Ques re :a licence for MS Office

cubix

A mate has a small company and has a couple of machines, 2 are mac's and one is a pc. He recently got a letter from a crowd called "BSA" who check to make sure business software is up to date. Both the macs are fully licensed but he reckons office on the pc is not(not sure if it is Xp or 2003). I am wondering if he can just buy a licence for that copy or does he need to get the pack and is there business and residential types of office. Or can you buy the likes of word/excel/publisher separately as I dont think he uses all of them. On a last note does anyone have or know of anyone looking to part with a licence for good old fashioned cash of course:D

KdjaCL

Msft sell licences over the phone, you could get them there.
For business use he should really get one quickly, can be bad if caught without one.

kdjac

RobertFoster

Originally posted by cubix
word/excel/publisher separately

yep, you can get them separately, but I believe it's cheaper to get office than to get them all separately.

Red Alert

oh dear this really sucks. i'm sure most people are aware that the BSA are not a very reasonable lot.

if you're storing files etc. on a network server and/or can backup the data on the suspect machine, my strong recommendation is to completely wipe and re-install the system, and make sure that a valid licence exist for each and every package you install on it (at least until after the audit haha!).

i like to think of myself as a unix geek, but my primary box on my desk is windows 'cos i don't have the space for my linux's keyboard n monitor and i don't want it in the room making noise! i don't think MS's software sucks either, some of it is great but don't get me started on their obsession with intellectual property. and by the way, everything on this machine is licenced....... i mean everything......

Cabaal

Its a bit off-topic but has your friend considered OpenOffice?
Obviously it depends what he uses MSOffice for and how important he see's it but Oo may do the job

I know of a few places that have switched over to it in order to get the BSA off there backs it pisses off the BSA big time when they walk in and find a internet cafe running OpenOffice running on 40 PC's in the place instead of MSOffice

dazberry

cubix

The BSA don't know what software, computers or anything else your friend has. In general the BSA target different sectors at different times and send these letters out on mass. The only way they could actually know is if someone reported your friends company.

I'm not saying your friend shouldn't sort things out, but if you've ever received one of these intimidating letters - and it just happens that all your licences are in order - you tend to see it for what it is. As part of my last job the last one I received went straight in the bin.

D.

Cabaal

Originally posted by dazberry
As part of my last job the last one I received went straight in the bin.

That seems to be the reaction for alot of people I know also
Same goes for those IRMA letters about CDR Drive Access and file sharing appz being used

cubix

Thank you for all the input lads, much appreciated:)