Can I upgrade MS Office Basic?

[confused new user to MS Office Basic]

I'm ordering a new Dell computer with MS Office Basic 2003. I'm confused
about one thing: Dell sales rep tells me Basic is upgradable, and that's
it's the same as MS Office Standard. Is that true? MS website seems to say
Basic is not upgradable. Please clarify. Thank you.

 

[garfield-n-odie]

Office 2003 Basic is not the same as Office 2003 Standard. Basic includes
Word, Excel, and Outlook. Standard includes Word, Excel, Outlook, and
Powerpoint.

Not sure what you mean by "upgradable". Office 2003 Standard is available
in "full" and "upgrade" versions, while Office 2003 Basic is only available
as a "full" version. An upgrade version costs less than a full version, but
you must own a qualifying product (such as Office 97, Office 2000, or Office
XP) to install the upgrade version. A full version does not require that you
own a qualifying product. Office 2003 is the current version of Office.
When the next version of Office becomes available, both Office 2003 Basic and
Office 2003 Standard will probably be qualifying products for upgrade to the
next version, but nobody knows for sure at this point. You can always add a
"full" version of an individual application to whatever Office 2003 edition
you choose. For example, you can purchase a full version of Access 2003 and
install it with either Office 2003 Basic or Office 2003 Standard, or you can
purchase a full version of Powerpoint 2003 and install it with Office 2003
Basic.

Hope I haven't further confused you.

 

[Chuck Davis]

-----Original Message-----
I'm ordering a new Dell computer with MS Office Basic 2003. I'm confused
about one thing: Dell sales rep tells me Basic is upgradable, and that's
it's the same as MS Office Standard. Is that true? MS website seems to say
Basic is not upgradable. Please clarify. Thank you.
.

Suggestion. Tell Dell to keep the Basic. It will cost a bid
more, buy the Full version of the product that you want at
a local retail store. You will then have Microsoft product
support. You can later move it to another computer. You
can't move an OEM version (i.e. installed by Dell) as the
EULA states that it is forever tied to the computer that it
was originally installed on.

 

[Beth Melton]

That's one of the best suggestions I've read. ;-)

OEM installations aren't worth the reduced price. Although you *do*
get what you paid for!

The Student and Teacher's Edition of Office is the best package to buy
and it's probably about the same cost as an OEM version.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Donald McDaniel]

That's one of the best suggestions I've read. ;-)

OEM installations aren't worth the reduced price. Although you *do*
get what you paid for!

The Student and Teacher's Edition of Office is the best package to buy
and it's probably about the same cost as an OEM version.

Note that only students, teachers, other school administrators, and
parents of students are eligible to purchase the Student and Teacher's
Edition of Office.

Because of this, your implied suggestion that everyone should purchase
the Students and Teachers Edition of Office does not apply to the
general public, who are not eligible to purchase this version of
Office.

Donald L McDaniel
================================
Please keep the thread intact, and
limit your reply to this message.

 

[Beth Melton]

Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't trying to imply anything - I
felt the title spoke for itself.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/