Software question for Doug

[mikelemoine]

A guy on Craigslist (and a bunch on the web) is selling MS Office 2010, Windows 7 upgrades for $40-$50 and Adobe Acrobat 9 for $100 or so, etc. They claim that the SW is 100% legal but is a bulk license so you don't get the disks or supporting documents. They "guarantee" that the SW is legal and will pass Windows Genuine Advantage checks.

I'm in the market for Acrobat and an Office 2007 or 2010 upgrade from 2003 but am thinking that "if it's too good to be true...".

Doug what do you know about the use of bulk licenses by end users that aren't part of the original purchaser's organization? Or is the bulk license story just BS? I'd like some cheap SW for my occasional personal use, but want to avoid buying illegal. Do I just need to suck it up and pay retail or is there a chance some of these are legit?

Here is a link to one site which I can't imagine is legal but take a look (based on typos and .info I suspect they are international, China maybe?):

http://www.downloadusshop.info

[dboat]

I'd like to know since I have bought retail for Office got W7 with latest computer purchase.. wouldnt necessarily buy it for an existing computer though.

Dana

[Silver_2000]

I bought a copy of Win 7 Ultimate from a friend that worked at MS and got them from the MS store. They were $50. So the price range is about right.

Assuming its a legit license - Its easy for MS to turn off bulk licenses - which may happen if they sell enough and MS gets curious for any one of a number of reasons.

Many current bulk licenses are based on license servers. The PC must "check in" with the corporate license server on a regular basis to validate the license.

Tough to say if its legit - do they have feedback from existing customers ?


Domain Name:DOWNLOADUSSHOP.INFO
Created On:09-Aug-2010 08:19:12 UTC
Last Updated On:09-Aug-2010 11:10:57 UTC
Expiration Date:09-Aug-2011 08:19:12 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com Inc. (R171-LRMS)
Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:CR55930736
Registrant Name:Tehe Kir
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street1:10 Wei'er Road
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Zhengzhou
Registrant State/Province:Connecticut
Registrant Postal Code:25698
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.3300009082


Interestingly its not possible to ping or tracert
DOWNLOADUSSHOP.INFO

Not even sure how that would be done

[Sandman]

depending on what you need in office, a 3 license version of MS 2010 Office Home and Student is only $149.

[Silver_2000]

and dont forget open office

its free

[dboat]

depending on what you need in office, a 3 license version of MS 2010 Office Home and Student is only $149.

dont you have to be a student to get that one?

[Sandman]

Nope.. Thus the "Home Office".

But you are correct that they have a whole suite of cheap software for students where you must be a student to purchase it.

[whitelightning'02]

Yeah.... I've switched to OpenOffice and will never go back!




and dont forget open office

its free

[dboat]

Yeah.... I've switched to OpenOffice and will never go back!

Isnt OpenOffice or a version of it what I have on my Droid?

Dana

[mikelemoine]

Hmmm, that site is registered in beautiful Zhengzhou Connecticut?? I didn't realize CT was 13000 miles wide :d. Chinese counterfit I guess.

As for the CL guy there isn't any way to get much feedback on him but I would guess that if he was a crook someone would have posted a rant about him by now. Maybe for the price it's worth the risk to pick it up and see if it is valid. The guy allows people to pick it up at his house, so I can always send the cops over if anything goes South!

As for Openoffice, I used it years ago and it wasn't quite compatible with some of the integration with our database. I may check it out again and see how it has progressed in 10 years.

Thanks for the feedback!