Verifying use of software.

[HecklerNKoch]

After doing an online chat with Microsoft support. Then uploading a .JPG of the product Key to a link they sent. I was told the Key was unused and valid.

I am good to go unless if as cyphr02 stated ha can install after the refund. However my wife does not have office and we are installing it on our PC's before we refund, thus killing the code.

I have others we were saving for ourselves.

Edit, Oh the MS tech said it would work as a renewal.

Fight the power. I know eBay sides with the customer but before letting it go and moving on, send your investigate efforts. [emoji106]

[stevebla]

Switch to Linux. Live activation free or die.

[BigBronco]

I am not sharp enough for Linux

[SkyHawk]

After doing an online chat with Microsoft support. Then uploading a .JPG of the product Key to a link they sent. I was told the Key was unused and valid.

Then my guess is perhaps the buyer was being honest, and already had office installed but not an edition that this key could be used against. They may have bought yours just for the key for an already installed copy, but their original install media came from a different channel than retail and they are clueless to the difference.

[Dragunov]

Eh ... I'll be charitable ... benefit of the doubt ... the product key could have been generated unbeknownst to you or the seller.



Here is what Microsoft can do ... depending on the year-product ... they can easily see if an end-user logged-in using their Microsoft account and tied in the Office product as their subscription. It would very easily show that (depending on the year-product). Would they be willing to disclose the email address involved is another story.

The problem is, there are a hundred ways of circumventing this. There are ways to activate Win10, and no one is none the wiser, and that work around has been there since day one. Not even Microsnot can stop it. Same way with office products.

Win7 is easy peasy to work around. Microsnot makes a better mousetrap, and we build a better mouse. It's the way it's always been. There is NO such thing as software copy protection. There's ALWAYS someone out there who can work around it in less than five minutes, and will make it available for download.

[Dragunov]

Then my guess is perhaps the buyer was being honest, and already had office installed but not an edition that this key could be used against. They may have bought yours just for the key for an already installed copy, but their original install media came from a different channel than retail and they are clueless to the difference.

Either that, or he wrote a code script, or .EXE/.COM, to get around it, or already had a good keycode, and just needed to copy your Windows.

[HecklerNKoch]

The problem is, there are a hundred ways of circumventing this. There are ways to activate Win10, and no one is none the wiser, and that work around has been there since day one. Not even Microsnot can stop it. Same way with office products.

Win7 is easy peasy to work around. Microsnot makes a better mousetrap, and we build a better mouse. It's the way it's always been. There is NO such thing as software copy protection. There's ALWAYS someone out there who can work around it in less than five minutes, and will make it available for download.

https://downloads.quickbooks.com/app/qbdt/products

Here is the Intuit QuickBooks download page.
It'll give you every possible version of QuickBooks from past to present.
If you can get QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions (versions 16 through 21) working with anything you find out there ... there will be some big money for you.

[Cowboy T]

Switch to Linux. Live activation free or die.

I am not sharp enough for Linux

BigBronco, that's what I used to think, too, until I actually tried using it. I'm using Kubuntu Linux now.

LibreOffice is a truly excellent replacement for Microsoft Office. Years ago, I had a beta version of OpenOffice.org, back when it was still in beta, installed on a Windows 98 machine. My then-girlfriend (now wife) was a certified Microsoft Office User Specialist (MOUS--yes, that was the official name then!) and very good with the MS Office apps. I sat her down in front of this machine. It took even her a minute before she realized it wasn't Microsoft's office suite. It's that good. I was using OpenOffice.org in a dedicated "Microsoft shop", exchanging documents with my colleagues all the time, and none of them knew the difference.

LibreOffice is the de-facto successor to OpenOffice.org, likewise free of Microsoft's licensing junk. It totally rocks. I had my Dad on it for quite some time before his death five years ago. He liked it quite a bit.

[POLICESTATE]

Can hardly sell anything on Ebay without getting screwed anymore.

[Dragunov]

I get the jist of what you are trying to express. Really can't go on much further in comments here and will keep it simple.


Your ideology of software is a tad bit outdated for today's world.



Software has moved to a subscription/license/service basis and is further progressing that route more and more each day.



Downloading, even the most expensive software, is commonly granted and desired by the developer.



With the advent of Office 365, Microsoft quietly dropped the year-based version numbers from the Office desktop applications. The "about" box that pops will read “Office 365” rather than the version number (like “2016” or “2019”).

There is now a definite line of demarcation between looking at a perpetual or on-premises versions ... of everything commercial.


Buy software in a box, with a CD and a key ... well, that's almost a relic of times past; not fully done with, but we're getting toward the end.


Truthfully, I didn't quite understand your post, I got the idea and just wanted to put it out there that the days of selling software rather than subscriptions/licenses/service is coming to an end.

https://downloads.quickbooks.com/app/qbdt/products

Here is the Intuit QuickBooks download page.
It'll give you every possible version of QuickBooks from past to present.
If you can get QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions (versions 16 through 21) working with anything you find out there ... there will be some big money for you.

Partially true. I don't own any "subscription" software, and there's always Libre Office. Win 10, is STILL stand alone. When it is no longer, I'll switch to Linux, or I'll dig V/II out of the bin, and finish it. Right now, I use Win7Pro, and Win8.1Pro. No worries here. EVERYTHING I have, will run on Win7, and Win8.1. However, I understand what you're saying.

[ibanezfoo]

https://downloads.quickbooks.com/app/qbdt/products

Here is the Intuit QuickBooks download page.
It'll give you every possible version of QuickBooks from past to present.
If you can get QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions (versions 16 through 21) working with anything you find out there ... there will be some big money for you.

Sort of... our company uses O365. The online stuff is branded as O365 but when you download the local installer, which says O365 in the exe, it shows up installed as Office 2016...

Setup.X64.en-us_O365ProPlusRetail.exe downloaded from your cloud app installs Office 2016...

I can say without reserve that the online versions of the office apps suck big ol sweaty poop covered balls...

[Featureless]

I've had that happen with Microsoft software I purchased from DirectDeals. It would not activate, don't remember the exact error, they tried replacing it, still didn't work, finally refunded me.

[HecklerNKoch]

Sort of... our company uses O365. The online stuff is branded as O365 but when you download the local installer, which says O365 in the exe, it shows up installed as Office 2016...

Setup.X64.en-us_O365ProPlusRetail.exe downloaded from your cloud app installs Office 2016...

I can say without reserve that the online versions of the office apps suck big ol sweaty poop covered balls...

Absolutely, without a doubt the standalone offline installer of [2016/2019] is unquestionably better in every way that the OOBE Office365 version either pre-installed on machines or the online version. I don't even know of an employee that would choose the web version over the desirable desktop installation.


...




The company you work for participates in a HUD program. So they are able to provide their employees with an offline copy of a particular build sponsored through their Microsoft 365 subscription.

HUP is supposed to be a one-time payment and in your case the 2016 ProPlus offline installer was provided. What is determining your slash screen is the Click-to-Run installer that was used that deferred to 'non-subscription Office products perpetual licensing'.

In general, all that really changed is branding. Meaning, that the splash screen would otherwise indicate '365'. The about/account page will indicate the actual version and the build, and Control Panel/wmic will indicate the Click-to-Run Licensing Component (which sets the splash screen).

'365' is just the subscription. There isn't even standalone Office365 installer. And, sadly, 2019 will be the final true installer.

'Office 2019 ProPlus' was rebranded 'Office365 ProPlus' which is now once again rebranded 'Microsoft 365 Apps and Enterprise,' to reflect that Office is now a "service".

What you have, Office (2016) ProPlus, what I have, Office (2019) ProPlus, is a perpetual license and the successor to Office 2016 Professional, but in actuality there really is no true Office 2019. Office 2019 ProPlus is Office 2016 Release Version 1808 deferred to PerpetualVL2019 channel. That's why Office 2019 seems nearly indistinguishable from Office 2016.



I'll stay with the desktop installation for years to come, hoping any future builds will also include a perpetual license but the entire industry is glowing on capitalizing off subscriptions and service now; the idea of industrial appliances has even been directed toward 'Software Defined' era.