Install Office 2016 OEM without Live account

Each customer would have their own volume license.

I've given up on installing or managing the OEM/Retail version of MS Office for my clients.  I try to steer them towards either O365 or volume licensing (VLS).   While VLS has a large up front cost, don't forget, it's a perpetual license and offers a lower TCO over time vs. O365, assuming there isn't a need to upgrade to the next version (or even two) of Office.  Most of my clients abhor the thought of a never-ending subscription to MS Office and so far have opted to avoid it at all costs.  If my clients still want the OEM/Retail edition, I'll continue to sell it to them, but I won't attempt to activate or manage their licenses for them. 

As I stated earlier in this thread, along with many others - I really don't think MS cares about the current activation hassles.  The subscription model is where everything is headed and I seriously believe this (Office 2016) is the last time we'll see an OEM/Retail edition.  They've gotten a taste for the recurring revenue O365 provides and they're hungry for more.  Even Windows has already headed down the subscription path...    Watch for the whole industry try to mirror the mobile ecosystem.  The app store will be front and center with free versions available, but the features you really need or want will require a subscription.

Think of Microsoft as the government and congressmen.  Big donors are important to them for reelection contributions.  Poor people are important to manipulate for votes.  The middle class is not organized, so who cares about them?  The counterparts for Microsoft are Big Business (overpriced volume licenses), individual customers (often student copies at bargain prices), and Small Business.  Small business is the middle class of software consumers and provide the bulk of sales but with no influence and usually no support, since small business buys bundled with a new computer.

Government is not ever going to care about the middle class.  Microsoft is never going to care about small business.  We are the cash cows, and nothing we can do will change Microsoft.  I'm a conservative, but it's seeming more and more lately like Bill Clinton was right when he wanted to break up Microsoft.  He certainly was right to block the acquisition of Intuit!

End of rant.

GarryHeath, RonBarker

OP here. I could not agree more with GarryHeath regarding the fact that this works well for very small (maybe one- to five-person) businesses doing their own "IT services" for themselves, and VLS works well for the business with maybe 50-100 or more employees. But the nightmare arises for outsourced IT support professionals for those businesses like me.

And I think that MS has either done this intentionally to make Office 365 the only viable option inside the MS product line, or they have completely underestimated the aggregate number of folks doing support for a larger percentage of those many, many small businesses (28 million in the United States alone).

That theory is fine when you are an IT department for one single company. Using a volume license is not really appropriate when you're providing services to a multitude of customers is it?   Basically, it sounds like Microsoft is saying that their customers are either individual people for large businesses – nothing in between. It's the small business customer base that I think Microsoft is forgetting here.

I suggest that you consider a volume licence: 

What’s the maximum number of Office Home & Business 2013 licenses I can activate using the same Microsoft Account?

Office Home & Business 2013 is designed for small businesses with low IT needs and up to 25 users so the customer can activate up to 25 licenses using the same Microsoft Account. For larger companies, Volume Licensing offerings are a better option as it includes deployment tools for volume activations. Customers with activation issues can contact Microsoft customer support for additional help.