Advice please about microsoft office licence

lipsthefish

Hi, I would be very grateful for any advice offered here. My friend bought a brand new computer off a small local business, he came and installed it etc and it is all working fine. The computer has microsoft windows xp media centre which is fine, the licence key sticker is on the computer. It also came installed with microsoft office 2007, now this is where I see a problem. She got no disk with office on and I asked her to query this incase she ever needed to reinstall it. The man has sent a very acidic email back saying that the office suite is licenced to him and he can install it on any computers he wants! Now I am pretty sure this is not correct but would like to know for certain before she replies to him. Thanks in advance for any help.

PaulK_3

IF he has volume licensing then it's not an issue but if it's just a bent copy he is installing then your mate could fall foul of the anti-piracy people at MS at some point.
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/howtotell/en/office/whyvalidate.mspx

lipsthefish

thanks for that Paul, what happens though if she needs to reinstall with no disk available, thanks again

Millionaire

If you paid for it to be installed on the PC then I would insist on the Licence Key/Hard copy. If it wasnt part of the deal and is on there i suppose its a bonus.

Chippy_Minton

It might be legitimate (e.g. it might be a media-less licence which installs a 60 day trial), however an acidic, less than helpful reply would make me suspicious.

PaulK_3

If it were a trial then let's face it the seller would have said and would not have replied the way he did. Sounds like a dodgy copy to be honest and if it is and the office software was part of the purchase then complain. If it wasn't part of the deal and the seller has annoyed you enough you can always report him to MS lol
If she can get the key that he has used to install (and there are tools out there to do this) then she can "source" a CD and use it as back up in case of future issues with the install.

lipsthefish

sorry double posted then! No trial was mentioned, it was just installed and she believed she had paid for it as part of the deal, she specifically asked for it to be on there when she ordered. HE has stated that no disk is available for her as it belongs to him, which to me doesnt seem fair as we all know how easy it is for something to go wrong and it need to be reinstalled.

PaulK_3

No disk = no install. It needs a CD for files to be copied from/ verified against. What version of Office is it?

lipsthefish

Hi Paul, it is microsoft office 2007 but I am not sure which version, I can get her to check though as I am at my own home now so can email her. The main problem seems to be with the mans attitude and answer to what was a simple request, she asked for the disk which I felt she needed and was entitled to and he has immeadiately got his back up and come back on the offensive

PaulK_3

2007? I'm seriously thinking dodgy copy now. You could always get her to run the validation tool and if it throws a wobbly then
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/piracy/report/how/default.mspx
would be the easiest route to get the seller back for his attitude.

sco0ter

It should have the following things with it according to microsoft..


http://www.microsoft.com/resources/howtotell/en/pc/268a9e75-46a3-4ea1-acc4-cfea26e5ea70.mspx