MS Office 2013 Home & Student *with* a disc?

[mikeymikec]

I was under the impression that all copies of MSO2k13 were download-only, until a customer bought a copy of Office 2013 Professional Plus from a local retailer that included a disc and product key.

It was also odd because on the packaging it said "Microsoft account required", but then you can activate the product with just the product key without having to use or register a MS account.

I've had a search around some UK online retailers for MSO2k13 H&S with a disc but they all seem to be media-less products.

 

[code65536]

I was under the impression that all copies of MSO2k13 were download-only, until a customer bought a copy of Office 2013 Professional Plus from a local retailer that included a disc and product key.

It was also odd because on the packaging it said "Microsoft account required", but then you can activate the product with just the product key without having to use or register a MS account.

I've had a search around some UK online retailers for MSO2k13 H&S with a disc but they all seem to be media-less products.

That retailer doesn't sound legitimate, then. ProPlus is is disc+key with no need for a MSFT account, but it's also not retail--no store should be selling it, because it's something for the enterprise and volume licensing customers (and something that MSDN subs get). The retail editions like H&S are not available on disc and use the new "click-to-run" installer...

So a "retail" edition of ProPlus with incorrect instructions sounds like counterfeit to me (they're really good at making genuine-looking packages and the such).

(And yes, I agree that it sucks that MSFT discontinued the traditional disc model for their mainstream retail editions.)

 

[Charlie98]

That retailer doesn't sound legitimate, then. ProPlus is is disc+key with no need for a MSFT account, but it's also not retail--no store should be selling it, because it's something for the enterprise and volume licensing customers (and something that MSDN subs get). The retail editions like H&S are not available on disc and use the new "click-to-run" installer...

So a "retail" edition of ProPlus with incorrect instructions sounds like counterfeit to me (they're really good at making genuine-looking packages and the such).

(And yes, I agree that it sucks that MSFT discontinued the traditional disc model for their mainstream retail editions.)

I hate downloads... I like install disks.

OP is in the UK... they may have different licensing agreements.

 

[mikeymikec]

I'm double-checking a few things with the customer.

 

[mpo]

Office 2013 Professional Plus is from Microsoft's Home Use Program. Some employers subscribe to the service. The Plus version is not a retail copy in the US.

You can download the digital copy for ~$10. If you want the discs, it was another ~$12.

 

[pw257008]

don't universities still have CDs for their discounted versions?

 

[mikeymikec]

Update on this thread, it turns out that you should be careful when buying MSO from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3RTOGOSCV8DZB/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00A2ILYZ0

What I saw with the three copies we bought on separate occasions wasn't quite the same as this guy's, and I don't know about the "we've upgraded you for free!" note (I didn't open the box the products were shipped in), but I examined the copies of Office we received from Amazon (one of which I ordered myself so I know it was directly from Amazon and not a third party in any way), and they're obviously dodgy - on the back cover, letters were missing from the text (in the middle of words) for example. A careless OCR job perhaps?

I took a photo of it that I might upload later if I remember to.