Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
33 Posts
0
18882
What is the qualifying path from Dell OEM Works to MS Office 2003 ?
We have some Dell PCs that came with OEM Works 8.5 or 9.0.
Our company is standardised on using Office 2003 (there are specific reasons we can't upgrade office yet which are not relevant here).
These PCs currently have MS Office Volume licences from Microsoft installed on them. We are now planning to replace a number of our older PCs with new ones and roll-down existing ones, throwing out the oldest at the bottom of the line. These oldest ones that will be thrown out currently have MS Office 2003 retail upgrade licences. In order to save money what we would like to do is assign the MS Office Volume licences (which are full product, not upgrades) to the new PCs and the redundant Office 2003 upgrade licences to those PCs that came with MS Works.
However, after 2 hours of searching the web I cannot find a definitive answer to the question of can we 'upgrade' the MS Works 8.5 & 9.0 to Office 2003.
I know Works 8.5 & 9 came out after Office 2003 but some people say the upgrade path still applies; others say no it doesn't. Does anybody know what the official line is ?
All the links I have found people have posted to supposedly give this information just go to Microsoft's Office 2010 product page which has no information on this issue. i thought at one time Microsoft had a page which gave all the upgrade path information for their products but I cannot find it. All I can find on their website is a statement saying if you want to upgrade from an OEM installation then you have to contact the OEM for information.
carina12
33 Posts
0
July 7th, 2011 04:00
Sorry, you've mis-understood my question. I'm not talking about installing a site licence on new PCs.
I'll try and explain it again, hopefully more simply. Basically, can I install a MS Office 2003 retail upgrade product on a PC that was purchased with MS Works 8.5 or 9.0 ? (I'm talking in licencing terms, not how to physically install the product).
fireberd
9 Legend
9 Legend
•
33.3K Posts
0
July 7th, 2011 04:00
There is no "upgrade path" for older Works versions and older Office versions. On new PC's, uninstall whatever comes with the PC, then restart the PC (important to do this) and then install your site license version of Office 2003.
Note, many new PC's come with a "Trial" version of Office 2010 or a new software package comparable to the old Works. This must be uninstalled and the PC restarted BEFORE you install your Office version or the installed Office version will not validate. We have seen several posts of users that have installed their own (legal) copy of Office and they ran into many problems because they didn't uninstall the versions that came with the new PC first. Worst case users were having to do a complete reinstall to get around the Office problems.
fireberd
9 Legend
9 Legend
•
33.3K Posts
0
July 7th, 2011 06:00
Yes. Office doesn't care what version of works is on a PC. I've installed Office (and specifically Office 2003 Professional) on PC's that had Works installed and it activated without problems. But, on new PC's with the software mentioned you have to first uninstall it as noted.
But there is no "upgrade" path as you asked about.
carina12
33 Posts
0
July 7th, 2011 07:00
It seems I'm still not being clear. Your definition of upgrade path must be different from mine. On the product box for Office 2003 upgrade edition it lists all the products that can be legally upgraded to that copy of Office; that's what I mean by upgrade path. The versions of Works listed are Works 2000, 6.0-8.0 and Works Suite 2000-2006. My question is specifically about Works 8.5 & 9.0 and whether they can also be LEGALLY upgraded/downgraded (whatever you want to call it) to Office 2003. Some posters on forums I have seen say they can and some say they can't and I'm trying to establish if anyone can point me to the official Dell or Microsoft line on this. Just because software allows itself to be installed on a PC doesn't mean it's legal to do so.
hrova
2.2K Posts
0
July 7th, 2011 10:00
There have been similar questions here. Bottom line, since your Works version is NEWER than Office 2003, it will NOT upgrade - at least it has not worked for others.
lmgtfy.com
fireberd
9 Legend
9 Legend
•
33.3K Posts
0
July 7th, 2011 13:00
I'm confused too. You have a site license for "x" number of copies of Office 2003. Whether you just install it on a PC or whether you installed in on a PC that had a program with some type of "upgrade" path has no bearing on this. The only time the "upgrade path" would be applicable if you are going to PURCHASE a new Retail copy of a program that is eligible for a discount because it is an "upgrade path" to the higher or full program.
But as has been mentioned, since Office 2003 is old and discontinued, there is no "upgrade path" to this program. If you have unused licenses you can install it as needed. You are not "upgrading" anything, just installing Office 2003.
carina12
33 Posts
0
July 8th, 2011 01:00
I do not have a site licence for 'x' number of copies of 2003. I don't know where you got that from, I haven't said it.
You say " If you have unused licenses you can install it as needed. You are not "upgrading" anything, just installing Office 2003. " NOT TRUE. I am talking about the RETAIL UPGRADE copies of Office 2003 that I already have. As these are UPGRADE licences they need a qualifying product to upgrade from.
The question I was asking was are Works 8.5 & 9.0 qualifying products for the legal installation of the RETAIL UPGRADE version of Office 2003. I obviously made the mistake of trying to put too much detail into the explanation of my situation in my first post. I will try asking Microsoft instead
hrova
2.2K Posts
0
July 8th, 2011 01:00
Did you miss my post?
The licensing may not even e the issue. Based on what I have read, it will not work - and will not even install. The reason is you cannot 'upgrade' to an older product.
fireberd
9 Legend
9 Legend
•
33.3K Posts
0
July 8th, 2011 04:00
Sorry, I was under the impression you had a "site license" for multiple copies. But, I agree with hrova that you cannot "upgrade" to an older discontinued product, which what Office 2003 is.
By the way, we are NOT Dell employees, we are (knowledgeable) users helping users.