Sorry guys always going way off topic..
Just wanted to ask someone else in the know.

Bought a copy of microsoft office pro 2003 from a seller on ebay, got it quite cheap compared to other sellers, and as we are after quite a few its making us quite a significant saving,

It arrived, sealed, and with certificate on the rear, and product id etc.
Opened it, and the disc is real and has all the holograms etc in place, checked on microsoft/howtotell.com and it checks out with all visual instructions.

Then just to make sure, i phoned microsoft and asked them to validate the id.
They ran it through, and came back and said, yes its fine, this is the id for XP Home edition.. i said, but the disc is office 2003, they said, well we distribute millions if not billions of software discs, the only way of checking to be sure is to install it and if the product key activates the installation, its genuine.

I did this, and it worked fine.
However i am a bit worried about the next online process when it validates over the microsoft website thingy and if its fake the software will lock down.
Reason why im so worried, is i need 12 more copies rather sharpish and if they all go to pot, i will have burned a lot of our company money on this worthless crap.

Have been back to the seller to ask him all this his reponses have been as follows:

"I have sold literally hundreds of copies of this particular software and not yet had a problem. I'm glad you found the the product key was ok, hopefully this subdued any fears you had about my product. Like I say to most of my customers, the only way is to buy it and install it - I can't prove it to you any other way. I way confident you would be happy though. Regarding the validation, too be honest I'm not 100% sure what the next stage is - thats usually what I leave the IT guys to do! I know my way around a pc, but I'm not completely informed - IT guys usually help me out! I presume that my previous customers just follow the instructions - most microsoft software has extremely easy step by step instructions to follow on screen. I haven't heard of any problems so I assume its straight forward."

Anyone know much about this, or know anywhere i can get 12 copies of this software cheap?

There's a big market for "cheap" copies of MS software. There's a statistic doing the rounds that around 30% of the world's installed MS software didn't actually originate from the manufacturer. It loses them a stackload of cash, which they supposedly miss. Do all the copies have the same certificate number? It's interesting MS have told you it refers to XP Home. What the cynic in me would say is that whoever is providing the software is using known certificates on the packaging of other software. I don't believe Office "locks down" if you fail the authenticity test - you just won't be able to perform updates (service packs etc) via the Officeupdate/Microsoft Update sites (and there's even a way around that, so not the end of the world). The cheapest authentic way to buy MS software is from a reseller where you can join one of the volume purchase schemes - the lowest band (and less discounted) only starts at 5 units I believe but you are guaranteed the real deal and at least you save some money over list price. 

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How much are we talking for 13 copies..
i need them pretty sharpish, but am not paying full whack for them!
Have been quoted prices around £150-199 per copy. Will tell you, the buyer i got this copy of sold it to me for £75.00 its genuine CD just not genuine license i think.. for that price im skeptical too, hence the tester of just buying one..

You should be paying a trade price of about £175 ex VAT per unit. So if you can beat that you are doing well... I have to shoot and pick up the littl'un from nursery now but if you need a supplier to deal with let me know. 

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Thanks mate.. will do..
£175 per Unit EXC Vat!! no way im telling the boss (dad) that.. he'll throw me out of the window.. !!

"The cheapest authentic way to buy MS software is from a reseller where you can join one of the volume purchase schemes - the lowest band (and less discounted) only starts at 5 units I believe but you are guaranteed the real deal and at least you save some money over list price."

what is list price nowadays, and how much would i be saving on the above if i purchased for £175.00 per unit on one of these schemes. Our IT Installation guys offered us the cd's for £150 each through their microsoft partnership resale thingy, and i told them to take a hike.. maybe i should call them back then..

We want to buy legit licenses and CD's as we only have them for ms office 2000 right now, but this upgrade lark is well expensive.. would rather save for new company cars the way this is going.. We might consider say buying two a month and upgrade over time, that way we might have the whole office upgraded before the next 5 updates come round..!!

List price for the upgrade version (which I assume is what your IT chaps are selling you as it's cheaper and will allow you to move from your existing Office 2000 to 2003 in one fell swoop) is £204.99 ex VAT. If they are charging you £150 per CD, I'd bite their hands off. Count your lucky stars you don't need to buy the full blown standalone installation at £324.99 per license

If your IT folks are a MS reseller, I would speak to them about Microsoft's Open Value licensing schemes. These schemes focus on smaller companies who are interested in payment flexibility... you might be able to make it even cheaper if you want to amortise these costs over 3 years. 

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The other alternative is not to use Microsoft Office, but use OpenOffice instead. I've been putting more and more customers onto this and the feedback is good. OpenOffice is completely free of charge (comes from the open source community), but don't let the idea that it is free cloud your judgement of the software. It is is many ways better than Office. It is very very good. It looks and feels like Office, so it is easy to use. It will read and write in the Microsoft format too. Go to www.openoffice.org to find out more.
Many of our customers are now seeing the value in going the non-microsoft route and are vary happy with the results. Matt
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RRS ownership for 1 yr, then D3 for 2 yrs. Then cut back to old bangers and working my way back up through two Peugeots in 6 months. Now got Saab 9-5 2.3t and enjoying the performance!

Very true. I make the vast majority of my living involved in MS technology, but I was quite impressed with OO when I played with it I have to say. It used to be rubbish but the current version is actually quite a viable alternative for organisations who are willing to entertain not using MS software. 

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wow.. thats looks rather good..
will look into this, cheers mate.
certainly cheaper then blowing a few grand on the alternative..

You can save PDFs from your documents too, which is something MS Office doesn't do. Version 2 also comes with a database package.
One thing that really impressed me with OpenOffice was how it converted a powerpoint presentation into a website. It made a great website with navigation buttons to change the slide shots. Did it in a few clicks and it was ready to publish to the web. Matt
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RRS ownership for 1 yr, then D3 for 2 yrs. Then cut back to old bangers and working my way back up through two Peugeots in 6 months. Now got Saab 9-5 2.3t and enjoying the performance!

Sounds excellent..
will download it to my home pc tonight and give it a trial..
Is there any compatibilty issues with other MS files, i.e. opening from an old archived disc that could have been created on a really old Microsoft 95 office package or something..

Not really. It is 95% compatable with Office. The older files are probably more compatible. Only complex formating or graphs may have problems, but it doesn't take much to sort them out if it doesn't come across well. Matt
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RRS ownership for 1 yr, then D3 for 2 yrs. Then cut back to old bangers and working my way back up through two Peugeots in 6 months. Now got Saab 9-5 2.3t and enjoying the performance!

I also hear that advanced Excel users can break it quite easily as some of the formula/macro functions don't quite cut the mustard. Compatability and functionality are the main reason why you'd need to test the software out first to make sure it does what you want of it and remains reliable... depending on how savvy your users are, Kam, will determine the potential for "support calls" as it were. It is a good piece of software for free, as long as you bear in mind it isn't just a free version of Office. 

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