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Home Use Program and Technology Guarantee

Can someone with a Home Use license for Office buy the version upgrade Office 2007?

Dustan W. asks:

I am currently using Office 2007 Enterprise through the Home Use program with my employer and so I have been trying without success to determine whether that qualifies me to purchase an Office 2007 Upgrade version or not.  I’m asking because I’d like to make use of your Office 2010 Technology Guarantee suggestion  to get a cheaper copy of Office 2010

Dustan is asking if he can buy a retail ‘version upgrade’ copy of Office 2007 and use his existing HUP Office 2007 install to satisfy the ‘version upgrade’ setup that you are an existing Office user. If so you’ll be able to install the ‘version upgrade’ copy of Office 2007 and get the all-important Product ID needed for the Office 2010 Technology Guarantee.

We’re inclined to the view that HUP licenses might NOT qualify as product for Office 2007 version upgrades according to the rules (we can’t find anything explicit either way) However we’re also inclined to think that if you tried to install a version upgrade, your existing Office 2007 (purchased via the HUP)would be accepted by the setup software as a valid upgrade product.

In other words there might be a difference between what Microsoft might say qualifies, if pressed on the point, and what happens when you try.

The version upgrade qualifications don’t explicitly exclude any special purchase of Office 2007 (except trials).

 

It’s important to make a distinction between the Office 2007 version upgrade rules (which let you install Office 2007 VU and get a Product ID) and the later, separate qualification rules for the Office 2010 Technology Guarantee. What product you used to qualify for the Version Upgrade doesn’t appear to matter when you later apply for the Technology Guarantee. All that matters for the Technology Guarantee is that you have the qualifying details including a recently acquired Product ID after installing Office 2007.

 

Home Use Program (HUP) licenses are disallowed in the Technology Guarantee rules to the extent that a recent purchase of Office 2007 via the HUP doesn’t qualify you for a free copy of Office 2010.

 

But it might be a moot point for Home Use Program users anyway:

 



  • If you still work for the company that you bought the Office 2007 Home Use License through then you should be able to get an Office 2010 HUP in coming months and for a very low price.

  • If you DON’T work for the company anymore then you should not be using the Office 2007 HUP copy. Your employer should have advised you to remove the software when you left the organization. That said, we expect many former employees still use their Home Use Program software in the knowledge that it’s unlikely that Microsoft will know, let alone pursue, the matter.

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