Office 2004 only allows 3 installs EVER!
According to a review on Amazon.com someone had seveer computer problems needing to reinstall Panther from scratch more then 3 times, but on the fourth install of Office Office refused to install due to 3 Strikes your out. They called microsoft and were told too bad.
Can anyone confirm this? I just told my mom to get Office and it's being shipped now. In the 2 1/2 life cycle of Office 2004 her Mac will be clean installed more then 3 times. This has me seriously worried.
Can anyone confirm this? I just told my mom to get Office and it's being shipped now. In the 2 1/2 life cycle of Office 2004 her Mac will be clean installed more then 3 times. This has me seriously worried.
Comments
This probably involves registration; so don't register it!
Anyway, this story just doesn't sound right to me. Of course, I won't get to try it out for myself for quite a while.
Escher
Originally posted by Placebo
A clean install, and Office can detect that it's been installed before? I doubt it.
This probably involves registration; so don't register it!
If there is no activation scheme, then you are correct. However, if there is an activation scheme, then it is very much possible. Presumeably, there are members of this forum who have received and installed their copies of the new suite. It would be nice if one of them would tell us whether or not Microsoft has brought activation to its Mac products.
Originally posted by Mac Write
I just installed it and immediately after entering the Key, a # was given to use for support etc. It didn't seem it had time to connect to get it.
Did you have to activate the application?
Originally posted by segovius
I think this three strikes thing applies only to the student teacher version not the standard.
That blows. They give you 3 keys so you can install it on 3 Macs in your house ( I remember something like this hearing about it awhile ago). over the next 2 1/2 year cycle, We will have 4 needs to reinstall.
- First install of Office
- Clean install to Tiger (10.4) this fall
- Clean install to 10.5 fall 2005
- Clean install to 10.6 Fall 2006
That's 4 installs righr there, not counting getting a new computer, or being forced to clean install. Of course in fall 2006 is when Office 2007 will be out.Originally posted by Mac Write
That blows. They give you 3 keys so you can install it on 3 Macs in your house ( I remember something like this hearing about it awhile ago). over the next 2 1/2 year cycle, We will have 4 needs to reinstall.
First install of Office
Clean install to Tiger (10.4) this fall
Clean install to 10.5 fall 2005
Clean install to 10.6 Fall 2006
That's 4 installs righr there, not counting getting a new computer, or being forced to clean install. Of course in fall 2006 is when Office 2007 will be out.
I am certainly no Microsoft fan. I am dead set against copy-protection. However, barring some unforeseen catastrophe, there is no need to do a clean install of any release version of the MacOS or MacOS X. The only time that you should anticipate using a second key is when you install the suite on your next computer.
Originally posted by Mac Write
My mom and I both have seperate Macs, and I always clean install with each new OS. It makes for a ZERO problems and a fresh start. a once a year clean install is good keeps things nice and smooth.
Computer novices like your parents are likely to do nothing to your computer that can't be repaired using far less radical procedures than a clean install. Give them user accounts with less than adminstrative privileges. Repair permissions. Run fsck in single-user mode. You don't do brain surgery for a headache.
Originally posted by Mr. Me
Computer novices like your parents are likely to do nothing to your computer that can't be repaired using far less radical procedures than a clean install. Give them user accounts with less than adminstrative privileges. Repair permissions. Run fsck in single-user mode. You don't do brain surgery for a headache.
I think that you will find that most power users do fresh reinstalls at least once a year. Personally, I make it a habbit of doing a clean install about twice a year. Plus, just about everyone recommeds to a clean install when upgrading to a new system.
But at any rate, I sincerely doubt that you will only be able to install three times. If anything, you will only be allowed to activate electronically 3 times. Similarly to Windows, you would then have to call in to activate. But then again, this is just my guess.
Originally posted by Mac Write
[*]First install of Office[*]Clean install to Tiger (10.4) this fall[*]Clean install to 10.5 fall 2005[*]Clean install to 10.6 Fall 2006[/LIST]
Well, remember that Apple is slowing the development of OSX after Tiger ... so your probably looking at 1.5 to 2 year cycles after tiger.
In theory if you moved the office folder to another drive clean installed and moved it back, would it still ask for an activation, since the info is stored in a hidden file in the office folder? With Office V.x it didn't so it should be the same.
C.T.
Originally posted by Mac Write
According to a review on Amazon.com someone had seveer computer problems needing to reinstall Panther from scratch more then 3 times, but on the fourth install of Office Office refused to install due to 3 Strikes your out. They called microsoft and were told too bad.
Can anyone confirm this? I just told my mom to get Office and it's being shipped now. In the 2 1/2 life cycle of Office 2004 her Mac will be clean installed more then 3 times. This has me seriously worried.
hmmm, i wonder if this person used the three different serial numbers provided in the student edition after each install. therefore, as far as microsoft's registration servers were concerened, the software was installed on three different computers. if this is the case, i wonder why they didn't just re-use the same serial number, and/or why microsoft support didn't figure it out on the phone.
then again, i don't know anyone who wants to nuke n' pave three times in a row just to see if it screws with their office installation.
nevertheless, i am finding less and less about office:2004 to justify upgrading. office v.x allowed me to not start classic to use word. beyond that, what the hell do i need it for? maury mccown at railheaddesign says the exchange support is about the same as before, excel crashes less (wow, what a FEATURE!), powerpoint has the presenter tools (i'll bet keynote 2 will steal those), and word is still just a word processor. i guess they have added a lot of stuff to entourage as a project manager, they've added templates to powerpoint, i can take audio notes in word (dumb idea in onenote, and still a dumb idea here), and excel has a page preview.
all for a mere $400.
i seriously think the only way they'll get people to upgrade will be to only sell virtual pc as part of the pro bundle. if you use virtual pc (i have to at work for time-entry for my project work), then i guess you'll be herded into the upgrade path. of ir tiger just utterly caves in office v.x, then i guess a lot of us will have to upgrade.
fingers firmly crossed that a viable apple-branded alternative is on the horizon. or else i'll have to blow the dust off my old appleworks 6 install cd, or look into competing options like mariner write or openoffice or something.
oops, almost forgot. one reviewer at amazon said that it's a great upgrade, one reason for which is that is supports long file names. well, congrats macbu for catching up to the year 2002. sigh. i know their hearts are in the rgith place, but you just cannot fight from within the belly of the beast without being digested a little bit along the way.
edit: mac write, can you post a link to that amazon review that spawned this thread? i didn't see it, but i'd like to send it in to macfixit so they can test it out and post if it's legit or not. i ESPECIALLY want to get the lid blown off it, if it is true, before the macworld lemmings write up a fantastic review of the software.
Originally posted by Cold Turkey
Hey, Mac Write, will your AppleAds.com site ever go live? How long has it been? Two years? Apple ad aficionados are waiting!
C.T.
The site keeps getting delayed. It's all about if the site can host ads or not and if it can it's not going to be cheap to host etc.
Originally posted by Scott
Most "power users" know how to maintain their system without wiping it out every year.
I sure glad you know exactly how to avoid general system slowdown, lessen the number of crashes and other system problems, install system upgrades that are just as reliable as a clean install, reduce OS clutter, and prevent other misc problems without ever reinstalling the OS on a cleanly formatted drive. Im sure you can testify to the fact that you havent formatted any of your drives in 2+ years. Please do fill me in on all your secrets
Originally posted by 4fx
I sure glad you know exactly how to avoid general system slowdown, lessen the number of crashes and other system problems, install system upgrades that are just as reliable as a clean install, reduce OS clutter, and prevent other misc problems without ever reinstalling the OS on a cleanly formatted drive. Im sure you can testify to the fact that you havent formatted any of your drives in 2+ years. Please do fill me in on all your secrets
Prior to using MacOS X 10.x, I never reformatted my hard disk due to OS issues. I performed clean installs once every two to three years, if that often. There is a general consensus that MacOS X 10.x is substantially more reliable than MacOS 9 or any previous version of the MacOS. Yet, the behavior of people like you implies that MacOS X is substantially less reliable than MacOS 9. Many of you seem to believe that Apple screwed-up when it installed the OS on your new computers, so you wipe it and reinstall the OS.
What is the magic to avoiding all of the problems that you are having with MacOS X 10.x? Well, you do what you are supposed to do. Avoid installing haxies and pirated developmental software. Allow UNIX to do what UNIX does.
It's a Mac. It just works.