Phenomena of the TRIAL SOFTWARE

[Samiuela Loni Vea Taufa]

Hopefully Fe'ao has already submitted the request (which we asked about two weeks ago, and reminded him at least twice last week) for our meeting on the 20th to be sponsored by DoC.

Microsoft Office 2007 TRIAL SOFTWARE are being pre-installed on a range of new OEM computers. Unlikely the prevalent pirated software many people ask to be pre-installed on their computers, the new response by Microsoft is to have TRIAL SOFTWARE pre-installed on new computers. TRIAL SOFTWARE is a "try before you buy" distribution of software where users have the opportunity to use all features of a product (Microsoft Office 2007 in this case) for a limited amount of time before they have the option to remove the software, or purchase a full release.

Where once you got TRIAL Anti-Virus software (like Norton Antivirus) you might now also get Microsoft Office 2007 TRIAL SOFTWARE. Microsoft is giving new computer users, free access, free use of the software for a TRIAL period from between TWO to THREE months. As a reminder that you are using TRIAL SOFTWARE, you continually get a screen that pops-up asking for your registration key. You can cancel the registration process and continue, but you are also warned that after the TRIAL period, the software will be "limited."

AFTER your TRIAL period has expired, the software is limited in some manner. What I have seen, is you Office Outlook continuing to read/get email, but not being able to respond or forward. Word letting you open, but not change any formatting of documents.

Getting a FULL release of the software usually requires contacting a vendor, and buying the upgrade from Trial to Full release. What I have read is that this offer is only available within 90 Days of beginning to use your trial software. If you do not upgrade within the 90 days, you will have to purchase a FULL release, which presumably is more expensive.

Choices are:
   * Buy an upgrade
   * Install another Office Productivity Suite


ciao,


Sam T.

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Samiuela LV Taufa
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[Edwin Liava'a]

We should consider OpenOffice..

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Edwin Liava'a
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[Samiuela LV Taufa]

Having seriously used Open Office for the past two years (exclusively for over 10 months this year) I am more than happy to give Microsoft my Money.

That is not an unabated endorsement of Microsoft Office (or Microsoft) as I choose to exclusively use Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0x for email, and primarily use Mozilla Firefox for Internet Browsing. An email manager (Outlook) is provided by Microsoft Office, and Windows provides email manager (Outlook Express, Windows Mail) and Internet Browser, IE 7.x.

Of the office productivity tools, I do much prefer Microsoft's Word, Excel, Onenote, Powerpoint, and there is no equivalence for Publisher, Access, or Project. If I needed to use Exchange Server, then I would have a business case for using Outlook and obviously no longer be using Thunderbird.

Those who want, should try Open Office and make their own conclusions.

Bermingham City Council is one of the touted Linux Desktop (read: using Open Office) case studies where Open Source can supposedly replace Microsoft. See the report, review on the implementation at the below link, and you can query the web for more analysis.

http://www.opensourceacademy.org.uk/solutions/casestudies/birminham-city-council/file

To prejudice your reading, replacing office productivity tools is not equivalent to changing the brand and model of screw-driver you use. Try changing the tooth-paste or shampoo your wife uses, and that may better give you an idea of this statement. Equivalent product functionality is not equivalent to acceptable.


Your Mileage May Vary: YMMV

-- 
Samiuela LV Taufa