Here is a statement of the bloomin' obvious: "This issue is extremely
common". As there are so many folk getting caught out (forgetting to
remove test drive, or not even aware that it is there in the first
place), would it not be a good idea if future versions of Office
automatically searched for and removed the test drive whilst loading
the "proper" version. At the very least, put a big message up on the
screen first: "Yoo-hoo, you *have* uninstalled test drive, *haven't*
you?".
Am I missing something obvious about why this cannot be done? There
must be plenty of folk who don't post here who have difficulties, and
will end up only thinking unfavourably of Microsoft and/or Apple, with
consequential loss of income and/or reputation.
How do I pass this on to Microsoft?
PhilD
You are absolutely right; as someone who regularly posts on this and other
Office:Mac newsgroups, I can't tell you how many times I've seen this
problem come up. Now, if you download the Test Drive, there is a small text
Before you install the purchased version of Office 2004 for Mac
After you purchase Microsoft Office 2004 and before you install it, you must
remove the Office Test Drive.
To remove the Office 2004 for Mac Test Drive
Quit any programs that are running.
On your hard disk, open the Microsoft Office 2004 folder that contains the
Test Drive.
If you saved any documents in the Microsoft Office 2004 folder, move them to
another location.
In the Microsoft Office 2004 folder, double-click Remove Office.
Click Continue.
In the Results window, click Microsoft Office 2004 (including Test Drive), and
then click Continue to move that folder to the Trash. Follow the instructions
on the screen.
That's essentially what needs to be done, but I agree with you for a number
of reasons:
a) it's not prominent enough. Microsoft should put these paragraphs in a
big, red warning box on the top of the page.
b) a large number of users, if not most, will have the Test Drive
pre-installed on their Macs, so the chances of them seeing this message are
quite low.
c) I also think that the warning is part of the installation process of both
the test drive and the full version, but again, it's not displayed
prominently enough. Having the Office installer run the removal tool, after
getting the user's permission, sounds like a really good idea.
As for your last question: Microsoft employees read these newsgroups, so
leaving your feedback here will do. I'm also sure that they must have
noticed the frighteningly high number of users having problems with this, so
I should think they will do something about this at some point.
Michel
