Why I do not like selling Microsoft Office 2007

April 23, 2008 at 3:17 pm (Uncategorized) (, , )

First off, I like Office 2007 and I recommend the upgrade.  I like the Ribbon and the instant preview features.  Outlook 2007 has a large list of new features that alone make it worth the upgrade.

But with as much knowledge and experience as I have with Microsoft’s complex licensing and different versions available, I made a mistake and gave a client wrong information.  I had incorrectly told them that they can order Office Basic edition, which is just Word, Excel, and Outlook (all that most companies need).  However, Basic is only available with the purchase of a new machine and cannot be bought off the shelf, as an upgrade, or via Open License.  So my $200 (per copy) became a $400 quote.  Who wants to go tell a client that was hesitant to purchase at $200 that the total cost doubled?

I think I have to give up on trying to recommend a specific version and license type.  There are so many factors that it seems impossible to feel good about any given recommendation.

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