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If Microsoft had stuck to the old standard of download, install and activate the whole thing could have been done in a tenth of the time. LESSON FOR MICROSOFT - If you are going to try and hide the technalities of installing software MAKE SURE YOUR NEW PROCESS WORKS! On the plus side, sorting out the mess created by Microsoft's dodgy installation mechanism did mean I learned things about Windows 8, searching for programs, the "Desktop" and the "Suirface". Although there were no error messages I had no idea if the Install had worked or not, so I had to go hunting through the installed programs, working around the awful Windows 8 interface. Eventually I did find the installed programs and managed to add icons both to the "new" User interface and the underlying Desktop. In my case this was reasonably fast, since I was using a fibre-optic broadband connection, BUT the installation failed to put Office , Word, Excel, Powerpoint or Outlook on the desktop.
It didn't put anything on the oh-so-annoying new Microsoft "let's pretend we're Apple" user interface. The moronic insistence of Microsoft email address for registration is equally disruptive. It doesn't work properly, doesn't take account of multi-PC usage, needs reversion to typing in Key code anyway. And if every App on each PC required an email address of its own from the manufacturers, it would require every user to have scores of useless, unused email addresses like their Microsoft email address just for the purpose of activating each software package. This gross arrogance has overstretched itself - many of us resent such a vacuous imposition.
Microsoft Office Home and Business 2013 with DVD for 1 PC
Instead of selecting the software, downloading it, installing it, then entering the product key to activate it, you enter the product key up front on Office.com. Microsoft then determines which product you have bought and attempts to do the download and install for you. The product downloads the necessary files and installed them once you have followed the instructions. Typically this is about 10 minutes on a 10MB internet connection.
You can work offline with Office 365 just as easily as with the standalone version. I would consider Office 365 for my other computers in my business. I installed Microsoft Office 2013 on my new laptop running Windows 10. I set up my email accounts and all seemed ok, even the test email were sent and received fine. However, when I sent some real email, they just sat in the Outbox.
Product details
On Office 365 you will always be on the latest version for just the annual licence fee. Once the page loads, it will ask you to sign in with an existing Microsoft ID, or create a new one. Once the sign up is complete, you need to open the link on the email that is sent and sign in. I chose a stand alone licence over Office 365 because I was under the misapprehension that Office 365 required a permanent connection to the Internet to be usable.
They ran some scan and remotely fixed some errors and resolved the problem. If you change computer, you can take the license with you. Just remove from the old device and install on the new one.
Review this product
There is no limit to the machine you move the software to, but it can only be installed on one. I'm not sure about all of this packaging for a simple card with a licence number on. Looks like Microsoft has entered a period of evolutionary change rather than step change, which helps with continuity. Means I don't need to relearn how to use their product as happened with the jump from Office 03 to Office 08. Some minor tasks have been moved which is annoying but keeps me on my toes.
In fact, the only reason I bought this particular licence this time was because I made the mistake of getting an online fix of my Excel and the blasted thing reinstalled Office 2013 without my asking, whereupon it then asked for the licence key - which I had lost. (Yes, my fault, but if it had been printed on a DVD or DVD insert paper I would probably not have.) That will teach me to allow Microsoft to fix a bug in their own software - it has cost hours. It comes up almost immediately with the same error but a different filename. Microsoft have gone for a radically new approach to installation, closely mimicking Apple. Essentially you are forced to crate a Microsoft account if you don't already have one, and log in to Office.com to get your software.
