Thank You Eric!!!
http://blogs.msdn.com/mssmallbiz/archive/2008/12/01/9160762.aspx
we see this ALL the time, and hear the question come up almost daily, certainly weekly. Honestly where I see it most, and this just burns me up one side and down the other…at the Apple Store, Mac Geniuses, who know full well that this Mac is going to a business or will be used for business purposes, at least part time, they throw on Office for Mac Home and Student Edition see here: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/Office2008/shop-now.mspx and like it's Windows based sibling it is MUCH CHEAPER THAN OTHER VERSIONS, in fact it is almost palatable. I love seeing people walking out of Staples, Office ___, or wherever else, hell even Dell with a shiny new desktop or laptop with Home versions of software on 'em. It is the fallacy of the SOHO/SMB space, that a home product is appropriate for business use. Windows Vista and XP don't specifically preclude Business use the way Office does, but don't for a moment think they should be used there.
So why does Microsoft make, basically the same products available at different rates? The problem with that, is that one assumes Word is Word, Excel is Excel, and PowerPoint is…well, PowerPoint. The fact is that you don't buy compiled code or source code, you buy the rights to use software. The value of the purchase is what the rights, AKA EULA or PUR, say you can do with it. And before we think this is simply a technicality, the fact is that Microsoft and Adobe and Apple and pretty much all of the big name Software Names are part of the BSA (Business Software Alliance) and they are the 'Heavies'. These guys take it VERY SERIOUSLY, after all, that software, and the right to use it, is the manifestation of their Intellectual Property. It is their product, they don't build cars or homes, or roads. Without the ability to enforce their ownership of their intellectual property, they cannot continue to create software for you to put on you machines.
"Oh well Microsoft has more money than sense…" Well that may be true, but what they charge is a function of the marketplace. What we pay for the rights to use the software is a function of the marketplace. Currently there is little competition, and until there is real competition, and they continue to innovate and create new revisions well you can judge it's value. Honestly, most things we do can be done with Notepad or Wordpad or very old versions of the suite, but I like the innovations, and frankly most people do. I hear it all the time, I like the software, but I just don't like paying for it. Well, I like Gas in my car, and I don't like paying for it, but I gotta do it. I like having 300+ channels of TV, and I hate paying for it, but it's what there is…until something comes along and lets me ala carte my channels, I am stuck with it or without it.
So that's a long way around the block, but in the end, thank you Eric, hopefully this will be all it takes to remind people of the software rights they purchase, and if it isn't, then please review http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/ and also http://www.bsa.org/ Is your business worth $149 + the risk of fines and whatnot??? So when you look at the cost of the business tools, think twice…