Re: May I sell a novel written with the 'non-commercial' Word?
- From: "JoAnn Paules" <jl_paules@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:11:21 -0400
I'm sorry you had to go thru all of that but I am glad that you're getting what you need for less money. And I'm especially pleased that you prefer to do things the legal way. Most people would not have bothered. You give me reason to think that mankind has some decency left!
Good luck with the novel. And if you need an idea for a black comedy, let me know. ;-)
--
JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]
Tech Editor for "Microsoft Publisher 2007 For Dummies"
"RBlan" <RBlan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:DD509A43-C891-41B9-8E2A-5FAB2ECE2944@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks for the input. I called MS (thanks for the number, Anup Tawde) and
after bullying my way up to a supervisor (the first rep said "of course you
can sell it, you own your own creations") I got the answer from the honchos
at Sales and Licensing who confirmed Joanne Paules first judgment:
PROHIBBITED.
Naturally, this irritates me. For the sake of the argument, let's say I
write a novel (for my own amusement) in Word Home and Student. I finish it
and, just to be safe from future software incompatibilities (such as going
from .doc to .docx), I decide to save my work as an .rtf file. A year later,
after I've scrapped my Vista Ultimate machine for a Mac, I open the old .rtf
file and say to myself, "Hey, this is pretty good -- I think I'll try to sell
it." No way, right? Microsoft owns me. If I'm honest about it the courts will
grant Microsoft at least half the revenue from this sale, for I shamefully
breeched a contract that couldn't be clearer: "The software is not licensed
for use in any commercial, non-profit, or revenue-generating business
activities." Trying to sell a novel is clearly a "business activity" so even
if it doesn't sell, or if I self-publish and it bombs, i.e. it was a
'non-profit' venture after all, I'm in violation of the license, and I owe MS
whatever the lawyers can squeeze out of me. Of course if I'm dishonest about
it, whoTF is going to know about it? Honesty is the best policy, of course.
I called Hewlett Packard, from whom I bought the software along with a $3000
state of the art computer to replace my Win98SE system and said, "I want to
return this software -- the license terms are unacceptable to me." Sargi
consulted with her supervisors and reported that they could not accept
returns of software sold with a computer system. Blessedly, HP has a 30-day
system return policy. "Okay, I said, if you won't take the software back, I'm
returning the whole system." More consultation: "We can't take the software
back but we'll refund you $80." "How much did I pay for this software?"
"$149" ($.99 short, but close enough.) "That's not acceptable -- I'm
returning everything." More consultation. "$100." "Not acceptable, -- I'm
returning everything." More consultation. (You know, I miss my Firefox spell
checker -- I think I'll switch back after I finish writing this.) They fold.
I'm getting the $149 and they can keep the change. And I still own (I mean,
license) this crippleware, but soon it will be in the trash. No part of my
novel will be written in Home and Student. However I did irresponsibly open
my primary file of notes for my novel in this software (though I only read,
did not write), so technically, I have used Home and Student for commercial
purposes, and I was in violaton of the license terms. I admit this freely and
I invite Microsoft to send me the bill for damages -- no need to get into
messy legal proceedings.
I almost paid HP $399 for Office 2007 Standard but at the last minute I
said "I changed my mind, I'll buy it from a software discounter. I didn't.
To make a long story short(er), I found out that my old Word 2000 from the
Win98 machine was elegible to upgrade to Word (not Office, mercifully) 2007
for $109.00 list (See e.g.
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Word-2007-Version-Upgrade/dp/B000HCVR5S).
Don't you just love a happy ending?
By the way, MS wanted to charge me $79? (I forget the exact amount) to
answer my question as to whether Word 2007 Standard would run on my 64-bit
system since the system requirements say "32 bit browser only". They said to
ask HP since I bought the OEM Vista Ultimate. Of course the crack staff at HP
didn't really know either but suggested that since Home & Student ran on my
machine, I should have no problem. Wouldn't it be funny if it didn't work
after all?
--Ralph
"RBlan" wrote:
It really irritates me to see that "not-commercial use" line on the Home and
Student version title bar -- it almost says "you'll never sell this, you
fool!" This restriction was not mentioned on the product information when I
was selecting this software. I certainly didn't need the 'Enterprise"
edition.
I suppose that since a novel or even a screenplay manuscript has nothing
that can't be done in .rtf that one could save as .rtf , open in Wordpad and
then save again and/or print from a program that, as far as I know, does NOT
prohibit 'comercial use'. This really irritates me. The license mentions
'business' use, and if I were writing a screenplay on a movie studio's
machine, that would be clear, but what about freelancers?
--RBlan
.
- References:
- Prev by Date: RE: How to set a predetermined language in a Word template?
- Next by Date: Re: Why doesn't the style of the text show up on the Ribbon?
- Previous by thread: Re: May I sell a novel written with the 'non-commercial' Word?
- Next by thread: Re: My word cursor has changed to backwards P and . instead of space
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
