Word, Excel, PowerPoint: the free online Office trio
brucine Posted messages 25320 Registration date Status Member Last intervention -
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Hello Brucine,
First of all, the 365 version is a subscription, so it’s not just a few cents, unlike the "perpetual" versions like 2024, which can indeed be found quite cheaply.
The 365 version is updated with all the new features as they come out, while the perpetual version never gets updated except for security.
A few years ago, Microsoft was fighting against these cheap resales, but then they gave up, and in fact, they are happy to see so many users of their software; it’s still a win compared to Google Suite users, for example.
It’s not exactly legal, but not completely illegal either. In fact, these are activation keys provided without a license agreement. These keys can come from keys stolen from large accounts, which is why the same key can be resold multiple times and may, at some point, stop working. They can also come from OEM.
So, one must know that reselling OEM keys is prohibited, that reselling keys from large accounts is of course prohibited, and also that selling keys outside the EU is also forbidden.
Moreover, the GDPR has been updated recently, and resellers must normally name the "responsible person in the EU" to ensure product compliance. If we look at Rakuten, for example, the mention is there, with no one behind it... One suspects that most keys come from China. Therefore, it is possible that gradually, these offers will disappear.
After saying that, we don't really risk much, if anything at all, by using such a license.
m@rina
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Of course, it remains to be seen whether, given the need to deprive oneself of a certain number of features as you rightly point out, it is wise for each person to use Office online, prefer to pay a few cents for purchase versions with more features, or subscribe to 365 to have all the new features if needed.
Regarding online keys, we cannot exclude that a number might have fallen off the truck and others are volume licenses which everyone overlooks that the use is not legitimate for an individual.
Not all of them are necessarily illegal (surplus from manufacturers, recovery from computers destined for destruction...).
But since the CJUE ruling from Berlin in 2012, the resale of an OEM license within the EU is not prohibited as long as it is not a volume license and is not used simultaneously on multiple computers.
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Hello
It would be good to specify that the free version does not offer all the features of the paid version. But of course, it can be quite sufficient depending on the needs.
For Word, for example, you won't have access to mail merge, you won't be able to insert sections, so you won't be able to create elaborate layouts, you won't be able to perform advanced searches, nor use building blocks, nor create captions, etc., etc.
m@rina
