Install Office 2016 OEM without Live account

RonBarker,

OP here.

The assumption that all businesses operate on the basis of end users managing their own software is simply faulty. I am not saying it is not a sound business model; I am saying only that it misrepresents, or at least fails to represent, a very large number of small businesses out here. 357 replies here should be some indication that the problem is with the activation model, not with the business model of the vendors trying to activate legally-purchased software.

I, like many independent small business IT support professionals, am charged with being the gatekeeper of all things IT on behalf of my clients. This includes purchasing and installing all software. In many cases, they do not want to be bothered with this, since they would prefer to stick to changing tires, dispatching trucks, or whatever else it is that they do--not installing software.

Furthermore, I have too many serious clients to risk the futility and continual surprises of trying to manage systems for customers that insist on installing their own software and where an end user will install some freeware he used on his home computer, only to leave me spending hours digging out the fact that it was responsible for the failure his boss reported a week later when his accounting system broke--with nary a word about the installation of the faulty application to help me solve the problem. So I have made a business decision to support only clients that can tolerate having me function the way an actual IT manager would function, and end users are users, not administrators, on their computers.

On top of all of this, my experience informs me on a host of IT-related issues well beyond the end user's experience, not the least of which is that one should really keep track of product keys and accounts. Nine times out of ten, if a client were to install their own Office, they would set up a live account without bothering to record the product key, the live account ID, or even the password for the live account. Then they would call me to "fix it" when it needs to be reinstalled. I do not have time to be drawn away from other projects, so I do all registrations on their behalf, keeping the information handy in the event a reinstall is required.

So I have to disagree entirely that the problem is with the vendor; it is with the faulty assumptions on the part of Microsoft and its apologists regarding who is using and managing the software. As a vendor, I am just trying to find a way to avoid complicating my life and my clients' lives without capitulating to the near-coercion toward entirely abandoning an otherwise healthy and productive business model. While I am not particularly a Microsoft apologist, MS products have, in fact, opened doors to getting things done, and I have always been fastidious in requiring clients to pay for the correct products, to the point that I will not work on a computer running unlicensed software, except to first remove and/or replace it with a licensed copy. It is a major nuisance (fact) and utterly ridiculous (my opinion) to have an activation model that is either completely oblivious or intentionally ignores the way many of us do business.

In fact, in the world in which I and all my clients live, the problem is not that I am trying to tie their hands, but that we are being told we must subjugate, if not downright abandon, the many cost and labor efficiencies we have developed over the years to a new licensing model that assumes, incorrectly, that the end user will be managing his own software.

These activation complications are symptomatic not only of Microsoft's blind spot regarding small business, but of the herd mentality pervading that portion of the customer base that blindly assumes that everyone fits the single-user or large-business model that can actually use the new activation model effectively. Many of us live our entire work life outside that herd and within that blind spot.

I am sorry I do not understand your position at all.  OEM Office is supplied by Microsoft on the same basis as they supply OEM Windows Operating Systems and as other providers of OEM software.  Microsoft is not legally or contractually responsible for the software once it is provided to the end user by the purchaser/vendor. OEM software is provided as a  greatly reduced cost. If the end user wishes hold Microsoft liable for Office software such as Office 2016 then they should purchase retail versions of Office 2016.

I don't think there is a differentiation between OEM or Retail editions of MS Office any longer.   Last time I checked, there is no difference in price between retail and OEM installed versions of MS Office.  Besides, the problem isn't with the software or it's cost, but rather the unnecessary complexity and restrictive processes required to actually install/activate the software.

I could not agree more with the arguments against the current model, it's a complete and utter disaster for small business IT professionals in trying to support our clients who have traditionally purchased MS Office in this manner.  I'm not a big fan of the move to subscription based software either, and neither are most of my clients - especially for something like productivity software, but this is where MS (and everyone else lately it seems) is going.  

I'm not sure a class action suit would be effective in this case, but I would like to see something happen in regards to this.  I think this issue needs more exposure though than just a thread on an MS community forum to gain any traction...   Would like to see some publications or blogs with a larger audience reach call attention to the issue.

I am sorry I do not understand your position at all.  OEM Office is supplied by Microsoft on the same basis as they supply OEM Windows Operating Systems and as other providers of OEM software.  Microsoft is not legally or contractually responsible for the software once it is provided to the end user by the purchaser/vendor. OEM software is provided as a  greatly reduced cost. If the end user wishes hold Microsoft liable for Office software such as Office 2016 then they should purchase retail versions of Office 2016.

Because Microsoft is the one forcing the activations to be tied to a Microsoft account not the OEM.  This is the business world not the consumer world.  We want the software either tied directly to the business or the computer it is to be installed on not the end-user who may or may not be there next week, month or year.  The last thing we want or need is for the end-user to try and install their own software or manage their own licensing to an account that they more than likely will forget the password to anyway.  When we have a roll-out of multiple systems this can no longer be automated forcing us to waste more time just to activate software and manage licenses.  Is that simple enough for you?

Ron, the problem is that retail packaged Office has the same Microsoft Account activation as the OEM software.  Again for individual or family purchases, that's OK, since the "ownership" of the computer will not likely change. 

Brian is exactly right.  In an office, the "lifetime computer/software user" is a totally wrong assumption.  Anyone who has ever had a job knows that jobs turn over.  Tie an Office purchase to the person in a job using a computer today, and a year from now it's all different.  The computer may be moved to a different user, the user may leave and be replaced, or both.  This problem is nearly universal in the world of small business.  Other than a proprietorship with one owner-worker, the MS activation process is flawed.  Most recently, OEM's like Dell have even stopped including the little product key card with the computer and instead have it embedded in the software.  So now they've added another step to the setup:  write down the product key for future reference. 

I'm not a Democrat or liberal by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems to me that we have allowed monopolies to develop in computer software.  Microsoft has too much power.  Hate to say it, but Bill Clinton may have been right when he wanted to break up Microsoft into OS and Application companies.  A new company starting up today to compete with MS Office would have -0- chance of success.  That's why Microsoft doesn't listen to us.  They don't have to.  The only thing that might work would be if no one bought Office from a computer mfr.  Only buy from Amazon or other dealer.  Once Dell lost the huge profit they make on sales of MS Office for a few months, they would put pressure on Microsoft.