Office 2007 Questions

Hey everyone,

I've been really interested in getting Microsoft Offfice 2007 lately because of its awesome features. I'm thinking of getting Microsoft Office Student Edition, but I'm a little confused.

Apparently I read somewhere its only installable into 3 computers? But then I search again and I can't seem to find anywhere that says there's a limit to how many computers it can install into. If it installable only to 3 computers, then does that mean Office will only install 3 times or does that mean there can only be 3 computers using that copy of Office at a time?

Also, I've been thinking of downloading the free trial of Microsoft Office 2007 to test it out. Are there any side effects of the free trial, like they will keep popping up messages telling me I should upgrade to Office 2007 even after I delete the free trial, and will it harm my Office 2003 in any way (as in Office 2003 won't work anymore after using the free trial of Office 2007 for some reason)?

Thanks guys! I appreciate your expert advice and suggestions!

 

I don't know about the 3-computer license, but if you have 3 licenses, you can install the software on three different machines as often as you want. A license gives you the right to install a copy of software on a SINGLE machine as often as necessary.

I recently switched to 2007 from 2003 and haven't noted too many differences--I don't use many of the features, though. The new interface takes some getting used to, that's for sure.

A free trial will not interfere with the ability to use 2003. It might bug you to upgrade, not sure.

 

All the different versions of Office 2007 is rather annoying, and the licensing differences just make it all the more difficult to decide which version to get.

As you pointed out, the Office 2007 Home and Student Edition allows for "three licensed devices" so long as the software is not used for commercial use. All the other versions of Office (including Academic versions which are different than the Home and Student Edition) only allow for one "licensed device," although they have a provision that allows for a second "portable-use device" under specific conditions.

As far as your specific question, my assumption would be that after three activations (to different systems), the online activation system will fail to allow activation on any additional systems. Now, if you want to move a license from one machine to another (retiring an old system and getting a new one), you'll likely need to call the 800 number and talk to a CSR about allowing an additional license given the circumstances. My version of Office 2007 is a different version, so that's all just sumption based on the license terms and past experience with Microsoft licenses.

I don't know much about how nicely the Office 2007 trial will play with an existing Office 2003 installation, so I'll let someone else tackle that.


Edit: One thing to be aware of is that the Home and Student edition of Office 2007 doesn't include Outlook, which kind of sucks, but you can buy it separately or keep the old version from an Office 2003 installation. You DO get OneNote 2007 in its place, which is an awesome note-taking program for students.

 

Thank you both for the advice and suggestions, I appreciate it!

To JadedRaverLA, I thought OneNote was an application for tablet PCs, so I never looked into the program much. Is it not just for tablets?

Well, I'm wondering about the 3-activation system because I'll be upgrading to Vista in about a year but I want Office 2007 now, and I have two computers at home. If I install Office 2007 on both computers now I'm worried I won't be able to re-install Office 2007 into the Vista computers.

 

Yes, but no. It is true that it is primarily created for Tablet PCs, but it is possible to use it on both notebooks and even desktop. Read this Wikipedia article on it.

 

Interesting, Matt. Thanks for the tip .

 

As Matt said, OneNote was originally developed for TabletPCs, but has really developed into an overall notetaking and organization program that works great with or without Tablet functionality. I use it in all my classes to take notes. It's great to organize everything, and it's really easy to drag-and-drop things (pictures, graphs, etc) from different sources directly into your notes.

As for the activation system, you should be fine. You aren't actually even transferring from one PC to another, just updating the OS. The online activation system may recognize that, and, on the chance that it doesn't, I would be pretty comfortable calling Microsoft's Activation line and explaining to them why you need to reactivate.