infoTECH Feature

June 07, 2010

Office 2010 Available for $10 for Your Users

By Lance Whitney
Does your organization have a Software Assurance agreement with Microsoft (News - Alert)? If so, then your users can get their own individual copies of Office 2010 for home use for just $10. Here's how.
 
As I discussed in a previous column, Microsoft offers different volume licensing plans for enterprises and SMBs. The company's Enterprise Agreement and Open Value Subscription deals both come with Software Assurance, which guarantees you free upgrades to the latest MS software during the life of your subscription.
 
One of the benefits of Software Assurance is something called the Home Use Program, or HUP. Through HUP, employees can purchase a copy of Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus-that's the edition with just about every application you need, and then some-for just $9.95. And that software is specifically for home use.
 
To set up this benefit for your users, you need to activate the HUP option through the Volume Licensing Services Center. You log in to this page through a Windows Live Account associated with your business email address. This process will generate a program code for HUP that you can pass along to employees at your company via email, an Intranet page, or some other private means.
 
To grab a copy of Office, your users submit a work email address and the program code at the HUP Website. They'll receive an email with a link to the online store where they can download the Office 2010 software. They can also order a backup DVD for $12 and Office 2008 for the Mac for $9.95.
 
Any questions? A recent Microsoft blog shares further details on HUP. Microsoft offers a comprehensive FAQ page, and I'm sure your dedicated Microsoft support rep can answer any questions as well.
 
We offered a similar benefit from Microsoft at my former company. Employees were eligible to get copies of Microsoft Office for home use. And it was a benefit that many of them jumped on. Those of us in IT also found it an effective way to help our users learn the latest edition of Office whenever we need to deploy another upgrade. If you plan to roll out Office 2010, HUP may be a useful option to get your users acclimated to the new version and cut down on those support calls when they find it on their desktops at work.

Lance Whitney is a journalist, IT consultant, and Web Developer with almost 20 years of experience in the IT world. To read more of Lance's articles, please visit his columnist page

Edited by Marisa Torrieri
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