a number of years ago and before the streamlining
of the issuance of product keys, microsoft
required that student i.d.'s be faxed to them.
i remember this because i had asked that same
question and did some research way back then. however,
the microsoft webpage no longer exists and today
the "no child left behind" is somewhat of an inherented
policy as well.
because i appreciated your pondering of ethics
and I became intrigued with the question,
again, i contacted microsoft.com first via
chat then the 1800 they provided to me.
Their official position is that the seller is "required"
to aske for proof that the person is a student before
selling the student teacher edition.
But of course I pursued the issue a bit further
and asked how will they prove software has
been pirated since anyone installing the software
will automatically get a product key activated
irregardless of their background.
There response was that if they
discover the piratcy and the store cannot prove
that the student edition was sold to a qualifing person
then both the seller and user will be charged with
piracy and a fine of 250,000.00 each, if convicted.
Otherwise, this is where it stands with them.
It might be helpful to know that microsoft has what is called
a partnership program for selling their products. All
resellers have strick guidelines and contracts in place.
So this is in part what protects microsoft from the selling
of softwares to non qualified persons.
Also, microsoft has special licenses for academia's
and students can obtain copies of the software
and licenses through them. I checked out the prices
and i think that a student at a college with this
program from microsoft can buy a copy of office for about
10 bucks directly from microsoft. But this involves
and order form that also requires detailed account numbers
of the institution that were provided by ms.
But I only skimmed through all
the legal jargen...
hope this is helpful....
Joe said:
I do ponder the ethics, so this is merely an intellectual exercise- for
those who have no ethics, I have presumed that the wisdom of MS would make
it impossible to "rip them off" in this way.
But, on the ethics issue- let's face it- MS software is good stuff, but MS
has a monopoly so their stuff is overpriced. I believe the full upgrade
for Office 2003, if you have purchased a previous version is almost as
expensive as buying Office 2003 outright.
I know you can't just take your friend's copy of Office and install it on
your computer because it won't work until you register it- so why is MS
being so easy to "rip off" when it comes to student/teacher upgrade
versions?
In my case- when I got my Dell a few years ago, I mistakenly ordered
Office Standard when I should have gotten Office Pro, so I didn't get
Access- until I needed it and realized my mistake. At Staples, the full
UPGRADE version of Access is something like $200 while the student/teacher
edition is half that. That's absurdly expensive, considering I have a
legit copy of Office 2003. I need Access but I feel gouged if I decide to
buy a legit copy of the Access upgrade. Almost enough to "rip them off"
by getting a student/teacher edition, but I keep wondering if I'd get
caught.
Joe
JoAnn Paules said:
Maybe something as silly as personal ethics.
--
JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]
~~~~~
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375
Joe said:
Upgrade- student/teacher edition? But, what if you aren't a
student/teacher, whose gonna know?
I was at Staples today and looked at a student/teacher upgrade version
of office- I saw a web site with more info but didn't write it down and
can't remember it- it's on the MS web site somewhere. (the ending of the
URL was "eula", I think.
So, why should I not lie and save money by pretending I'm a
student/teacher?
Joe
