Office activation codes?

[Condi]

Are these sellers of MS Office codes legal or not? Seems a good discount on the original product but reviews are quite mixed, some say its fine and some say its not.

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Office-2019-Professiona...

[CharlieCrocodile]

Retail price is £419, key might work for a bit but I suspect it will be blacklisted eventually.

[Monty Python]

I'd hope that these are legit:

https://www.techpowerup.com/273155/get-ready-to-bu...

[Condi]

CharlieCrocodile said:

Retail price is £419, key might work for a bit but I suspect it will be blacklisted eventually.

Yes, I presume they are codes which have been used and then are basically "second hand". Can't imagine it's someone sat there with a random key generator like back in the 2000s.

[anonymous-user]

As above, it’s no longer 2005, rent it like everyone else. But don’t forget to rent a version that’s more than you can afford - it’s the PH way

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/buy/...

[Condi]

wormus said:

As above, it’s no longer 2005, rent it like everyone else. But don’t forget to rent a version that’s more than you can afford - it’s the PH way

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/buy/...

The only reason I'm looking to upgrade is because I'm still using a standalone version of Office 2007 bought using a student discount! Have no interest at all in Office 365, thank you.

[Brother D]

Not worth the hassle. Pay the $79 a year and can install on 5 pcs. Plus the 1TB storage.

I honestly think that why they priced it so low per annum, so they end up with a steady income, and it's just not worth arseing about with dodgey keys and the like

[rxe]

Condi said:

Yes, I presume they are codes which have been used and then are basically "second hand". Can't imagine it's someone sat there with a random key generator like back in the 2000s.

It’s all about the channel. If you walked into a retail store, you would indeed pay 400 quid for office. If you are in the OEM channel (i.e. software sold with computers) then these prices are about right. Similarly if you have an MSDN subscription, you can legitimately install software multiple times and it be perfectly legit.

So far so good.

BUT. The ECJ ruled that the channel is bks, and if you have a licensed piece of software, it is yours and you can sell it. So it doesn’t matter where the license key came from, it is legal to sell if if you legally had it in the first place.

So these are perfectly legal, and you’d be an idiot to pay 400 quid for Office. Which is why Microsoft are trying to get everyone to so subscription.

[boyse7en]

My missus bought a licence key from a third party online last year (without me knowing).

We then had problems with the installation. It would accept the key but then say we had a 30 day trial.
I suspected the worst, and that she had been scammed out of £100. But I contacted Microsoft support and a nice guy on the online chat checked it out, said it was legit and went on to remotely take over the laptop, uninstall Office, change some stuff in the registry and get it all working properly. Been fine ever since, including updates and patches etc

[Heres Johnny]

eBay, £8-£15 depending on version and I’ve had no problems. I’ve done it with 4 computers now (each with their own licence). over a few years. If you want the broken motherboard the licence was originally attached to you have to pay a fair bit more fir shipping is the usual story but nobody ever does.

[GCH]

I paid for MS word 2011 many years ago...still works fine, was updating until not too long ago, suits my basic needs, isn't used constantly but is there ready when I need it, and I have no interest in learning/using google alternatives.

Turns out if I upgrade my mac from mojave to catalina, I have to buy or subscribe to a newer version, as the older 32 bit version won't work with the newer OS.
Bit sh*t really.

Edited by GCH on Tuesday 13th October 22:05

[Condi]

Just to update the thread, I bought one cheaply (£18.50 for Office 2019 Home and Student).

Activation was a little tricky, in that I had to activate by telephone, but it is now officially activated and linked to my Microsoft account, so as far as I can tell is now legitimate.

TBH I have no idea what is different about it than the 2007 version, but there must have been some nice updates in 12 years and the old version had served me very well, so splashing out less than £20 for an upgrade (when MS wanted £70 for Office 365) didn't seem unreasonable.

Edited by Condi on Wednesday 14th October 19:54

[mybrainhurts]

Use Libre Office for £libre

[Murph7355]

rxe said:

....

So these are perfectly legal, and you’d be an idiot to pay 400 quid for Office. Which is why Microsoft are trying to get everyone to so subscription.

This.

I think I paid £79 (or maybe £49). Subscription software's generally a con and I hate the concept. Especially on software where you rarely use the vast majority of functionality and so annual upgrades are a waste of time.

I doubt I upgrade Office more than every decade. Paying £60 a year on that basis is not good sense.

[anonymous-user]

I don’t have a problem paying the subscription. It’s f brilliant. It also means that when I swap to a new machine, I just log in to 365 and within minutes my files are on my new computer. Worth the money if nothing else for an insurance policy, and never having to faff around asking someone on a forum if a software key is legit.

[Calmchap]

How have we been conditioned into thinking it’s perfectly acceptable to pay monthly for things we would have bought? I’m not even talking about cars - music, dvds even washing machines are going the subscription way.

[Condi]

bulldong said:

I don’t have a problem paying the subscription. It’s f brilliant. It also means that when I swap to a new machine, I just log in to 365 and within minutes my files are on my new computer. Worth the money if nothing else for an insurance policy, and never having to faff around asking someone on a forum if a software key is legit.

I can do that too... All my files are saved on Google Drive so can be accessed anywhere.

The difference between the Office 365 subscription and buying MS Office 2019 is £42 in the first year and £60 a year after that. Given my last copy was 2007, that means over 13 years I've saved £762.

Why would you want to pay an ongoing fee for something you can buy outright?

[NMNeil]

The key they are selling may have been downloaded, so it's legality would be questionable.
https://thepiratebay-unblocked.org/search/?q=micro...

[Targarama]

I have a friend who has installed the sub £10 MS Office licenses for sale on eBay on various laptops in recent years, no issues. I suspect someone is selling licenses from a corporate site license, making 100% profit.

[anonymous-user]

Condi said:

bulldong said:

I don’t have a problem paying the subscription. It’s f brilliant. It also means that when I swap to a new machine, I just log in to 365 and within minutes my files are on my new computer. Worth the money if nothing else for an insurance policy, and never having to faff around asking someone on a forum if a software key is legit.

I can do that too... All my files are saved on Google Drive so can be accessed anywhere.

The difference between the Office 365 subscription and buying MS Office 2019 is £42 in the first year and £60 a year after that. Given my last copy was 2007, that means over 13 years I've saved £762.

Why would you want to pay an ongoing fee for something you can buy outright?

If you have Google drive and use it then why not just forget office and use sheets/docs/slides etc? Its free.

Edited to add: The backup that 365 makes is not like google drive, it's the entire system backup, even with what your desktop background it. So no loss of time or stress finding things again. I personally think it is worth it and therefore happy to pay. Others might not.

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 15th October 09:50