Some more basic questions

[Rob A]

Hi, I am currently using office '07 professional

I am interested in groove. I have found a stand alone versions. So one
question I have and I have seen discussion but I am not sure of what was
really being conveyed.

The comment was you can use your groove account on up to 5 computers.

So if I purchase a copy of groove I can install it on up to 5 machines?

This is from
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/groove/HA101650611033.aspx#backtotop
Yes. Your Office Groove 2007 account can be shared across multiple, licensed
computers in order to keep a synchronized copy of all your workspaces on
each computer.

It just says yes, but now how many.


This is a stand alone sharing, meaning there is no central server for all
the data to be placed. Everyone is holding a copy and when changes take
place and that person goes online they will be updated.




Then I saw something about $79 per year. That is for "Live Groove" Meaning
they can collaborate for a year with people and then have to renew, is that
correct?


Thanks

 

[Mark Smith]

Hi Rob -

Yes, you can use your account on five computers, or at least you could in
Groove 3.1, and I've seen no information that says anything else for Office
Groove 2007.

Note - instant messages get sent to the computer that Groove 'thinks' you
are using, or have used most recently.

Yes, the $79 product is a years subscription to use Groove.

 

[Nick Hustak]

Hi, I am currently using office '07 professional

I am interested in groove. I have found a stand alone versions. So one
question I have and I have seen discussion but I am not sure of what was
really being conveyed.

The comment was you can use your groove account on up to 5 computers.

So if I purchase a copy of groove I can install it on up to 5 machines?

This is from
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/groove/HA101650611033.aspx#backtotop
Yes. Your Office Groove 2007 account can be shared across multiple, licensed
computers in order to keep a synchronized copy of all your workspaces on
each computer.

It just says yes, but now how many.


This is a stand alone sharing, meaning there is no central server for all
the data to be placed. Everyone is holding a copy and when changes take
place and that person goes online they will be updated.




Then I saw something about $79 per year. That is for "Live Groove" Meaning
they can collaborate for a year with people and then have to renew, is that
correct?


Thanks

I will tell you we are having a lot of trouble with
a) moving the installation from one machine to another (i.e. after a
computer upgrade) There appears to be now way to deactivate the
previous computer. This is not acceptable as my client upgrades
computers a lot.

b) using the additional installations - we have one user that no
matter what we do, the second installattion refuses to activate
properly - i.e. it's going to expire in trial mode and have full
functionality. He's unable to invite/create new workspaces, anything
on second installation as it keeps insisting it's not activated.

Welcome to activation hell.

We've gotten it to work on one set of machines (i.e. the user has it
on main computer and his laptop without having to purchase again) but
having a lot of trouble with another user. There's no free support
from MS on this (i.e. how about a 90 day when you first buy it) and
the only place to get help is from the forums. If there IS a free
option to begin with, good luck finding it as I have search the
website for it. The help file is also out of sync with the software
as it points you to options that don't exist.

The support part really ticks me off. We're basically beta testing
released software for them from what I can see.

It's a pity - the software is pretty nifty and we like it a lot.
However if some of this doesn't get this fixed real quick, I won't be
recommending it to any of my clients. I'm also not paying them to
report bugs. I'm really getting tired of fighting copy protection
from MS - activation sucks and is very hit or miss on whether it
works right. It's the stuff like this that makes people like us that
are buying our software feel like we are being treated like criminals.
Regards,
Nick H

 

[Mark Smith]

Nick -

It sounds to me as if you are not actually copying a Groove account from one
computer to another, but are trying to create a new account with the old
accounts activation key.

This would result in

1: not being able to activate the new computer, thus running in trial mode
2: not seeing how to remove the old computer.

Can you confirm that you are going into Options | Preferences | Account, and
choosing Save on the old computer, copying the resulting "Account for
xyz.grv" to the new computer and installing it into Groove via the activation
process.

If its any reassurance, we've been doing exactly this for years, without a
hitch.

Obviously, if you ARE doing that, and it isn't working, then there's a
problem - hopefully someone like Mark Ryan or Donna Shaw will step in.

 

[Rob A]

thanks mark,

I have a team of people we are real estate agents and we have an admin that
works off site. My thoughts are groove can solve some of our issues of
sharing info. Can we create more than one work space? Example the admin,
creates a work space for each agent and then each agent will have their
documents syncing with the admin.

The other question is, if I buy a groove live also, can I assign that to
someone for a period of time and then assign it to some one else later
(within the year).

 

[Nick Hustak]

On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 06:38:01 -0700, Mark Smith

Mark,
Thanks for the reply. Yes that's the same thing I suspected at first
and had them completely uninstall and start over from the activated
machine. I was very specific with them about how to move the account.
I do think at one point a second account was created - it seems to
have confused the installation at this point no matter what is done.

None of this has thus far fixed the problem. We have a user that
needed to move to a new machine and so far we have been unable to
accomplish it. If I say 'buy another account', it's simply going to
get uninstalled across the board. Sometimes I don't think MS realizes
how much this activation stuff is pissing off peolpe. My client is
about to go through the roof.

On that note, how do we move the 'master' install? I can't seem to
deactivate it from one computer.

I myself have it on a primary machine and a laptop. My laptop STILL
says trial, but shows no expiration and has full functionality. I
definitely used the file .grv (as unlike my client, I read the
instructions)

Thanks,
Nick

 

[Mark Smith]

Hi Nick -

My sympathies. I cannot see a way of checking which licenses are installed
in Office Groove 2007, so I'm unable to help you with why your own 2 computer
install seems partially futzed.

It sounds like you're getting the end-user to do account copying, so I still
think there's some scope for misunderstanding. What I often end up doing in
this case is using something like Microsofts new SharedView or Copilot from
FogCreek to actually do it myself remotely.

As to your question about 'master' installs. There's no such thing - all
your installs are as good as each other. My original Groove account has
existed on about a dozen computers over the years.