What is the Test Drive stuff? I bought it!

[nickravo]

I have excel in my mac laptop and i transferred files and apps to my
new mac mini. But when I use Excel in the mini, it keeps giving me this
test drive pop up. What do I do? I didn't save my box or registration
number from the copy of Excel I bought. Secondly, this test drive does
funky things, like when I type -1 into a box and then go to another
cell, that cell becomes part of a formula in the box where I have typed
-1. Help! I never had these kind of issues before!

 

[PhilD]

I have excel in my mac laptop and i transferred files and apps to my
new mac mini. But when I use Excel in the mini, it keeps giving me this
test drive pop up. What do I do? I didn't save my box or registration
number from the copy of Excel I bought. Secondly, this test drive does
funky things, like when I type -1 into a box and then go to another
cell, that cell becomes part of a formula in the box where I have typed
-1. Help! I never had these kind of issues before!

Test drive comes on new Macs. You need to uninstall it to get rid of
these messages. Search
<http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.mac.office> for
pointers.

PhilD

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

I have excel in my mac laptop and i transferred files and apps to my
new mac mini. But when I use Excel in the mini, it keeps giving me this
test drive pop up. What do I do? I didn't save my box or registration
number from the copy of Excel I bought. Secondly, this test drive does
funky things, like when I type -1 into a box and then go to another
cell, that cell becomes part of a formula in the box where I have typed
-1. Help! I never had these kind of issues before!

Regarding the test drive: It was already installed on the mini when you
bought it. Transferring your apps over from the other Mac probably created 2
copies of the apps. The ONLY proper way to correct this is to use the remove
Office tool and then reinstall the purchased copy. If you do not have the
original registration number you will need to contact Microsoft to get a new
one.

As far as extending the formula - that's the way Excel works. By entering a
-1, excel thinks you are entering a formula, and clicking on other cells
extends the formula. To enter only a -1 press return after typing. Seems to
me there ought to be an option for this but I can't find it.

 

[nickravo]

Two follow up questions: 1) How do I contact MSFT so I don't have to
buy the software again. I mean is there an 800-number? I sense not. 2)
I don't recall having the -1 thing in the Windows version of Excel. If
I wanted a formula I put in an = sign. Is the - thing a Mac/Excel
variation? If so, it seems like a pretty dumb one considering the
existence of negative numbers.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Two follow up questions: 1) How do I contact MSFT so I don't have to
buy the software again. I mean is there an 800-number? I sense not.

There's no need to contact Microsoft. Just remove Office 2004 and Test
Drive, then reinstall Office 2004, along with the updates.

If you don't have your installation disk or CD Key, see:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326246/en-us

MacOffice doesn't use Activation, so MS doesn't have any part in the
installation process.

2) I don't recall having the -1 thing in the Windows version of Excel. If
I wanted a formula I put in an = sign. Is the - thing a Mac/Excel
variation? If so, it seems like a pretty dumb one considering the
existence of negative numbers.

Works the same way in WinXL03. For negative numbers one needs to finish
editing the cell (entering the data) using Return or Tab.

 

[nickravo]

Wow, I went to the link for miscrosft support, took me about a hour to
read throught it all. And I still can't figure out what to do or call
or email. I just want my software to work on my new Mac and I no longer
have the codes. This shouldn't be a big production. Or require more
than a few minutes of my time, should it?

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I just want my software to work on my new Mac and I no longer have
the codes. This shouldn't be a big production. Or require more than a
few minutes of my time, should it?

I certainly wouldn't assume that to be the case...

I can't think of any reason that MS would have an obligation to provide
you a replacement for the CD key that you lost.

I'm sure they'll work with you when you call them, but they're not
likely to issue you a new key just because you claim that your copy is
legitimate. They'll require some sort of proof that you paid for your
copy of Office. For a fast response, that would seem to require faxing
or emailing a copy of the relevant receipt to them, so "a few minutes of
your time" would likely be a significant underestimate.

MS's product support site can be confusing, but it's not insurmountable.
I followed the "Contact a support professional by phone or email link
from this page:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;cntactms

(which was linked to by the page I gave you) and drilled down to the
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac product support site where there's a
plethora of contact info:

http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&c1=505&prid=7840&g
prid=36012

 

[nickravo]

Thanks for your efforts, but this sucks. I'm using NeoOffice. Enough of
this MSFT crap. They make a 40 percent profit margin; they can do
better than that on customer service.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Thanks for your efforts, but this sucks. I'm using NeoOffice. Enough of
this MSFT crap. They make a 40 percent profit margin; they can do
better than that on customer service.

NeoOffice/J is pretty good for most word processing tasks, especially if
you use Word as a stand-alone. I recommend it for some of my clients.

Not sure where you get your 40% profit margin figure, so I have no idea
whether you're accurate or not. The more relevant number is the Mac
Business Unit's (MacBU) profit margin, since they have to justify their
existence independently, but that number isn't published, AFAIK.

But I don't think it matters. Why would you expect MS to replace a CD
Key that you lost/failed to keep? Whether their profit margin is 40% or
zero, *they* didn't lose the CD Key...

MS doesn't keep a database of purchasers - and I suspect a majority of
Mac users wouldn't want them to.

And given that, how would they verify that you had a legitimate copy?

OTOH, I agree with you that losing things sucks...

 

[Barry Wainwright [MVP]]

First:

I didn't save my box or registration
number from the copy of Excel I bought.

And then:

I just want my software to work on my new Mac and I no longer
have the codes.

And finally:

Thanks for your efforts, but this sucks. I'm using NeoOffice. Enough of
this MSFT crap. They make a 40 percent profit margin; they can do
better than that on customer service.

So, let me get this right;

You bought a copy of excel.
You lost or threw away the product keys.
You want to install it on another machine.
You expect MS to give you new codes without any proof that you bought your
copy?

Good luck!