Buying software from abroad

[Guest]

I live in the UK and will be travelling to the US shortly. Whilst there i was
concidering purchasing a copy of Windows XP pro an Office 2003 for my new PC
i'm building at present. I can get it conciderably cheaper in the US than i
can here. Question i'm asking is, will i be able to use the software here in
the UK without any issues? Is there any difference between the US version and
the UK version?
Be greatfull for any help, Cheers

 

[Charlie Tame]

I live in the UK and will be travelling to the US shortly. Whilst there i
was
concidering purchasing a copy of Windows XP pro an Office 2003 for my new
PC
i'm building at present. I can get it conciderably cheaper in the US than
i
can here. Question i'm asking is, will i be able to use the software here
in
the UK without any issues? Is there any difference between the US version
and
the UK version?
Be greatfull for any help, Cheers

I don't know if MS configure some foreign language versions so they begin
install in the correct language (For example Chinese) but I can't foresee
any problems since both US and UK use English. Either way the only
difference I've come across is the £ is replaced by a $ and # and " are
interchanged on the keyboard. US spelling checkers default to color not
colour etc I don't know if UK retail; versions are preconfigured for the UK
in this kind of way but I rather doubt it. Lots of things are cheaper here
including most hardware and except for things that run on mains voltage
(110V 60Hz) there is no conflict.

Charlie

 

[Alias~-]

I don't know if MS configure some foreign language versions so they begin
install in the correct language (For example Chinese) but I can't foresee
any problems since both US and UK use English. Either way the only
difference I've come across is the £ is replaced by a $ and # and " are
interchanged on the keyboard. US spelling checkers default to color not
colour etc I don't know if UK retail; versions are preconfigured for the UK
in this kind of way but I rather doubt it. Lots of things are cheaper here
including most hardware and except for things that run on mains voltage
(110V 60Hz) there is no conflict.

Charlie

Yeah, but if he has to do a phone activation, will he be given a UK
number or a USA number?

Alias

 

[Alias~-]

Alias~- wrote:




You get a drop-down box to choose your location......

Great! You just made my day.

Alias

 

[Gordon]

Alias~- wrote:

Yeah, but if he has to do a phone activation, will he be given a UK
number or a USA number?

Alias

You get a drop-down box to choose your location......

 

[Guest]

Great! You just made my day.

Alias

Hi Guys, thanks for your quick responces. Yeah they are all the little
problems i thought might arrise. I'm sure you can change the settings to a UK
keyboard layout as with the $ to £ sign n the language setting. I know it can
be done the other way round on the UK version, e.g. UK to US keyboard layout,
etc.
Would love to hear from someone who has installed a US version here in the UK.

Pergolies

 

[Edwin vMierlo]

not sure if it is legal to export a license from one country to another
without permission of MS.
would not everyone do this, if it was legal ?

maybe someone from MS can respond to this....

 

[Guest]

MMM thats a good point, but if that was the case then surely it would be
illegal for companies to ship these goods worldwide. I can get this stuff
sent over, but as i,m going that way thought i,d save on the shipping.

 

[Alias~-]

not sure if it is legal to export a license from one country to another
without permission of MS.

Huh? Do you have any idea how many people travel on planes with laptops
and how many people are relocated to another country and take their
computers with them?

would not everyone do this, if it was legal ?

No. And, of course, it is legal.

maybe someone from MS can respond to this....

If I go to the States and buy something, I can take it wherever my
little heart desires and MS has nothing, whatsoever, to do with it.

Alias

 

[Edwin vMierlo]

from : http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/eula.mspx

<quote>
"EXPORT RESTRICTIONS. You acknowledge that the Software is subject to U.S.
export jurisdiction. You agree to comply with all applicable international
and national laws that apply to the Software, including the U.S. Export
Administration Regulations, as well as end-user, end-use, and destination
restrictions issued by U.S. and other governments. For additional
information see http://www.microsoft.com/exporting/."
</quote>

so, if I understand that correctly, you need to declare your purchase.
as with any ohter goods you would buy abroad.

the question is... how will (or can) they inforce this... and can you take
the risk

 

[Guest]

Good point alias, Thanks.
Hope i dont get problems when i come to registering the software after the
installation or some stupid message like 'this copy of windows isn't genuine'.
A friend of mine has that problem with his copy of XP he got from Ebay.

 

[Alias~-]

Good point alias, Thanks.
Hope i dont get problems when i come to registering the software after the
installation or some stupid message like 'this copy of windows isn't genuine'.
A friend of mine has that problem with his copy of XP he got from Ebay.

Lesson: don't buy copies advertised on Ebay. I have a copy of XP Pro in
English and the EULA mentions Canada, the UK, New Zealand and Australia
but I bought it here in Spain.

Alias

 

[Alias~-]

from : http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/eula.mspx

<quote>
"EXPORT RESTRICTIONS. You acknowledge that the Software is subject to U.S.
export jurisdiction. You agree to comply with all applicable international
and national laws that apply to the Software, including the U.S. Export
Administration Regulations, as well as end-user, end-use, and destination
restrictions issued by U.S. and other governments. For additional
information see http://www.microsoft.com/exporting/."
</quote>

so, if I understand that correctly, you need to declare your purchase.
as with any ohter goods you would buy abroad.

the question is... how will (or can) they inforce this... and can you take
the risk

I'm sure they are talking about not taking it to Cuba or North Korea.

Alias

 

[Allen]

I live in the UK and will be travelling to the US shortly. Whilst there i was
concidering purchasing a copy of Windows XP pro an Office 2003 for my new PC
i'm building at present. I can get it conciderably cheaper in the US than i
can here. Question i'm asking is, will i be able to use the software here in
the UK without any issues? Is there any difference between the US version and
the UK version?
Be greatfull for any help, Cheers

One question came to my mind, so I opened Word and looked at Page Setup.
It _does_ have options for paper sizes A4 and A5; I don't know what
other sizes of paper or envelopes are standard in the UK, but if you
will post some of them I'm sure that someone will check.
Allen

 

[Guest]

Just remember that any additional software that you want to install may also
have to be the US version.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I don't know if MS configure some foreign language versions so they
begin install in the correct language (For example Chinese) but I
can't foresee any problems since both US and UK use English. Either
way the only difference I've come across is the £ is replaced by a $
and # and " are interchanged on the keyboard.

No, that's not a difference between a US version and a UK one, it's just a
configurable option.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

not sure if it is legal to export a license from one country to
another without permission of MS.
would not everyone do this, if it was legal ?

maybe someone from MS can respond to this....

I don't know the answer, but don't expect an an answer from Microsoft here.

This is a peer support newsgroup. We are all just Windows XP users here,
helping each other if and when we can. We are not Microsoft employees (not
even those of us with "Microsoft MVP" behind our names; that's an honorary
title for having provided consistently helpful advice) except for an
occasional employee who posts here unofficially on his own time.

 

[P. Johnson]

I live in the UK and will be travelling to the US shortly. Whilst there i
was concidering purchasing a copy of Windows XP pro an Office 2003 for my
new PC i'm building at present. I can get it conciderably cheaper in the
US than i can here. Question i'm asking is, will i be able to use the
software here in the UK without any issues? > Is there any difference
between the US version and the UK version?

Microsoft might not care about your rights as a customer very much, but
they're not outright against user rights like the MPAA is with DVDs. No
region encoding or other tricks in play here...

 

[P. Johnson]

Yeah, but if he has to do a phone activation, will he be given a UK
number or a USA number?

As I understand it, activation isn't country-specific. You shouldn't have
to call back to the States to activate a copy of windows purchased in the
US.

 

[P. Johnson]

Please don't backwards quote.
http://ursine.ca/Top_Posting

not sure if it is legal to export a license from one country to another
without permission of MS.

Why wouldn't it be? Feel free to cite the law or EULA.

would not everyone do this, if it was legal ?

No. Shipping can more than make up for the cost. Though if you're going to
be travelling overseas yourself, what's to stop you from shopping?