I am *really* ticked off. :evil: :evil: :evil: A warning to all... I just bought 4 new computers for work and had to reinstall them from scratch. I went with XP (none of that Vista garbage), and it is now installed and licensed just fine. So since I reinstalled from scratch, I now need to install the Office products. But stupid me bought Office 2007. But guess what? Microsoft has STOPPED giving you a copy of the installation media when you purchase this product. So just how in the world are you supposed to install a product that you PAID for if you don't have the discs? They say you can get a backup copy of the discs but you have to order them. Who knows how long this will take. I need to deploy these machines tomorrow. ARGH. Lesson learned: never buy Microsoft anything ever again. Sorry, I just had to vent. But I seriously hope none of you make the same mistake I just made.
Email me. I am a Microsoft partner and get quarterly updates, I can get you a disk to install with that will probably work with your licence numbers. What version of office did you buy? Professional, Small Business ,etc etc. mail @ vantageshop dot com I will not send cd keys, only the media, so we wont be harming our relationship with Bill Gates . LOL BTW, in the future if you order more machines, do not wipe the drive, instead install XP on the same drive in a "windows2" folder and dual boot. You can tell which to boot by default in the administrator setting under control panel. This way you wont erase the factory install and can still find/have access to the factory "restoration" folder or partition. BTW, MS is still shipping media, you can find it on sale in retail locations. Perhaps it is the computer hardware manufacturer who is not shipping the media. They have this option and it saves them money.
Well, no I didn't open the package or check it out before installing. Microsoft has always included the media so why should I? I can't tell you how many copies I have of Office 2003 and all the previous versions. And the package is a CD/DVD package, so it even gives the appearance that you are getting media. If you don't bother to actually read the package, you have no idea.
Vantage, I appreciate the offer, but unfortunately I need to deploy these machines today. I am now well behind the curve. I have sent an email to the hardware vendor (fortunately they are local). I hope they have the media. If they don't, I'm going to have to install Office 2003. In that case, I'm going to return all copies of Office 2007. One other possibility... I have several MSDN kits. Do you know if the Office 2007 Pro in those will take the standard license keys? If so, I could use that media. I've tried this before. This doesn't result in the kind of clean install I am looking for. I always do a full wipe and reinstall of the partition before installing and deploying machines. In fact, what I usually prefer is to get factory sealed drives and install fresh on them. My hardware guy knows this, which is probably why the drivers on the O/S image didn't work with the machine. He was rushing to get the machine built and didn't bother with a full install, especially since he know I'd just blow it away anyway.
A quick FYI. I went by to see my hardware guy. He was able to burn a copy of the install media for me. He gave me the impression that this is how the OEM software is now being distributed (that's the software you get with a new computer). Anywho, I got my software installed, so I'm a bit more happy.
If you can talk your work into it, Open Office can do pretty much everything that Microsoft Office does and it's free! www.openoffice.org
This was an issue with the vendor who sold you the MS software. If you purchased the licenses directly from MS on a open license agreement, I am sure you would have known that you were not getting media. If you bought the licences from a smaller hardware vendor, you should have gotten media and licences. Each machine should have a MS cd-key/license sticker for both the OS, and the Office Suite.
In the future I have two links that should help a lot with this kinda problem. www.openoffice.org www.apple.com
I cannot see how Microsoft refusing to give out media with OEM software is the hardware vendor's fault. When I spoke with the vendor about it he said he had already filed a complaint with Microsoft as this is causing a lot of people problems. Every machine I got has a genuine O/S and Office license key / sticker. The media is flat out missing and is printed in the CD case as purposely being missing. Microsoft printed those cases, not the hardware vendor. Could he have sold me the retail version with media? Yes, but that costs more and the OEM version, which is the correct version to sell with a new computer, has ALWAYS had the media until now. This is just one more ploy by MS and the last straw for me. I'm a computer professional with over 20 years experience in software engineering and security. I work with Windows, Linux, Solaris, and BSD Unix and with many different vendors' application software (hey, at least Symantec's Corporate Edition AV is sold as a media kit with add on medialess licenses, which is more than Microsoft gives.). I influence many purchases. Microsoft products have way too many security flaws in them, and now this. Most of my colleagues have already switched to Macs. And after this, I guarantee my next personal computer will not be Windows. Too bad for Microsoft. Already know about them. Got a Fedora Core box sitting right next to me. kbabe1968, that Mac interface can't be beat. I just got another look recently, and it is truely awesome. It blows the Windows interface away. And, it's BSD unix under the covers, so I don't have to install cygwin just to get the unix shell and commands.
Did you buy just a copy of Office 2007 or did you get it packaged with a new computer? It makes a difference... apparently.
The only frustration with a Mac is that there are a lot of homeschooling softwares (i.e. SOS) that are not written in that platform. I know they sell softpc where you can make your mac run a dual platform, but what makes me mad is if I wanted Window's I would have bought a Window's machine! Shame of it all is Window's started out as a copy, a steal from Apple. What Window's did, Mac had already been doing for two years! Oh well!!!!
The reason this is a problem is because there isn't a big enough demand for the software on platforms other than Windows. But here's the good news... if Microsoft keeps this up, they will unwittingly create the demand. LOL
Virtual PC works fairly well at allowing Windows stuff to run on macs from what I hear, might wanna try it.
It was not included as a package deal with the computer, but I purchased it at the same time as the computer from Dell. The CD was in the box with the computer.
I know little to nothing about computers. :lol: We are going to purchase a new computer because ours has so many problems. I was listening to a computer man on talk radio. People call in an he helps them out. He has been saying the same thing about Microsoft. He suggests to people that they should switch to Mac. Handsome said he wants to get a Mac, mainly because the man on the radio said they are great. I am glad to hear some validation about this. As much as I try to understand what the man is saying, it is so foreign to me. Patty
