Questions re: legality of OEM software

[dravp]

Hi,
I had a question re: OEM software. I am looking to buy MS Office (about 10 licenses) for my office. If I look at Microsoft vendors, the cost of the license is about 350 bucks; if I opt for OEM software, it is about 175. This OEM is from known retailers like CompUsa and is said that it is legal...

So, can we use OEM software in office setting..???

Thanks.

[BigDoc]

Hi,
I had a question re: OEM software. I am looking to buy MS Office (about 10 licenses) for my office. If I look at Microsoft vendors, the cost of the license is about 350 bucks; if I opt for OEM software, it is about 175. This OEM is from known retailers like CompUsa and is said that it is legal...

So, can we use OEM software in office setting..???

Thanks.

The purchase of the OEM software is only legit if u "buy a PC with the software"

[Hypnoid]

Or you could download the open-source version for free... Google OpenOffice and check it out.

[BigDoc]

I installed a virtual PC for my biller to use as a dedicated machine, had problems getting a copy of XP Pro that I owned activated, had to buy a new license, software vendors arent usually very helpful after you pay for the software

[alborg]

>>> The purchase of the OEM software is only legit if u "buy a PC with the software"

Actually, all you have to get is a piece of a PC. Frequently OEM software is sent with a broken HD, or a PC fan, etc.

An even better deal is buying a MS Office "educational license." All you need is a teenage son or daughter! Albeit, the license does state that you can't use it for business purposes, but... I won't tell!

Al

[BigDoc]

>>> The purchase of the OEM software is only legit if u "buy a PC with the software"

Actually, all you have to get is a piece of a PC. Frequently OEM software is sent with a broken HD, or a PC fan, etc.

An even better deal is buying a MS Office "educational license." All you need is a teenage son or daughter! Albeit, the license does state that you can't use it for business purposes, but... I won't tell!

Al

You are correct Al, Ive seen OEM software packaged with a tiny piece of cable

[Anon_182a1a]

OpenOffice.org

Free open source copy of MS Office. It is designed to be just exactly a look alike.

it is free because it is done with volunteer programmers from all over the world.

Doesn't Microsoft have enough of your money?

[sweaner]

Open Office certainly is good, but it doesn't have exactly all of the functionality. I have used it on my kid's computer without difficulty.

[alborg]

Open Office lacks VBA, the underlying programming language that can take Office to new levels of operability.

BTW, MS Office Professional 2000 is selling for about $30 on eBay nowadays, and I bought MS Office 2003 for under $40 2 days ago!

Al

BTW, BigDoc- nice forum makeover!!! Congrats- well done...

[BigDoc]

Open Office lacks VBA, the underlying programming language that can take Office to new levels of operability.

BTW, MS Office Professional 2000 is selling for about $30 on eBay nowadays, and I bought MS Office 2003 for under $40 2 days ago!

Al

BTW, BigDoc- nice forum makeover!!! Congrats- well done...

I recently bought a computer from Dell, added Micro$oft Office 2007 Pro, came with a disc, but will not allow you tto install on more than one PC, in past it was licensed per user, it appears they now license per PC which is prohibitively expensive, so I now have 2003, 2007 and Open Office on 3 different PCs

[Apgar]

Pro may be different from Basic- I can still get three per disc per OfficeMax (have to admit my source). I do have to look into the XP to 7 conversion disc, since all the 7s I have seen convert Vista.

I have not upgradedXP to 7 yet, as my wife's school still is on XP platform with Office upgrades only, and we are concerned about different formating. Is it worth the price, and is there hassles between the programs?

[BigDoc]

Pro may be different from Basic- I can still get three per disc per OfficeMax (have to admit my source). I do have to look into the XP to 7 conversion disc, since all the 7s I have seen convert Vista.

I have not upgradedXP to 7 yet, as my wife's school still is on XP platform with Office upgrades only, and we are concerned about different formating. Is it worth the price, and is there hassles between the programs?

I will check out the retail version from OfficeMax.
Upgrading

• XP -> Windows 7 MAYBE
• Vista -> DEFINITE

XP ->

Win 7 is best OS from MS for a long time, I keep XP on sveral PCs because it ia a stable OS, but upgraded my notebook to 7, love it

[Apgar]

My main house computer and two laptops are vista. My old computer was XP, and I had to go off it- some bug was crashing things on a regular basis. I did every spyware program, and even did an old file wipe. No good. So it's offline. I haven't reformated or loaded anything new on it because I still have files that have to be legally 'validated' before I can erase the originals, and that's way down on my to do list.

[Mac1]

I have a lap top at home that has Vista and all of the problems associated with it. I have a MAC at work for me and that is now 4 years old and have not had any problems with. The front office has a new PC with Windows 7. As this is new I don't know much about it yet. My son who works for Intel assures me that this is a good and stable operating system. The business end of the computers have some program from the makers of a program called MEDENT which is a proprietary software.

[BigDoc]

My main house computer and two laptops are vista. My old computer was XP, and I had to go off it- some bug was crashing things on a regular basis. I did every spyware program, and even did an old file wipe. No good. So it's offline. I haven't reformated or loaded anything new on it because I still have files that have to be legally 'validated' before I can erase the originals, and that's way down on my to do list.

Google for a program BELARC ADVISOR install and run it on the old XP machine, it will pull all the licenses on the computer for you.
For the KEY for Windows, get KEYFINDER which is also free, install it, and copy the license key, reinstall Windows and use the key extracted by key-finder to re-register your copy of Windows if you want to avoid lenghty activation process via Microsoft, set aside ~2 hours minimum for this exercise.