Do I have to renew my license every 12 months if I buy Microsoft Office University 2010?

[Tempernillo]

I have just bought a new laptop so need to buy Office, I am only really fussed about having a good version of word that I can use referencing etc on, and powerpoint, excel etc.

I have notice that if you are a higher ed student with an ac.uk e mail address you can buy Office University which has some extra features (e.g. publisher, outlook)n and is about £20 cheaper. However a review on Amazon says you have to renew your license annually, so does this mean when my course ends I will have to buy Office again? Or will it just downgrade to Home & Student? I cannot find info about this anywhere else on the web, including microsoft's website, so if this is the case, it is very sneaky of them if it's true. I'm happy to lose the extra features, but I don't want to have to pay for the product all over again in a couple of years.

Anyone know?

Anyone? Want to get it bought tonight really!

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I haven't heard about the yearly licence renewal thing before.

Why don't you look at the software4students.co.uk website and see if they're still doing the full 2010 suite for £80? That way it'll last you four or five years. They'll even send you a DVD.

You don't have to renew your licence every year.
And yes, 'software4students' is the best place for discounted - legal - Office software. I think I only paid £40 for my daughter's copy though, not £80.

don't bother forking out for all that. Use www.libreoffice.org/ instead! Just as good and FREE!

Paleodad

don't bother forking out for all that. Use www.libreoffice.org/ instead! Just as good and FREE!

It's good, but it's not 'just as good'. No Outlook, no Access, no Publisher. It's certainly adequate for most people's needs, but is the proof reading and review function compatible with Word 2KX, so that when your lecturer returns your digital copy of the text annotated in Word, you can read it?

IMHO is just as good, it has all the features of office bar Onenote (which is the only feature of windows/microsoft i really miss). Whilst there is no outlook alternative in the LibreOffice (LO) package, there are plenty of alternatives, including Thunderbird email client, which you can download separately, and which does exactly the same job as outlook AFAIK (i use Kontact myself).

Publisher is, i believe (although i don't use it myself) compatible with LO Draw. Access is compatible with LO Base.

I have had no problems personally with proof/reading and review; i tend to save all documents in the microsoft formats (.doc .xls etc.) when i'm sending them off to other people. My supervisor edits most of my work on his IPad so in effect we're using the documents across three operating systems.

I have to admit though the Office is prettier (ribbons etc.), but no over £100 prettier!

Can i also add that i think it's shocking that students who are already paying £9000 a year, are also expected to fork out for software. The onus should be on the universities/colleges to make their systems compatible with freely available softwares!