Office 2008 for Mac Installation (Computer Amount)

[Eric Ogawa]

How many computers can I legally install my Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac
Special Media Edition on? I would like to install it on two desktop
computers and one laptop computer that are networked together.

 

[Rob Schneider]

There surely is no law about this in your country. The best way to see
is to read the license agreement that is attached to your software.

I was going to suggest how to do that on the Mac version of office, but
I can't find it. Looking in Word. Not in Help. Not in About. Not in
the readme file in the application folder. In Windows version of Word
it's in the About menu. I search Help in Word for Mac and there a link
to a couple of web sites. So you can do same. See those web sites.

Interestingly, the license agreement is not "attached" and conneced to
the version of Office installed on my Mac. I wonder why Microsoft did
it that way.


--rms

 

[CyberTaz]

According to the EULA each license entitles the user to install on one
stationary & one portable system. Further, the software can only be used
actively on one of those systems at a time. Although there is nothing to
prevent running the software concurrently on multiple systems if they are
not networked, none of the Office programs will launch on one networked
system if any Office software installed using the same license is already
running elsewhere on that network.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Rob Schneider]

Bob,

What is it that "sticks" this license agreement clause to something that
someone actually bought? Couldn't they have bought it with another
license agreement, e.g. a corporate agreement that would have some other
clauses (since lawyers like to add things and it surely is different
than all others)?

Just because a web site says this doesn't mean this actually applies to
a particular instance does it?

I ask, because as far as I can see, there in nothing on my version of
Office as installed on the computer which tells me the license agrement.
I know I said "yes" when I installed it, but I did not print it. And
now, I cannot find where it is documented what I agreed to.

Just curious.

--rms

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Rob;

We're talking about the EULAs that apply to the retail packages of the H/S,
Std, & Special Media editions. What most people don't realize is that they
are *not* buying the software. They're buying a license to *use* the
software & are essentialyy entering into a contract to use it only for
certain purposes & in certain ways.

Yes, there certainly are other circumstances such as volume licensing for
corporations & universities which are handled separately from the retail
packages. In most cases, though, that entity is the "end user", not the
people who actually use the "tool" provided for them. Those people usually
do not have access to either the installation media or the Product Keys.
That's handled by the organization's IT services.

I'm not sure about the ready availability of the EULA on the individual
systems. I believe it is incorporated in the Installer, but how to go about
accessing it independently I'm not sure offhand. Unfortunately I'm not near
a Mac to check but perhaps someone else can fill in that detail. It is noted
somewhere that the EULA is available on the MS site for all products:

http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/default.aspx

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Hi Rob;

We're talking about the EULAs that apply to the retail packages of the H/S,
Std, & Special Media editions. What most people don't realize is that they
are *not* buying the software. They're buying a license to *use* the
software & are essentialyy entering into a contract to use it only for
certain purposes & in certain ways.

Yes, there certainly are other circumstances such as volume licensing for
corporations & universities which are handled separately from the retail
packages. In most cases, though, that entity is the "end user", not the
people who actually use the "tool" provided for them. Those people usually
do not have access to either the installation media or the Product Keys.
That's handled by the organization's IT services.

I'm not sure about the ready availability of the EULA on the individual
systems. I believe it is incorporated in the Installer, but how to go about
accessing it independently I'm not sure offhand. Unfortunately I'm not near
a Mac to check but perhaps someone else can fill in that detail. It is noted
somewhere that the EULA is available on the MS site for all products:

http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/default.aspx

Got help, search for eula. The first and only result is: "read the terms of
the microsoft license agreement."

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Bob and Rob,

searching for EULA in Entourage's Help file (and perhaps the other Office
apps, too) will get you this link:

<http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/>

 

[Rob Schneider]

In fully patched Word, searching for "eula" (which I didn't think of
trying before!) results in nothing. "license" results in a few
irrelevant things.

--rms

 

[CyberTaz]

Then you either do not currently have an internet connection or you have the
Help set for Offline Help. Make sure you have internet access & check the
lower left corner of the Help window to select Online Help.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac