The problem here is you're trying to use retail licensing in a business setting. That's not to say that retail licensing with Office 2013 isn't a convoluted mess, but it's still the wrong tool for the job.
It is NOT the issue here, because the activation/registration issues are affecting normal users as well. Even if I wanted to use Office
Home and Student, I should be able to change the associated Microsoft Account in case of error.
Additionally, what is wrong with using a retail licenses in a business setting? Don't act all high and mighty here because Microsoft clearly does not market their offerings that way, nor is there any warning not to use retail licenses in a business setting. In fact, Microsoft product naming directly contradicts your assertion. Look at the retail levels:
Microsoft Office Home and Student
Microsoft Office Home and
Business
Microsoft Office Professional
If I'm at the level ABOVE "Business", how dare you tell me that it is a version that is "not for business" and use that as an excuse to put the blame of this horrible system on me instead of on Microsoft where it belongs. Open licenses and volume licenses are generally referred to as "Enterprise" or "Corporate" level licensing, which is just a specific kind of larger business. It certainly does not mean that retail licenses are the wrong solution for businesses, and your assertion is not support by any Microsoft materials. Retail licenses, open licenses, and 365 licenses are all
options that are valid for a business.
Either get your business on an appropriate Office365 plan, or get yourself an open license key for Office 2013 for the imaging rights. The minimum company size for an open license plan is *five users*. Then you toss all those little OEM Office keys in a box in the closet and install on all PCs with the single open key you were provided.
But Office 365 really is where things are moving. They're doing massive backend improvements monthly, and odds are the next version of office will *only* come as part of the 365 plan.
Again, I've crunched the numbers, and getting an open license or a 365 license will cost the company 150% to 200% more in license costs over the next 8 years.
Danny, the thing that really should have been done here is avoid the mess of retail licenses in a business or at the very least join then all to a single live ID up front.
When I purchased that first copy of Office 2013, I didn't even know it had to be associated to a Live ID. Afterwards, my research indicated a single Live ID could only support 5 retail licenses, though I'm still not sure what the truth is there.
From there since it was planned to wipe the machine soon after, you should have told them install with no key and run for the 90 day trial.
There is a trial version of Office available for download, but the version that you install from a key actually only runs for 5 days before expiring.
Otherwise this sounds like the typical last minute, poorly planned situation that seems to happen at all companies because most managers can't seem to plan themselves out of a paper bag.
We have hundreds of Microsoft licenses from about 45 years in operation. I've never had the experience where a retail key was permanently associated to a Microsoft Account, so it wasn't even a possibility that entered my mind. Microsoft should have a warning when they ask you to sign in with your Microsoft ID that the license will be permanently and irrevocably associated with the ID when you sign in. Then, the user would have called me first.
Even as a technologically knowledgeable person, without such a warning, I probably wouldn't have even thought twice about signing in myself and might have used my own personal account instead of the corporate account. Many sites ask you to sign in before downloading software. That doesn't mean licenses are about to get linked. There is no indication that signing in is creating a permanent link when you go to download the Office installer. The Microsoft forums are full of people with similar situations.
This one is the winner. Run a business with business licenses.
Microsoft Office Professional 2013 Retail IS a business license, and I challenge you to show me any official Microsoft documentation stating otherwise. "Corporate" and "Enterprise" are specific types of businesses, but it doesn't make Professional somehow for home use only.
Facebook
Twitter