March 2009 - Posts
Q: (from Steve)
To sell an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) license to Vista, some item of critical hardware must be included
What needs to be included to sell an OEM Office license?
What if it’s OEM Office for the Mac?
A: (from Deana)
Unopened OEM Office may ONLY be distributed to other OEMs within their territory. You can not distribute unopened OEM Office to an end user.
OEM Office software distributed to end users must be installed on the end user computer by the OEM. Therefore the OEM Office is now “opened”. In addition the COA (Certificate of Authenticity) must be included in the materials provided to the end user.
These rules apply to OEM Office for the Mac.
Windows Vista OEM rules:
http://oem.microsoft.com/script/contentpage.aspx?pageid=561887
Information of preferred method of distributing Office on OEM systems with Office Ready Medialess License Kits:
http://oem.microsoft.com/script/contentpage.aspx?PageID=562139&wa=wsignin1.0
OEM Office Trivia:
- OEM Office can’t be downgraded to a previous version
- OEM Office can be covered by Software Assurance as long as SA is added within 90 days of the OEM purchase
- OEM Office covered by SA becomes transportable. In other words, unlike OEM Windows Vista (with or without SA) which lives and dies with the hardware, OEM Office covered by SA can be removed from a retired computer and reinstalled on a new computer
Q: (from Lauri)
I met you a few years ago when MS first launched 2007. I was at one of the initial presentations and received a free copy of MS office 2007. Now I need to purchase a new computer. Is it possible to download office 2007 again on my new computer?
A:
If you still have the activation code that we gave you during the Launch, then the answer is “yes”. Just go to www.microsoft.com/office and request to download the trial edition. When you do that, you will be given a 60 day trial activation key – toss it out and use the one we gave you at the Launch. You should be good to go!
Please remember that you can’t leave Office on your old computer and you will need to remove it from that computer. The license we provided at the Launch is good for only one computer at a time.
Q: (from Peter)
I have a question that I need help answering. We identified that a customer has Office Basic on their computer. I called Microsoft to identify if we could sale and UPGRADE FPP copy of Office. They stated yes, ANY Office Suite qualifies such as stated on www.microsoft.com/office “Upgrades & Pricing”. However, we are finding some documentation on the internet, (dating back to 2003 Office) that if a customer has Office Basic, they need to purchase a Full Version of Office.
Please advise what is the correct solution for our customer. I would rather contact the customer before they receive and open the Upgrade software if it is not going to work for them.
A:
OK several comments:
First, like the IRS, you can sometimes call us multiple time and get conflicting answers – annoying but true. That’s where knowing an MS employee helps get a consistent answer.
Second, for those of you who don’t know what Office Basic is, it’s an OEM version of Office that includes Word, Excel, and Outlook only
So to answer your question, I looked at this site:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/FX101754511033.aspx
I see the Qualifying Products for Upgrade consistently include “any 2000–2007 Microsoft Office program or suite” of which Office Basic would be a member. If you want to point out the contradictory site, I’ll be happy to research this further. But this site is the official Office upgrade site and seems to be pretty clear. Upgrade away!
Q: (from Cliff)
I have been an MCSE for about 5 years now.
I would like to become a Microsoft Small Business Specialist and a Microsoft Partner.
Can you please tell me what I have to do to do this.
I think another company is already using my MCSE #, and I want to take it back. They have been using it for about 3 years.
A:
The easiest way is to have the partner that currently owns the MCP association disassociate the MCP#
If that isn’t an option, he can try logging into partners.microsoft.com with his account:
Under “Administration”, “Your Individual Account Page”,
Select the current organization and click Disassociate
The final option would be to contact the MCP Support:
Telephone: (800) 636 7544
E-mail: MCPHelp@microsoft.com
BTW, this may put the other organization’s partner status in jeopardy.