"volume license"

[bill]

When a Visio Pro 2003 disk says "Volume License Product Key Required"
does that mean it was supposed to have been sold to a big company
where many employees run Visio? (I wouldn't have thought they would
bother with individual disk sets in that case.)

The disk says "Not for retail or OEM distribution. Not for resale."

This package has a license key on the back (looks very
Microsoft-like).

1. What is the likelihood that this key will work?

2. The retailer was obviously not supposed to be selling this product.

3. Why do I bother to tell Purchasing that I want a "full, retail
box?" (At least if wasn't an idiotic download version this time.)

Thanks.
Sure hope she paid for this with a credit card.

 

[bill]

Maybe just as important: will I be able to upgrade this when the next
version of Visio comes out?
Bill

 

[Al Edlund]

As an observation, most of these types of questions go unanswered here on
the forum and
the user is pointed in the direction of calling MS directly.
Al

 

[bill]

Thanks, Al.
I believe the "official" answer is pretty clear from the language on
the disk itself.

Even if the key works, I really want to scream at the person who
ordered this - I checked the vendor's site and it is upfront about
this being a volume license disk. I was kind of hoping to hear some
negatives (aside from the obvious legal and moral issues) so I could
yell about more than just that she didn't buy what I told her to.

I also have drawings I made using the 30-day trial version. Wonder if
those are tagged with my id?

btw - what comes in the retail box besides the disks? Are there
decent manuals?

Thanks

 

[Al Edlund]

no, the drawings should work fine. Been a while since I saw the box but I
can pretty definitvely say they do not send any decent manuals with it. Even
the original Developing Visio Solutions pdf file that was sent out when
Visio owned the product has been removed from the disk, although it is
on-line at MSDN. There are a variety of manuals out there from the simple
ones that M$ publishes aimed at users to some great ones for developers.
al

 

[Mark Tangard]

Bill, I can confirm that the manual is pretty forgettable. It's OK for
someone just starting to learn Visio and is not poorly written, but
overall it's basically kindling. A useful rule of thumb is that the
manual from the publisher of *any* software will normally gloss over any
or the program's deficiencies, whereas an independent author can be
objective and thorough in *explaining* said deficiencies and giving
workarounds. That's what makes their books worth having.

There are some very good third-party manuals, some written by posters
here, though I don't recall whom and my copies are 3,000 miles away.
Maybe one will chime in here. They helped me a lot, whereas my original
Visio manual has spent most of its life helping other books stabilize a
stereo speaker. Granted, a lot of third-party books are crap, but a
little research can help you locate the good stuff.