Ask a new question

Licence Type for Word 2013 single product

I've just purchased the download version of Word 2013 from the Microsoft Store.

However, on launching Word 2013, it asks me to agree to the licence terms, which start with:

"To determine which one of the two separate sets of license terms below apply to you, check the license designation.  This is printed either on your product key, or might be shown on your Certificate of Authenticity, or on the download page if you obtained the software online. If your designation is “FPP,” “Retail” or “PIPC,” then the Retail License Terms below apply to you.  If OEM, then the OEM License Terms below apply to you.  If you need help, please go to microsoft.com/office/eula to determine which license you have."

I have two issues with this:

1) None of the download pages have any indication on them that I can see about the licence type.

2) The microsoft.com/office/eula link now directs to the 365 subscription agreement, which isn't applicable.



The OEM license would apply only if the software was preinstalled when you bought the computer. That being the case, what you have is a Retail license.
Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://ssbarnhill.com
http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com
Screen shots captured with TechSmith's Snagit

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

I understand that there is also an option to buy a "Product Key Card" license for Office 2013, that they didn't mention here. The PKC operates under the same terms as the OEM.


MS online stores have always been annoyingly vague about license type, retail vs PKC.

You are going to have to contact the store you bought it from to get them to clarify what they sold you. And then it is going to be like pulling teeth. You are almost certainly going to have to speak to a supervisor.  When they finally tell you, ask for documentation, either they point to the spot on the web site where it is defined, or on your purchase confirmation or something else that you can print to a PDF. Or they have to send you an email confirmation of some sort. So that in the future when there is a licensing issue you have documentation from MS that you can point to.

Here are contacts for the 2 most commonly used store sites, you'll have to figure out which applies to your purchase

Online download Contact Order Support for both MS and Digital River: provide email or order number

https://buy.trymicrosoftoffice.com/buyusa/contactus.aspx?r=PN_USD&culture=en-US&resID=TWMEjAoBAlgAAAWdLpMAAABC

If you bought an online download, you can return to the site and use you e-mail address as the login ID to access your “Account”. The account keeps a history of your online purchases. It provides the Product Keys and links to installation file downloads.

Digital River Download Signin page - for downloads and Find your Order

https://www.findmyorder.com

Microsoft Store- Phone 1-877-696-7786 or login at

http://store.microsoft.com


.
*****
.
As computer scientists we are trained to communicate with the dumbest things in the world – computers –
so you’d think we’d be able to communicate quite well with people.
Prof. Doug Fisher

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

This was direct from the Microsoft Store (store.microsoft.com which redirects to microsoftstore.com).

My purchase appears on my account for re-install, along with the product key. However, I can't see anything on that site which actually lists the licence type. I'll give them a call later if I have time.

Good point on the licence card. I noticed Amazon sells this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Word-2013-Licence-Card/dp/B009SPJ05E

Which again is completely unclear as to what the licence type is, and doesn't seem to match any of the licence types in the EULA.

I also note that the office EULA has been changed:


but this still hasn't made it into the actual EULA either in the product or online.

I try to be scrupulously correct in my usage of licences software, but Microsoft really makes it difficult to be sure you comply.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

I called the Microsoft Store helpline, and they stated that purchase of Word from the Microsoft Store comes under the Retail licence terms, and not the OEM terms (which are the two types in the EULA).

I've no idea what a licence card version of Word comes under though.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks for the updates. A big part of the license problem is letting lawyers write it. They finally tried to address the issue to a degree in the 2013 license terms, which now includes a "common language" section to translate the legal babble.

Now if only they would make the license terms clear on the web site and packaging everything would be so much easier.

Yes the "license card" is a new concept, but I can see where it is the (insufficient) replacement for the Retail license boxed CD.
.
*****
.
As computer scientists we are trained to communicate with the dumbest things in the world – computers –
so you’d think we’d be able to communicate quite well with people.
Prof. Doug Fisher

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

In this case, I'm not sure it's really a problem with the language of the EULA as such. It's more that the EULA isn't kept up to date and doesn't reflect reality.

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

That observation is valid, but if you have looked at the 2010 or earlier EULA you'll see that in many places the legalese double talk is impenetrable. Even the 2013 EULA can still be improved further in terms of "user friendliness".

What a large part of the MSLT/EULA boils down to is "You agree to use this product at your own risk"  and "We don't stand behind this product unless local law forces us to".
.
*****
.
As computer scientists we are trained to communicate with the dumbest things in the world – computers –
so you’d think we’d be able to communicate quite well with people.
Prof. Doug Fisher

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

 
 

Question Info

Last updated October 5, 2021 Views 503 Applies to: