, I then found the discrepancy between MS's definition of H&S licenses, and the website's information. Whilst I advocate trying to avoid buying MS software where possible (I'm a big Ubuntu user), I don't believe in taking a "risk" of breaking any legally binding licensing agreements, so my philosophy is to use Free/OpenSource where possible.... (MS Product "activation" makes it all the more difficult to load/use one license on multiple PCs nowadays, anyway....).
Cheers,