Different versions of Office Licenses

[Guest]

Not 100% sure if this is the right place to ask, but it seems the best. (also
Posted in Office Group)

I've just taken over as IT Manager for a local firm who have been with out
IT support for some time and have been relying on Suppliers.

A New Complete System was installed, using Terminal Servers for Admin Staff
on Thin Clients, and Managers with new PC's who also access the Terminal
Server.

All the PC's have Office Basic Edition 2003 (OEM)
Terminal Server has Office XP Small Business Version 2002

Now this is my Question we have been supplied with a number of Office Basic
Edition 2003 (OEM) CD'd to make up the required number of Licenses required,
Does it matter that the version all the users are using on the Terminal
server does not match the version number of the extra licenses that we have?
(To me this seems wrong)

Also reading through other posts, am I right in thinking that the license
on the PC's cover the users if they use MS-Office on the Terminal Server.
(Again not to sure as they are running different Versions)


Thanks for any pointers or answers

Michael

 

[Guest]

You can legally use an equal version down-level MS Office installation, i.e.

Office System 2003 Pro -> You can use 97, 2000, 2002 Pro or lesser editions
Office System 2003 Standard -> You can use 97, 2000, 2002 Standard or lesser
editions
Office System 2003 Basic -> You can use 97, 2000, 2002 Word, Excel or Outlook

You can NOT legally run Office XP Small Business Edition, with 2003 Basic
Edition licenses, because SBE has more programs than 2003 Basic.

If you only access the TS from the computers with Office 2003 Basic
Licenses, you could install 2003 Basic on the TS w/o incurring any further
licensing charges. Should you access the TS with a thin-client or remote
computer w/o an equal version license of Office 2003, you'd need to purchase
more Office Licenses.

One problem you have is that Office 2003 Basic is only sold OEM with a new
computer, so you'd have to purchase Office 2003 Standard licenses for any
thin-clients that need access to the Office Installation on the TS.

If there is any doubt in your mind, please contact your local Microsoft
Sales Representative (NOT a reseller/VAR) and get a written evaluation of
what you need to purchase to be compliant.

Patrick Rouse
Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
http://www.workthin.com