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Confused about Microsoft Office

T

thecounthahaha

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 17, 2010
156
8
Hi guys,

I'm looking at getting MS Office for mac but I'm so used to the app store that I think I've gotten myself in a muddle over how Microsoft does software.

I've found:

Home and Student
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/H...or-mac-home-and-student-2011?fnode=000104090a

Home and Business
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/H...r-mac-home-and-business-2011?fnode=000104090a

And on software4students
http://www.software4students.co.uk/products/microsoft-office-for-mac-home-and-student-2011-2012

which is only £4 cheaper than apple!!


I have a macbook pro and a mac mini that I would want Office on - is this possible? I keep finding references to 1 computer only. Is that right?

Also, when it says things like lifetime use on 1 computer, does that mean as soon as I change the hard drive, have a logic board replaced under warranty, or upgrade to a new computer I'll have to buy another copy of Office?

Thank you very much for the help!
 
Microsoft is extremely difficult to deal with in terms of licensing. Apple is close behind if you run into AppleID issues, but at least Apple's licensing is generous and they make it easy to move from machine to machine.

It can be EXTREMELY frustrating to move an Office installation from one machine to another. And different flavors of Office have different provisions for use on more than one computer. Make sure you get it straight before you buy.

And if you are in an academic setting (my sympathy) check with your IT folks; sometimes institutional licenses allow for the Microsoft Home Use Program, which is very generous: it allowed me to get Office for US $20 for two machines as long as I was employed with that institution.
 
If you can get a office 365 for education deal I do think its pretty good. No problem changing computers and you can upgrade to office for mac 2014 when it comes out. The licences runs 4 years and includes 60 Skype minues per month and 20gb on SkyDrive. At least to me that seems a fair deal. You can have the files on any two pcs or Macs plus mobile devices (e.g. IPhone).
 
OP - as already mentioned by others, get office 365 university. It's a great price and very easy to manage the licence.
 
Check Amazon too. I got Office in downloadable form from Amazon, in some sort of family-pack deal that allowed installation on (IIRC) up to three machines. One benefit is that, as with the App Store, you can go back to Amazon at a later date and re-download easily if you need to reinstall or install on another machine. If (as with my family-pack or whatever it is) you have additional installs left, there's no further issue.

In any case, with any version of Office, if you are reinstalling due to a new hard disk or something and have no further installs left on your license, you can call Microsoft and fix the issue reasonably painlessly... no 45-minute waits.

But the Office 365 option now available sounds great. You have lots of options, it seems.
 
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