Can I buy legitimate Office 2004 for Mac at 50% of list?

September 30, 2006 10:45 AM

I am purchasing a couple of Mac Minis for a little project, and I need legit copies of MS Office 2004 for Mac. I can find plenty of places online selling the "Full, Standard" version of the software, which is what I want, for $125-$175. This is over 50% off list. Are these discounters selling illegitimate copies? Can you suggest a good place to buy this software? I need to purchase it by midnight tonight (we expense software for tax purposes).
posted by Kwantsar to computers & internet (7 comments total)

that price sounds about right -- there's a new version due, and the current one doesn't run fast on intel, so prices have dropped. if you insist on paying full price, try the online apple store.
posted by bonaldi at 10:50 AM on September 30, 2006

They could be selling the Student & Teacher version, which is a "full version" that sells for about $150. I think however they would need to disclose this, if it's any kind of reputable retailer at all.
posted by pricklypear at 12:23 PM on September 30, 2006

The student and teacher edition is probably what you want. (As far as I know it is not crippled in any way.) You can legally install it on up to 3 computers. You have a kid who is a student, right?
posted by Gungho at 2:24 PM on September 30, 2006

Student and Teacher Edition is being rebranded as Home and Student Edition in the next release, because Microsoft wants you to buy it without moral qualms that you aren't a student or teacher. So buy Student and Teacher without worry.
posted by evariste at 3:51 PM on September 30, 2006

Thanks, everyone. These licenses are for a small business and unless the EULA specifically states that it's okay, the Student/teacher edition is not acceptable.
posted by Kwantsar at 4:22 PM on September 30, 2006

Obligatory link to tree-hugging communist hippie free alternative.
posted by flabdablet at 5:35 PM on September 30, 2006

student/teacher is not acceptable for business use (sounds like you already knew that, though). if you want to be really sure about it, I'd recommend just going to your local big box/apple store/etc. and getting a couple copies of standard, which'll run you $400/ea. $150 for Office Mac sounds like either you're getting v.X or they're confusing the STE version with Standard (the only real difference is licensing). you'd know for a fact that you'd be getting the appropriate version of office in that case. Microsoft hasn't dropped the prices on any version of Office Mac, AFAIK (except for occasional mail-ins).

if you're getting more than 5, or if you already have this set up with Microsoft, you could probably save some cash by getting volume licensing or getting it through whatever volume deal you've got set up. the volume agreements don't really get you anything if you've not got at least 5 machines, though.
posted by mrg at 11:12 AM on October 1, 2006