I’m thinking about getting a new computer and that means getting up-to-date with Office.
When I Google I see ads for MS Office Pro 2010 for $69.95. That’s too good to be true.
What’s the catch?
It could be pirated software.
Have you considered Open Office?
The Professional Academic version at Microsoft’s site is 79.95. You have to be a student, though.
These sites say specifically “not student versions.”
And you can buy discs as well, which seem to make them less likely to be pirated downloads.
It’s not like it’s hard to burn a CD. You can even get a consumer label printer.
Or, of course, they could be just plain stolen. A disgruntled Best Buy employee just grabs a bunch of boxes off the shelf, or something.
That’s actually Mississippi Office Pro 2010. You can only understand about half of what it says, and it shuts down early on Friday to hit the lake.
I Googled this and came up with two sponsored links with what you describe.
I don’t have an answer for you except to think it’s too good to be true. Including the disks does not mean it’s not pirated; my understanding is that the Chinese have this down to a science. However, I cannot say whether the site I saw is legitimate, or selling pirated software. One of the sites had some wording that I would characterize as written by a non-native English speaker.
If I had to guess I would say the software will work, otherwise you could just charge back the credit card charge. But draw your own conclusions about its legality.
Microsoft has a page about counterfeit software that might be useful to you. It describes various kinds of dodgy deals - some are straight out copies, others are legit copies with a limited license re-sold as something else.
removed
It takes two hour lunches, too.
BTW, this link takes us to a version available to students, but it’s $79.95, not $69.95.
http://www.microsoft.com/student/office/en-us/default.aspx
The OEM version appears to be $320:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2954385&Sku=M17-7806
I don’t know where you’d get a legal copy for $69.95.
Yeah, basically what everyone else has already said …
Do you really need the 2010 Pro version? Home & Student 2007 is showing as $133 on Amazon – and I think that get’s you three licenses, the UK version certainly did.
If you want to find it cheap you can hunt around for bargains and workarounds – I think there used to be a free upgrade deal if you bought 2007 but that might be over now 2010 is widely available. Also, check if your company (or anyone you know) has an employee purchase deal with MS – you can often get tons off that way. Or be a student, a school or a charity.
I can’t see the ads you’re seeing from here but I guess they’d be fake or being resold against their license conditions.
yup. There are tons of licencing schemes to support a variety of volume and load situations, for example the versions manufacturers use to preload office onto new computers. Script in a working volume key and bang you have office. I have seen a cracked copy of 2007 that works just like this. You will also notice that these deals almost always involve the pro/business versions because the licence models allow for easier pirating.
You could also just use Office 2010 Beta for now, unless you have specific needs. No cost (yet). I’ve been using it since January or so. Very similar to Office 2k7.