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I went with Home and Student some time ago because (1) I do almost all my email on the Mac, not Windows, and (2) OneNote is included in Home and Student, not in Standard.  And I don't have to worry about the non-commercial use license for Home and Student, since I'm not making commercial use of it.

Also, in looking at price, I found Home and Student (at the Staples price then) plus a free-standing Outlook 2007 if needed later to be only slightly more than the upgrade to Standard (from the Sonyware copy of Works on my laptop).  This Amazon price turns that over, with the combination being cheaper than the upgrade.  Plus there is the 3 machine thing.

Home and Student at this Amazon price is certainly worth considering.

I've now mostly abandoned (the very good) OneNote for Evernote.

Just a note that the Microsoft Equipt license is also for up to 3 computers.

(Which, of course, makes sense since Office 2007 Home and Student and OneCare both are up to 3 computer licenses)

In additional to mikegalos's comment and Paul's note about getting OneCare for $15:

That's true for the first time purchaser, but subsequent renewals of OneCare are at the list price since renewal is done online and through Microsoft's servers directly.

And don't get any checky ideas about buying a copy at Costco and re-installing every year.  It's a major pain to get the old license out and the new one in.  Easier just to pay the 50 bucks and forget it.

Oh, and don't forget that ALL copies of Office technically allow you to install 2 copies legally:  one on a desktop and one on a laptop in use by the same owner.

The question for those of you with Home and Student is does that really mean 6 computers?  3 desktops and 3 laptops, or is only 3 regardless of type?

fireboy92k:  My renewal of OneNote this year actually was via a boxed copy.  But that's because I wanted to switch it out of my old passport account which was keyed to a unique address in my domain, into my "proper" live ID.  The old account couldn't be logged into for several months--magically resurrecting itself when there was an upcoming billing (and stale credit card) in it.  

I had a very pleasant telephone session with MS customer care doing the cancel of the old OneCare subscription.  No hassle over the cut-rate renewal.

The new OneCare subscription was set up routinely using the product key on the new package.  It certainly won't be worth trying this every year.

I think Equipt is a tempting solution for people who happen to be starting fresh with Office Home and Student and OneCare at about the same time.

And no:  three computers means three computers, not three desktop plus three laptop.

Isn't it strange how Symantec et al started their three-machine licensing terms for AV products relatively soon after OneCare came out?

johnbaxter

Funny thing that timing. It was also strange how Symantec  decided that the home market needed a simplified, easy to use, all in one product after OneCare shipped, too.

I'm sure it was coincidence.

Johnbaxter:  Yeah, I had the same experience switching from one account to another (wanted to dump my old hotmail account for my live.com one).

It wasn't hard, but certainly more time consuming that I'd want to probably put up with every year.

As you mention, the folks at Microsoft were very nice and helpful.  Though I still can't close that hotmail account, since my old OneCare license is attached to it, even though it expired way back in February.

I bought Office 2007 Home and Student a month ago at Best Buy. It was labeled 140$ (something like that) on the box but they actually charged me 99$ + taxes. So I guess the offer is not exclusive to Circuit city.

www.theultimatesteal.com

The offer is going return in a month so students(.edu address holders) might be better off waiting. $60 for Ultimate was unbelievable.

Both Newegg and Amazon sell O2007 H&S for $85. Newegg's page is

www.newegg.com/.../Product.aspx

"That's true for the first time purchaser, but subsequent renewals of OneCare are at the list price since renewal is done online and through Microsoft's servers directly.

And don't get any checky ideas about buying a copy at Costco and re-installing every year.  It's a major pain to get the old license out and the new one in.  Easier just to pay the 50 bucks and forget it."

It's obvious you've never actually tried doing this.  It's as easy as activating a new subscription with a store-bought copy.  The steps are nearly identical, plus if you get one of those $15 deals, it's even better.

"Oh, and don't forget that ALL copies of Office technically allow you to install 2 copies legally:  one on a desktop and one on a laptop in use by the same owner."

Sorry but that's just not true.  You can install Office Home & Student on up to 3 computers.  Period.  Ditto for OneCare.  For Office, that's ONLY for the RETAIL COPY, though - not OEM versions (they are only to be installed on the computer they come with).  With any other version of Office it's only 1 computer per product key/license.  Those include:

Office Basic OEM

Office Standard OEM/Retail

Office Small Biz OEM/Retail

Office Pro OEM/Retail

Office Ultimate

Office Enterprise

....and probably any other version I failed to mention here.

ONLY Home & Student RETAIL is installable on 3 computers.  There is no upgrade version of it either.

Software Assurance customers will get a 1:1 Home Use license activation to install on the same employee's home computer.  That way the employee can casually use the software at home to learn it for work use.  That is the only way you can get a 2 PC license.

Software Assurance can be added to OEM purchases (only business versions, ie. NOT Home & Student), or to a volume license agreement.  Purchase minimums still apply to SA added to OEM purchases though.

Waethorn:

Your slightly mistaken in that I HAVE done it.  To switch licenses with OneCare the last time I did it required a full de-install from every machine it was on, and then a complete re-install from the MSI installer.  There is no 'switch to this license' capability that I've ever seen or heard of, nor that Microsoft indicated to me on the phone when I called to get my old license deactivated.

The problem with uninstalling and re-installing of course is that your settings for OneCare are NOT persistent across installs.  So after re-installing you have to go through all the annoying firewall popups while the firewall re-learns you software, redo your backups from scratch (and mess around with the special permissions required to delete the old backup directory), and change any other custom settings you might have had.  That on three machines is more than $35 bucks worth of hassel if you ask me, but YMMV.

As for Office, you are correct that I did not include OEM copies of Office.  You don't get that media afterall, and I wouldn't think you'd expect it to work the same.  *shrugs*

As for the other retail copies of Office you mention, I believe you are wrong (but it's probably all sematics).  ALL RETAIL copies of Office above Home and Student include the same following provision in the first page of the license (I went and checked, just to make sure):

1. OVERVIEW. These license terms permit installation and use of one copy of the software on one device, along with other rights, all as described below.

2. INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS. Before you use the software under a license, you must assign that license to one device. That device is the “licensed device.” A hardware partition or blade is considered to be a separate device.

a. Licensed Device. You may install and use one copy of the software on the licensed device.

b. Portable Device. You may install another copy on a portable device for use by the single primary user of the licensed device.

c. Separation of Components. The components of the software are licensed as a single unit. You may not separate the components and install them on

different devices.

You can find copies of ALL the Microsoft current Terms of Use at www.microsoft.com/.../default.aspx

We can have a legitimate discussion about if this really constitutes 2 copies or maybe more like 1.5 if you like.  And we can get into all kinds of legal debates over what it means to be a 'primary user' (is that per person, per household, what?).

Waethorn: "It's obvious you've never actually tried doing this."

Fireboy: "Your slightly mistaken in that I HAVE done it."

*snort*

Waethorn: "Sorry but that's just not true...For Office, that's ONLY for the RETAIL COPY"

Fireboy (quoting the actual license): "You may install another copy on a portable device for use by the single primary user of the licensed device."

*double snort*

This would have been funnier if "Fireboy" had preceded his rebuttal with a Waethorn-like "LIAR!" or "WRONG!!!"

This sounds like a good deal considering that with web accessable email and calender services, Outlook could be given up for what is being offered. I know there are some people who can't live without Outlook, but I am definitely not one of those persons.

I normally don't tell anyone to go to Circuit City, but for this one puchase it might be worth the visit.

"*snort*"

"*double snort*"

I should point out:

lostamystuff:  "Always a pig(TM)"