Office 2003 poor packaging!

[Steven Redferne]

Hi,

I received my copy of Office 2003 Professional this
morning and to my horror found an ordinary DVD case with
two discs sandwiched together that are almost impossible
to remove without damaging the discs!

If I bought a game for £25, I could perhaps see their
point - it hasn't ever happened though.

Why, oh why, when you spend over £400 on a piece of
software you get such shoddy packaging.

Perhaps this is Microsoft trying to move us onto lease
model, or perhaps a Volume License or even an MSDN
Universal subscription. At least these alternatives have
better packaging. .NET 2002 and 2003 came in paper
wallets - that cost over £1,000, Windows XP came on a bit
of card with a rubber bung holding the disc.

!!!!!! YOU HAVE TO GET A GRIP ON THIS !!!!!!

My only other complaint is I get three months of
technical support from the purchase date. I am not
stupid, I can do almost anything I want with Office, but
sometimes a client needs a workaround that would be
illegal for me to offer. Therefore I ring support and get
told, it's been over six months since you bought your
product so there is no free support. Ho hum...

Hell, I won't be buying anymore Microsoft software if I
get this kind of treatment. Ummm, now, what is that
website called, something like Kazaa ???

P.S. can Microsoft please send decent Office
representatives to the TechEd in future. Those guys were
really floundering and had nigh on no techincal ability
in the "guts" of Office, they were just good users. The
TechEd party was great though and Winternals was too!

 

[William Dowell]

O dear. I am sorry to hear you are so dissatisfied.
Why did you upgrade then? Did you not verify the support
options prior to purchasing 2003? If not; it's your fault.

As for packaging, I think Microsoft is cooperating with
environment and packaging regulations. Besides, these
methods of pachaging doesnt seem to scratch my disks any
more than other alternatives.

We all have the right to moan - but resorting to illicit
illegal activity is not the correct method of resolving
your grudge.

Get over it - and don't be illegal. Two wrongs don't make
a right!

PS: hope you like the new features of office 2003...

 

[Steven Redferne]

I am dissatisfied with the packaging - not the product.

I am glad Microsoft are thinking along "environmentally
conscious" lines.

My gripe with the support is "IT IS NOT THERE WHEN I NEED
IT".

On the packaging issue... For the uninitiated, the spindle
mount will spell doom for the discs. The Office 2003 discs
are thicker than standard and are coated in some scratch
resistant material.

However, problems will occur with contamination of the
surface via hard particles such as grit and the amount of
flexing required to remove the disc.

If the movie industry can ship two DVDs safely in one
standard DVD case, why can't Microsoft ?

As for the illegal software remark - I don't have any at
all - I have bought products from Borland, Adobe, IBM,
SonicFoundry, Apple etc. and have received excellent
service. (the packaging was also good to excellent) - so
view it as an empty threat - many people I know don't even
have a legal OS...

On a lighter note, as I have been using 2003 in various
incarnations since the beginning of the year I am very
used to it. I was plesantly surprised by the ease of
installation over Office XP. The guidance offered to the
new functionality for both newbies and people like me who
have used earlier versions.

The one thing I asked for has been included, that is
Outlook doesn't temporarily stop responding when receiving
e-mails - it behaved like a single threaded VB6 app.

 

[William Dowell]

OK Steven, I will be slightly nicer today...I was having a bad day when i wrote the first reply!
I just found your "!!!!! YOU HAVE TO GET A GRIP ON THIS !!!!!!" line jumping out at me and irritating me; sorry if i appeared rude!

I too have had various forms of office 2003 for a year now, and the product has evolved positively. As for the packaging, it is better than the B2 evaluation packs we got earier this year! (of course, that wasn't £400). I have to say that I would agree that there is no excuse with the DVD case if you find that the music/film industry does it better. In time, perhaps, my disks will fail and i will have to send microsoft £30/~50$/~50€ to replace them as I did with Flight Simulator 2000 some years back (and that was in the "old" style case system.

I was not really accusing you personally of operating illegally. Basically warning others reading this that it shouldn't be an option to them.

As for the support, I feel microsoft dont really have an excuse. Again, though...it shoudn't be a surprise to you (they are on a tight budget afterall !!!

For the freezing of outlook, you are not alone...it is infuriating me. I had been given the impression this issue (at least ofr http Hotmail accounts) had been resolved and "would feel like normal pop 3 account"....hmmm....sorry, but no: it doesnt!


Have a nice day - and sorry for being fierce last time.