Buy MS Office 2003 Now and We'll SELL it to you all over again in two years!

[catachresis]

It's a deal that can't be beaten for punctuality and convenience. Are you tired of wondering whether it might just be time to purchase another version of MS Office at an exorbitantly inflated price? Now Microsoft takes the guess-work out of the decision! Get an OEM version of Office 2003 with your new computer purchase, and your software licence is guaranteed to expire promptly in two years' time.

--http://theinquirer.net/?article=12269

"Basically, their beef goes a lot like this. When an initial two year term for an Office 2003 licence expires, system builders know that the software still isn’t theirs, and you have to stop using it.

"Microsoft refuses to set terms and conditions for longer than two years, but upgrades during this two year period are supposed to be free.

"If you’re not keen to take these terms and conditions, you have to pay full retail price for the software. And for users of 50 or more but less, say than 500, you have to go for this option."

 

[LTR12101B]

And companies, particularly, are so commited to MS products that they won't be able to use anything else.

Eg. Lotus/IBM Smartsuite, or even......
http://www.openoffice.org - or it's "commercial" cousin, StarOffice

 

[scarecrow]

I just wondered whoever which is fundamentally sane would use MS Office after the absolutely stunning OpenOffice 1.1 was out...
I guess I was wrong, and masochism is not just a vice, but a trend...

 

[PC-GUY]

F@#$ Microcrap. I thing the best think that ever happen with billy was when he got the pie in the face. Even Leo Laporte from TechTV said office 2003 wasn't worth it!! I tried to find a link on TechTV site but I couldn't find it. Considering I've seen advertising from Micrshit on their site I would think thats leo's words and not techtv's. In fact I thing he was recommending OpenOffice but I could be wrong. Leo said say with mac billy stuff sucks!!! Not in those words. You would think Microshit would learn after XP.
It would be nice if they would make at least one product with out tons of bugs and back doors before going on to new bugs!!!
Just my two cents or rant for today.

 

[Blane]

MS will also screw people on the new version of office too. Some security options are not available in the product unless you also have the new MS server installed too. "Other Microsoft products and technologies enhance the functionality of the products in the Microsoft Office System."
http://www.microsoft.com/office/system/overview.mspx#XSLTsection125121120120