90% discount on Microsoft software and its legal……..

During my travels I have never been tempted by the computer malls in Asia to buy “Microsoft” software at greatly discounted prices, instead repsecting that the cost of the proper license is just the cost of keeping a proper and correct IT protocol.

So this week during my travels in the US I needed a new computer + Microsift Office 2010. I check the specks and software requirements before coming to the perfect machine.

Naturally, having a 14 year son, he takes an active interest in this and notes the spec and makes me a deal.

“If I save you £300, will you make a contribution to my new putter fund”? he inquired.

I checked and rechecked the spec and accepted the challenge.

Microsoft Office 2010, retails for around £420. However, you are able to buy a license, which is valid for life (so not OEM) though an Academic programme, under certain conditions, as long as the school / college is recognised by Microsoft and you abide by certain conditions re usage.

The cost of the license, £35 for EXACTLY THE SAME SOFTWARE.

In addition, there are a range of other professional quality softwares available at less the 90% of retail.

I have checked with my legal team about these licenses and it appears that if I partition part of the computer for use by my son, I am able to purchase and use this software.

Does anyone else know the basis for these cheap offers for Academics and how close to the line can people go.

This is not a 10% off cost offer, this is a 90% off cost offer.

I would be very interested to hear some views on this.

Taking up the challenge,

IThank you very much First.Class.Please – it does m wonder how on earth Microsoft are able to charge one set of customers over 10 times the cost than other customers for essentially the same piece of kit. Is there not a law against this.

I really dont understand why people are attracted to the dodgy Asian copies when legit software is available for prices for less that the dodgy and unlicensed software in Asia.

There has to be a catch somewhere………………………….

MRRP for Office 10 Pro in the UK is over £400 sterling, thats USD$ 550 min.

Many firms offer a similar deal for employees’ home use. Often even less expensive than £35.

A word of caution with the Home User Program agreements between Microsoft and organisations – they can end, rendering the licences purchased during the period of the agreement invalid. This happened with the NHS employee HUP, which at the time offered 3 Office 2007 licences for about £9. Microsoft instructs that these must now be uninstalled.

No doubt this possibility is in the 20 pages of small print to which we automatically tick Accept. One for your legal team Martyn! I can’t think of any other type of purchase where you might subsequently have to effectively give the item back to the manufacturer in future if conditions change. Imagine a pub landlord saying that the happy hour has been stopped, so you owe the difference in price on all those drinks you bought…

Could this be a strategy for the Software companies for luring the students into using their programmes starting at a young age as they would grow up and continue using a familiar software in their professional life?

I know Microsoft have distributed a lot of low-cost software to students in China when they first entered the China market..

Capturing a greater market share and investing in their future (the company, not the students) may be the main reason behind this!

Martyn: I think it is a case of “a la tete du client”!

The Japanese have been coming to HK to buy European luxury goods for the last 2-3 decades and now we have the Mainland Chinese doing the same as there is big price difference between the different “markets”. This is perfectly legal.

The greatest example was I once had to rush back urgently from Addis Ababa to London and I got on the last economy class seat (no BIZ class at that time) and the two elderly British women sat next to me were telling me that they paid a lot less for a 1 week inclusive air/hotel package than my British Airways ONE-WAY ticket at published fare!!!!!!!!!! There was even enough saving from the fare difference for these two women taking a taxi home to Southhampton!

I was in my early teens and I have never forgotten that I was milked! Nor did my father who was paying for it.

One of the reasons the licences are much cheaper for students and home users is that it gives one licence only, i.e. it can only be installed on one machine at a time. Very often the software one buys commerically will have 2 or 3 licences for the whole household. It doesn’t account for the entire differential but is a part of it.

For the record, you may also be able to blag yourself a student discount on hardware too. Apple give approx 10-15% off their laptops, and I believe others may do too. It could save you having to wait for your next business trip in anticipation of purchasing hardware at a discount (and suffering non-standard power adapters and keyboards!)