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Microsoft Office Licence Confusion

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  • Marty_J
    Marty_J Posts: 6,594 Forumite
    edited 27 January 2010 at 5:21AM
    !!!!!! wrote: »
    I suggest that you read the EULA for MS Office 2007. Guess what? there is only one EULA for all versions and it doesn't mention restrictions for different versions. That ends your objection

    If the licence doesn't mention the blurb on their site then it is not enforceable.
    A 'commercial situation' can not be construed as using your PRIVATE computer AT HOME for business task where business is not the machines primary purpose.

    The software licence terms for Office 2007 Home and Student say:

    20100127-gaqu4ety7rw4gh6wym826shp9f.jpg

    Whereas for Office 2007 Small Business, they say:

    20100127-nk4wx3ckpjc2x42h6m4d7j32ci.jpg

    A 'commercial situation' is clearly construed by Microsoft as any "commercial, non-profit, or revenue generating business activity".

    The idea that your "PRIVATE" computer "AT HOME" can't be used for any of the above is patently absurd.

    Don't people work from home in your universe?
  • System
    System Posts: 178,347 Community Admin
    10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 27 January 2010 at 7:59AM
    Interesting. I got the same licence for both when I originally downloaded them from the MS site, must have been finger trouble. That was what my comment was based on.

    Based on the Home licence though, working from home is not allowed. Even a single business orientated letter is banned according to that EULA. Unfair terms spring to mind
    This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com
  • spaceboy
    spaceboy Posts: 1,928 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I got Home & Student for my mum's shop computer 2 years ago and at the top bar in every window it says Lisensed for Non-Commercial Use unfortunately. So you can tell the difference quite easily.
  • cit_k
    cit_k Posts: 24,812 Forumite
    Without piracy, microsoft would not be rich......
    [greenhighlight]but it matters when the most senior politician in the land is happy to use language and examples that are simply not true.
    [/greenhighlight][redtitle]
    The impact of this is to stigmatise people on benefits,
    and we should be deeply worried about that
    [/redtitle](house of lords debate, talking about Cameron)
  • elvch01
    elvch01 Posts: 341 Forumite
    If you officially work from home, your employer has a duty of care to ensure that your "place of work" conforms to the same standards as that of "the office". This includes health and safety aspects such as desk & chair issues as well as the electrical & physical safety issues surrounding the electrical spaghetti involved with laptops etc. It also involves ensuring that the equipment being used is licensed etc. Were there to be any licesine compliance issues (unlikely), then your employer could be held jointly liable.

    I know this because I work for a multi-billion, US based software company and it perform rigorous checks on all environments that are used as work-from-home and reserves the right to inspect randomly subject to notice. We even need to show license compliance for the company's own software.

    So if your employer officially allows you to work from home, then they should ensure that the correct tools for the job are used. If (as I suspect) it is an informal agreement, then the Home version shouldnot be used, but as others have said "how will they know?"
    Chris Elvin
  • busenbust
    busenbust Posts: 4,782 Forumite
    cit_k wrote: »
    Without piracy, microsoft would not be rich......
    ^^:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:.
  • Marty_J
    Marty_J Posts: 6,594 Forumite
    !!!!!! wrote: »
    Interesting. I got the same licence for both when I originally downloaded them from the MS site, must have been finger trouble. That was what my comment was based on.

    Based on the Home licence though, working from home is not allowed. Even a single business orientated letter is banned according to that EULA. Unfair terms spring to mind

    I expect it's unlikely that Microsoft are going to be kicking in your door in the middle of the night because you used the home version of Office to write a business letter.

    Never the less, they do draw a clear distinction, and Office Home and Student is intended for personal use only. It's very cheap because it comes with these restrictions.
  • enigma52
    enigma52 Posts: 642 Forumite
    edited 27 January 2010 at 4:04PM
    but then why call it "Office" surely the name itself implies a business software environment. as against "Home Documents Compendium" or even "Charlie's Homework Kit"
  • Marty_J
    Marty_J Posts: 6,594 Forumite
    enigma52 wrote: »
    but then why call it "Office" surely the name itself implies a business software environment. as against "Home Documents Compendium" or even "Charlie's Homework Kit"

    Because that's the name that particular collection of software is widely known as, so it makes little sense changing it.

    And of course, you can have a home office that you only use for personal matters.
  • enigma52
    enigma52 Posts: 642 Forumite
    why would you have an office for personal matters, it's only called office because someone at micros..t decided to call it that.
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