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tips for saving money when buying Microsoft Office
For Office XP the upgrade requirements have tightened
considerably, see our Office XP
Upgrade guide for details.
However if you're quick you can get Microsoft Office
2000 upgrade packages. These packages have much more lenient
qualifications than Office XP.
... some disk or CD on the shelf or attic is
enough to let them save money.
With an Office 2000 Upgrade package in hand you'll qualify for the
cheaper Office XP upgrade package if and when you decide to change
over.
The cheaper 'upgrade' version of
Office 2000 requires you to own a qualifying product but that
definition is quite broad. Broader than many
people realize, they buy the Full Version not knowing that some
disk or CD on the shelf or attic is enough to let them save money.
Naturally any previous version of
Microsoft Office will qualify you -- but so will an individual
copy of Word, Excel etc. That old copy of Word for DOS is
enough to qualify you to buy the upgrade version of the entire
Office suite, even Office Developer!
For example any old copy of
WordPerfect or Lotus 1-2-3 will qualify you. It
doesn't have to be an old copy either. IBM supplies a copy
of Lotus SmartSuite with many of their computers even thought many
people don't bother to install it, let alone use it. But
that SmartSuite CD is enough to qualify you for the upgrade
edition of Office and save you money.
People buy the 'full version' in
the mistaken belief that it is somehow better or more complete
than the upgrade. Wrong!
The 'full' and 'upgrade' versions
have exactly the same programs on them -- once installed on your
computer you can't tell them apart.
The only difference is the checking
for a qualifying product during the installation. Once
that's done you have Microsoft Office and some extra money in your
pocket.
Microsoft's Technology Guarantee is
for people who purchased the previous version of Office in the
months before new version is available. It is their way of
encouraging people to continue to buy Office when a new version is
on the horizon.
For Office XP the
Technology Guarantee expired on June 30, 2001
Why pay more
for Microsoft Office?