[PostalTwinkie]

http://Office 2013 retail licensing change ties suite to specific PC forever]Source[/URL]
Quote:

If your computer dies, so does your Office license,' says licensing guru; move seen as prod to adopt subscription-based Office 365

Quote:

On Thursday, Microsoft confirmed that once a retail copy of Office 2013 is installed on a PC and activated -- the process of entering a 25-character "key" to prove the software was legitimately obtained -- it cannot be uninstalled and then re-installed on another machine owned by the customer.

Basically MS is railroading the customers here, which really sucks for people like my wife. Her University requires that they keep the latest and greatest version of Office, in our case my wife might use one of a few computers in our home. Under this new policy we would need to buy 3 copies of Office, one for each system. Not only that, but if I, or anyone, were to upgrade their core components, guess what? You need a new copy.

I am personally getting tired of developers and others in the industry intentionally shafting their customers.

I guess we will be buying one copy, Spring Term for my wife, and I will be looking to the Pirating community for a crack to make it to where we can use our legally purchased copy in our home.

 

[frickfrock999]

I'm not worried.
I'll just switch to Abi Word + Open Office and I'm set for life.

 

[DrBrogbo]

Microsoft continues to prove how utterly out of touch they are with the average consumer.

"Pay us more money, and get less out of it" is the greatest business strategy EVER. [/sarcasm]

 

[Scott1541]

It's a bit of a dick move by Microsoft IMO. Did then not make as much money from Office 2010 as they intended and decided they needed to make more money from office 2013?

 

[Porthios]

Open office, Google docs.

 

[PostalTwinkie]

While I am well aware of "alternatives" to Microsoft Office, they don't do a bit of good when my wife's University won't accept work completed in them.

Yes, you can tell when something is done outside of Office, even when saved as an Office extension. Basically Microsoft has the Universities by the man hood.

 

[Cheezman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Porthios

Open office, Google docs.

Most businesses, government organizations, and schools use Microsoft Office. There isn't really any direct compatibility between Microsoft Office and other alternatives.

This is an extremely poor move by Microsoft, very anticonsumer and anticompetitive.

 

[frickfrock999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PostalTwinkie

Yes, you can tell when something is done outside of Office, even when saved as an Office extension.

How?

 

[Cheezman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by frickfrock99

How?

Because the formatting will be messed up.

 

[frickfrock999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheezman

Because the formatting will be messed up.

Couldn't you just match the margins/spacing settings in another office suite to Microsoft's defaults?

 

[villain]

Can't blame universities for using MS Office when all of the employees can get the latest Pro Plus version for $10.

 

[PostalTwinkie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by frickfrock99

How?

Microsoft Office stores their files in a very proprietary format, even the best clones aren't exact. So while you can write a document in Open Office and save it as a Word file that Microsoft Office will read, the format in which it was stored is different, and this can be checked. While it sounds extreme, some instructors do check this to make sure you are "in compliance with the course instructions".

EDIT: For clarity, this formatting isn't the formatting within the text, margins, spacing, etc. It is the actual structure of the file itself.
Quote:

Originally Posted by villain

Can't blame universities for using MS Office when all of the employees can get the latest Pro Plus version for $10.

Yup, give it to the school for next to nothing, shaft the students.

Students used to get a nice price break, about 50%, now it is about 10%, at least where we live.

 

[avesdude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PostalTwinkie

While I am well aware of "alternatives" to Microsoft Office, they don't do a bit of good when my wife's University won't accept work completed in them.

Yes, you can tell when something is done outside of Office, even when saved as an Office extension. Basically Microsoft has the Universities by the man hood.

Export to pdf. Makes sure your formatting doesn't change.

EDIT ok I just saw that you meant the file format. Is this for turnitin.com or something? Why can't you submit .pdf? And don't get me wrong, this is a BS move by MS.

 

[djriful]

Quote:

Originally Posted by frickfrock99

I'm not worried.
I'll just switch to Abi Word + Open Office and I'm set for life.

Exactly or get into the underworld (darkside) softwares. This is just a cat and mouse chasing game.

 

[Huzzbutt]

You know it's fun. Microsoft is evil again, we had break after the IE debacle in EU, some breathing room. But now they're in full assault mode. I can't wait until the Commission brings out the antitrust fiscal banhammer threat again. Get them so hard they'll have to whitewash until 2050

 

[PostalTwinkie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by avesdude

Export to pdf. Makes sure your formatting doesn't change.

EDIT ok I just saw that you meant the file format. Is this for turnitin.com or something? Why can't you submit .pdf? And don't get me wrong, this is a BS move by MS.

Most all the Instructors require that the documents are e-mailed to them in Word Format, or the respective Office product format, or handed in on a Flash drive for them to pull them. We have purchased 3 versions of Office in just as many years, as per the University. I originally had Open Office on our systems, and just told her to use that, it wasn't a week into the term that she was contacted by a couple Instructors.

I was amazed, and pissed, that they go to such length to ensure that "Office" is used.

 

[Mygaffer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by frickfrock99

I'm not worried.
I'll just switch to Abi Word + Open Office and I'm set for life.

I'm trying to let everyone know that Open Office was forked and now Libre Office is what is seeing active development. They've made a LOT of advances since forking, so make sure you use Libre Office instead of Open Office, or at the very least check it out.

Oracle hasn't exactly been a good steward of open source projects.

EDIT: On a side note, I have been very happy watching Microsoft flounder as they get out maneuvered and out competed by all their major competitors.

 

[zerobahamut]

hmm i really wonder why piracy is so popular?...

OH! I know! Its stuff like this that when you buy a product and you mother board burns out or your SSD goes your royally screwed!

It ALL MAKE SO MUCH SENSE...BOY DO I LOVE PAYING $200-$300 to borrow a program for about a year! Nam ill use office 2003. still the best IMO

 

[Mygaffer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zerobahamut

hmm i really wonder why piracy is so popular?...

OH! I know! Its stuff like this that when you buy a product and you mother board burns out or your SSD goes your royally screwed!

It ALL MAKE SO MUCH SENSE...BOY DO I LOVE PAYING $200-$300 to borrow a program for about a year! Nam ill use office 2003. still the best IMO

To be fair their is an exception for that scenario. Basically when Microsoft ties a software lic. to one computer it is really to that computer's motherboard. So you can upgrade everything else and have no problem. If your motherboard dies then you can reinstall your Office on the replacement board, they do allow for replacements in case of failure.

 

[villain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PostalTwinkie

Yup, give it to the school for next to nothing, shaft the students.

Students used to get a nice price break, about 50%, now it is about 10%, at least where we live.

Exactly. We don't even get it anymore over here, only the time-limited cloud version.