Office 2013 - 4 users

chunter

I've been trying to find a price for 4 user licenses for Office 2013.
The 365 version seems to be cloud based, which makes it completely irrelevant in this case.

I'm after the Home and Business version.
It seems they all have to purchased individually.

There does seem to be some bewilderment on the 'channel' forums as to Microsoft's policy on Office.

No wonder the boss is being kicked down the road.

pinkteapot

Yep, Microsoft changed their licensing with Office 2013 to make it really, really sh$t.

You can either:

1) Pay an annual subscription charge for the 365 version which is cloud-based. Note that the price you see is annual, not a one-off.

2) Buy a single license. Previous editions of Office usually gave you a license for up to three different PCs (so for four people you still would have had to have bought two licenses). Now you'll need to buy four copies.

To make it even worse, if you buy a single license version it's licensed for the PC it's installed on only. Unlike previous versions, if you change your computer you can't move your license onto it. You have to pay all over again. I'm assuming they've done that to try and encourage people to pay for the ridiculous 365 version.

EDIT: The above was true when Office 2013 was launched. Looks like Microsoft backtracked and you can now transfer your copy to a new PC if necessary:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2030120/microsoft-caves-to-office-2013-licensing-backlash.html
Leaving the old info in the post for anyone reading who'd heard the original story.

We're still happily using our three-PC version of Office 2010. My advice? Don't bother upgrading!

If you need a license for four people in a business, maybe try calling Microsoft's commercial department? (They must have one). They'll do bulk-buy discounts for businesses, though whether four licenses is enough for them to bother is another matter.

I'm assuming the four people are all on separate PCs. If you put Office on a single machine, it's available to all users on that computer (e.g. if you're talking about a family who all have their own usernames on the computer).

shaun_from_Africa

pinkteapot wrote: »

We're still happily using our three-PC version of Office 2010. My advice? Don't bother upgrading

I couldn't agree more.
I recently installed Office 2013 Professional plus on my laptop and after using it for a few days, switched back to the 2010 version.
MS seem to have made it far harder to navigate and even simple tasks such as saving a document take longer that the previous versions.

The only plus point for me is that I purchased the 2013 version as part of the MS home user program so obtained it for a pittance.

macman

Or switch to Libre Office instead?

movilogo

If you are not using any advanced functions of Office 2010/3, then switching to a free alternative is indeed a good suggestion.

chunter

Thanks PinkTeapot, Answers don't come much more comprehensive and to the point and useful than the above. Excellent stuff. and Shaun. Cheers.
Maybe look into the likes of Libre and Open Office, but people get into ruts, stubborn ones at that.
Oh Microsoft, Microsoft.. what a mess you are...