Windows 7 Office 2010 Upgrade? How? Where??

[Dave McKeen]

Hello! I have a new PC build I'm bringing up to speed to be my main computer. On my current main I'm running Office 2007. I'm interested in putting Office 2010 on the new PC. I need Microsoft Access, so I'm looking at Office Pro. I can download it from the Microsoft Store for $499.99. For a few $$ more I can have it shipped to me.

However, when I search on-line for "office 2010 upgrade" all kinds of sites pop up who will sell me the Pro (not academic) download for far less. A number of these sites swear up and down that the downloads are full upgradeable versions whose unlock keys are delivered to me directly from Microsoft. For example, this site Link Removed - Invalid URL say it will sell me the download for $109.99. Their FAQ is adamant that this is a fully legit deal. However it does confirm that the download can be installed on only one PC.

Office 2010 Pro download is promoted on other sites for various prices between the $109 and Microsoft's $499. Where is the upgrade? Apparently Microsoft doesn't offer one but promotes a Key Card program at Microsoft Key Card. This really gets convoluted. For example, on that site I see "If your PC is NOT preloaded with Office 2010:" just above a Download button and a FAQ link. The Download page wants a product key. The FAQ is long and drawn out. It does verify that a key card download allows for installation on only one PC, but at $109.99 I can add them on as needed. I don't know what will happen when I rebuild my PC, which I do to two PCs every two years on alternate years.

Whew! What's your experience?

Here's my PC config below.

- Dave

ASUS P7P55 Deluxe
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad 750W, single 60A 12V rail
Intel Core i7 860
Corsair CMX8GX3M4A1600C9 (4 stiicks x 2GB)
ZOTAC ZT-98GES3M-FSL GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
Drive0 (OS) OCZ SSD Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX50G 50GB
Drive1 HITACHI UltraStar A7K2000 0F10452 2TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
Drive2 (Apps, pagefile, misc.) OCZ SSD Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX50G 50GB
1394 board Rosewill RC-502 NEC 3+1 1394a PCI
1394b board Koutech 4-port 1394a/b PCIe x1
DVD Drive Plextor PLX-850A-19 IDE S/N 310907400763
CF Reader FireWire Sandisk Extreme Pro ExpressCard Adapter
CF Card Sandisk Extreme IV 4GB 45MB/s UDMA
Monitor NEC LCD2190 UXi LCD 'twist' tech.
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

 

[kemical]

Hi Dave,
Looking through the site (microsoft) it seems there is no upgrade as such unless you bought office 2007 between certain dates. The key card program does sound a little like OEM copies and are tied to one machine only.
All rather confusing really....

 

[Dave McKeen]

Hi kemical, it looks like I'd better just install my "old" Office 2007 and be happy with it until or if the 2010 upgrade path becomes clearer.

Thanks,

- Dave

 

[kemical]

I'll certainly look into this further and will post back if anything becomes apparent.

 

[Dave McKeen]

Thanks! The issue is bizarre. Statements from Microsoft: "We haven't seen much demand for the upgrade so we're not offering one." (My very butchered recollection - I've seen it in a couple of places though.)