Can you upgrade from the Office 2003 Student & Teacher version

[NancyH]

I want to know that if I buy Office 2003 Student & Teacher version will I be
able to upgrade to the Standard or Pro version later?

 

[garfield-n-odie]

Office 2003 Students and Teachers Edition includes the same
applications as Office 2003 Standard Edition. Office 2003 STE is
not a qualifying product for upgrade to either Office 2003
Standard or Professional. Microsoft has not announced the
qualifying product list for upgrade to Office 12 (currently
scheduled for release in 2006), but my guess is that Office 2003
STE will not be a qualifying product for upgrade to any Office 12
edition.

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

I've heard that STE is not a qualifying product for upgrades many times, but
I can't find any documentation that supports the statement - do you know
where it is?

Office 12 is going XML? I wonder what that will mean backwards file-wise?

 

[Don MI]

One way is to examine the list of products that do qualify:
http://www.microsoft.com/products/i...&content=3c3bd1bb-5595-4512-bcca-f764770e1d71

Don

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

Maybe.

But, if that's the only way to tell how could one make an informed purchase?
Ex...Office 12 isn't here yet. I bought Office 2003 STE 3 months ago, how
could I tell then if my purchase would or would not qualify for a future
upgrade - as almost all MS products are upgradable. If STE wasn't
upgradable I probably would have spent the few extra bucks and bought the
regular version.

If it's true that it's not upgradable it should be posted somewhere.

 

[garfield-n-odie]

In the case of Office XP,
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=290540 specifically says, "You
cannot use the Academic Edition of Office 97 or Office 2000 as a
qualifying product".

In the case of Office 2003,
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=832288 does not list Office XP
for Students and Teachers as qualifying product for upgrade to
any edition of Office 2003, and
http://www.microsoft.com/office/editions/prodinfo/students/faq.mspx
specifically says, "you cannot upgrade to Office Student and
Teacher Edition 2003 from Office XP for Students and Teachers".

My opinion about not being able to upgrade from Office 2003 STE
to Office 12 is based on Microsoft's policies for upgrading to
Office XP and 2003.

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

I understand your forensic logic but this still would not help a consumer
intending on purchasing the product make an informed decision. Something
like this should be explained somewhere on the box, and clearly stated
somewhere on the web: This is not an upgradable product.

Even this line is confusing:
"No, you cannot upgrade to Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003 from
Office XP for Students and Teachers"

 

[Donald McDaniel]

That's what I've heard as well. It could be in the EULA but I don't know
anyone who has that edition so I can't verify it.

This is all very odd. You would think that Microsoft would want
students to eventually move on up to the newest edition of Office when
they become working stiffs, so you would think that they would make
the upgrade easier.

In addition, it seems to be an unfair policy, since anyone with a
license of Microsoft Works w/Word can use the Upgrade distribution of
a newer edition of Office.

Donald L McDaniel
Please reply to the original thread
so that conversations may be kept in order
=======================================================

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

I still can't find a definite answer...I just came back from compusa and
throughly read the box for O2003 STE...nothing stated about it not being a
upgradable product.