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We are a small business providing IT products and support for a number of small to medium businesses in our local area. Providing new PCs with MS Office has long been a big part of what we do. With Office 2013 OEM, it seems that activation requires creating a unique MS account for each installation with no obvious way around it.
This is utterly stupid. Office is supposed to activate on HARDWARE - not an individual. Companies that have many computers and a high turnover of staff use the same computer for many different people. Linking Office to an individual's email account is a very bad idea - especially in a business environment where using personal email is not acceptable.
Creating a company-wide MS account to activate all the software seemed like a usable workaround; until MS informed us that each activation had to be with a unique account.
Add on to this the confusion that many people face when asked to create an MS account of their own and activate their software (things that are completely unfamiliar to many of our customers) and MS seem to have created a support nightmare for us front-line support engineers.
And what about re-installing Office in the future? If an MS account is created but only used for the Office Activation, surely it will expire after so long?
And what about customers that have no internet access? They do exist! How are they supposed to use the software?
MS have tried to cut out their long-time sales partners by introducing and pushing subscription-based Office 365, which eliminates the profit we made from selling physical products with machines - and the latest Office OEM versions that we CAN sell have shot up in price to almost unsalable levels. Volume licensing is also not a solution for many businesses that simply do not have the cash flow to purchase large numbers of licenses at once. Customers also do not want to be tied in to subscription services for software that they are used to owning outright with no recurring costs.
We desperately need an easy solution to this - any suggestions appreciated. Or should I just start recommending OpenOffice to our customers now?
Thanks,
Alex
EDIT 12/04/13:
It is even worse than I thought originally. I have just been contacted by a customer complaining that they activated their new Office 2013 using the Administrator account before rolling the machine out to their user, only to find that Office then prompted the user to activate AGAIN when they logged on. it then refused to activate again, saying that it had already been activated!
This is completely unacceptable. Some customers have a large turnover of staff using the same machine; most require at least a couple of different users. What are MS playing at?
Processes in Microsoft 365 for setting up Office apps, redeeming product keys, and activating licenses.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I am sure if you ask your customers to call and ask MS to reassociate them, they would.
At least I have heard them do so, so ask your customers to call and check, if they refuse at least get them to speak to a supervisor.
Thanks for the suggestion Elemantal. There's no way of knowing if it's possible until it is asked of MS.
The thing is that I spent 3-4 hours on the phone getting jettisoned from department to department after normal business hours in search of a resolution. My customers are much too busy to spend that kind of time on the phone to India. I wish MS thought the same of me.
Having the same issue . . . Have an Account, but it will not "Reactivate" after entering all of the required information . . . . I am a good 60 minutes into the process with no resolution . . . Welcome to the CLOUD! Nothing but worthless VAPORWARE . . . Back to Office 2007 I go . . .
Same problem - MS Office 2013 installation for small businesses NOT a manageable task. I have spent more that 8 hours trying to get a copy of Office 2013 and Access 2013 installed an operational on a customer PC and I am still not finished. I cannot correct mistakes I made associating the software with an inappropriate MS account and support calls are basically telling me that is impossible. A better approach needs to be rolled out quickly or it will not be feasible for me to sell this product.
Please confirm If you have an "Office 2013 ???" bundle, or an "Office 365 ???" bundle?
The "solution" is you have to call MS Support, then ask/INSIST! to speak to a supervisor. The front line support person CANNOT help with this problem. You need to ask for them to issue you a new Product Key and cancel the current one. Then you can activate again using the customer email account. It is not easy finding someone who will do it for you, but there have been a number of people who have had this done for them.
Actually, for business users in mid sized companies (larger than 25 users) you should be looking at buying a volume license. Then you can use the Office admin portal to manage allocating (and deallocating) Office licenes to specific users. Sorry I don't have experience with this new approach. Here are some links where you can read about it.
Office 365 2013 for Business
Office 365 for Business - 1 license 5 users?
One user posted this reply. Personally I find it hard to accept, but this is what they were told …
<snip>
I called Microsoft in my country and they said: yes, for 1 license of Office 365 5 people from the same company and in the same building can work on 5 different devices.
I think it's a very good deal!
</snip>
buy 365- Moving to Office 365? Dig deep into your options first
http://www.infoworld.com/d/microsoft-windows/moving-office-365-dig-deep-your-options-first-233663
Four Office 2013 features address security configuration, authorization - IRM
Microsoft Office 2013 makes it easier than ever for users to access their documents when and where they need them. But Microsoft wasn't thinking only about end users when it released the latest version of its application suite. The company also took into account the needs of IT professionals who must deploy Office across the enterprise. Office 2013 features include plenty of bells and whistles to make administrators happy, particularly when it comes to security.
In fact, Microsoft has tackled a number of important areas to make Office a safer environment for enterprise workers. Security configurations have been updated and authentication has been enhanced. Functionality that supports trusted publishers, digital signatures and encrypted document recovery has also received a makeover. The latest version Office even includes new and improved Protected View and Information Rights Management (IRM) features.
2013 02 27- Hands-on with the new Office 365 business plans
http://www.zdnet.com/hands-on-with-the-new-office-365-business-plans-7000011894/
2013 02 27- MS launches updated Office 365 for business users
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-launches-updated-office-365-for-business-users-7000011896/
2013 02 27- Office 365: Business users’ top questions (and answers)
http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-office-365-business-users-top-questions-and-answers-7000011908/
2013 02 05- Top Office 365 questions answered
What is the difference between Office 365 and Office 2013?
Which should I get: Office 365 Home Premium or a traditional Office 2013 edition?
Does Office 365 only work in the browser? Do I have to be online?
Can I use Office 365 Home Premium on my Mac?
What happens if I cancel my subscription? Do I lose all my content?
Can I work from home if I have Office 365 Home Premium?
How will it help save me time?
BPOS or Office 365 Bandwidth needs determination: A Refresher
Decoded: Microsoft’s puzzling Office 365 rollout
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2029437/decoded-microsofts-puzzling-office-365-roll-out.html
http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/02/office365\_chart5-100027184-orig.jpg
In addition MS is keeping the old 365 programs:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/business/compare-office-for-business-plans-FX102918419.aspx
2013 03 14- Apparently, Microsoft takes this Office 365 (Small Business) support thing seriously
<snip> I cannot over-emphasize how important good support is, especially when you can no longer lay your own hands on the server. I also can’t over-emphasize how impressed I’ve become with Microsoft’s support for Office 365. </snip>
I am sure if you ask your customers to call and ask MS to reassociate them, they would.
At least I have heard them do so, so ask your customers to call and check, if they refuse at least get them to speak to a supervisor.
Actually, Elemantal, I have spent hours on the phone with M/$ for this very purpose (of using my account to install client copies of Office without realizing they are there forever and my clients are SOL if they need them without my input!) and trying to get those licenses "reassociated" with their account. Finally had a rep who said the *only* answer was to de-activate the dozen licenses at 4different sites, get M/$ to refund the money (good luck with that one), then re-purchase all new licenses. Then go to the various locations and uninstall Office and reinstall with the new licenses under, of course, newly created M/$ accounts for each user.
Yeah, that's simple.
Your answers always seem to be pro-M/$. Must be an employee with the task of playing the role of "come on, M/$'s not that bad, gang."