Too good to be true? (innocent rant about Office software)

[Phil_S]

We all know, when it seems too good to be true, that it will turn out that way. I'm not quite sure where I've ended up this time.

I've been having quite a bad time with the calendar in Outlook 2010 since I swapped in a faster and larger hard drive a few months ago. Basically, the calendar would only display in active list format, not in traditional calendar format. Eventually, it would refuse to accept meeting invitations (really embarrassing to explain this when invited). I'd fiddle with it and it would work somewhat OK for a while and then go downhill again. (OK, not ready to give this up and move to Google mail and calendar, but I will say that Google calendar saved my butt through the ordeal.)

Today, fed up once again with the calendar being broke, I searched lowest cost MS Office 2013, figuring an upgrade would cure all ills. I just didn't like the idea of being blackmailed into an expensive upgrade to fix what shouldn't be broken. Anyhow, I uncovered a place that sold me a download of MS Office Professional 64-bit for $95, complete with installation key. So far, there were only three unexpected things:
1) It required immediate installation according to specific instructions (which were very well written) and
2) The install did not automatically uninstall Office 2010, so I had to do that manually and was afraid I would lose the install at a forced reboot, but that was unfounded fear.
3) It required installation of a specific brand of unzipware (trial version) that I really didn't want to install but did anyway.

The installation, aside from not occurring on my time frame, was flawless and it fixed my calendar!

What's not too good to be true for $95? Waiting for the other shoe to drop.

[lord preset]

The other shoe may or may not drop. At that price someone along the line is playing a game with MS licensing/distribution agreements but that is not to say that what you bought is a cracked copy or that you will run into issues with updates down the line. It could be a perfectly legitimate copy sold through an unapproved channel. Not necessarily your problem.

[Phil_S]

Yeah, I concur with your assessment. Since I already pulled the trigger on it, I'm not included to go back. Nevertheless, I figure it's at best grey market software. They were a little peculiar about how to unzip and mount the software, particularly at the point where the key is entered. Still, it seems to work perfectly. I expect MS evilware will eventually check to see if it is "genuine" and if it passes that test, I guess I'm home free. Right after loading it, 50 updates piled onto my computer, and all loaded without event. I'm thinking, I got that far. So far, so good. Meanwhile, I uninstalled the trial version of the RARware they asked me to load to do the deed. I'll spend some time cleaning up after that uninstall, dusting it out of the corners and hoping no malware rode in on its tail.

[vibratoking]

Malware? Think positively. Maybe you got some free porn out to the deal.

[DonMoose]

If you have a spare box - preferably linux - pop that drive out and scan it with ClamAV or something on a system that didn't boot from that drive.

[sliberty]

Well, the only "to good to be true" scenario I can think of offhand is that you may have gotten yourself a 1 year license to Office 365 instead of a perpetual Office 2013 license. Office 365 is a subscription based service that normally costs $99 per year, and includes some online stuff in addition to the installed Office 2013 apps.

By the way, when I bought a perpetual license from the company I am working for through their employee deal with Microsoft, it didn't uninstall 2010 either.

[skyboltone]

You don't suppose it would work on Office '03 would it?

[Phil_S]

Don, it would be nice to have a spare with Linux, but I don't ;-{ A worthy recommendation, though.

Steve, I am looking at the "about" screen which is now the "account" screen. It says, "Product Information, Office, Product Activated, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013" Then it show icons for the nine applications. I do not believe this is Office 365, the subscription-based product.

Here is where I got the software: http://techstopillinois.com/866463666of ... OgodehEAkA
I don't seem to have any malware as a result. I uninstalled WinRAR, which isn't needed except to decompress the compressed package they give you to download, which has a "SOL" extension on the zipfile name.

Surprisingly (at least to me) Windows Defender saw there was new software and automatically launched a scan of the install file cabs and reported nothing out of the ordinary. I'm not detecting any hijacking. I guess I'll know more when the typical software trial period expires and this turns out to be/not be trial software. I am thinking it is OK stuff so far.

I did clean out cookies after this event. This is something I do on a routine basis.

[sliberty]

I went to that sight and chatted with the representative, and confirmed that it is NOT an annual subscription, but a perpetual license. Not sure how they do it for that price, but more power to them (and you Phil).

[Phil_S]

Well, maybe I just got a bargain price! Really, I tend to agree with Lord Preset, that the distribution channel is not the usual and the licenses, while likely legit, may not have been intended for this channel. Now that they are there, if nothing is illegal or in violation contractual terms, maybe there is nothing to stop this seller and his pricing. Eventually, maybe they run out of product and that's that? <shrug>

BTW, I am now just figuring out the evil in this upgrade. I am starting feel like a sight-impaired (not quite blind) person walking into my house to find that someone rearranged all the furniture and I keep walking into it. Sheeks, can't they just leave well enough alone? "Smart quotes" is an improvement? All that anticipatory "select the whole word" etc, seems over the top, and it took me a while to figure out how to terminate skydrive and set default save locations. Ugh!