Upgrading older MS office mac purchase

[GCH]

I'm finally about to upgrade an older mac (macbook air 7,2 from 2017) from mojave to something a bit more recent - Monterey I think is the latest it will run - as I am running into a few issues and now certain software simply won't run or install without upgrading.
Annoying, but so be it. I'm not planning on upgrading this one to a newer model mac right now either. I do have other newer ones for different purposes.

However, the final sticking point before I do this, is that I have microsoft office 2011 - which I bought way back then - which works fine, and does everything I need. Unfortunately any newer mac os beyond mojave is 64 bit, so I need to upgrade to office mac 2019 in order for it to run, but my paid for licence won't transfer to a newer version! It all reminds me of why I finally completely left windows in the first place, when microsoft were happily trying to sell me windows 10 because they deemed my computer incompatible to upgrade.

What are my options here? Is there some trick that I am missing, or am I stuck with having to rebuy this?
I see plenty of listings for keys - often listed as educational - but am hesitant for obvious reasons (hat tip to mods, and I did read the sticky at the top).
I'm not interested in the 365/subscription model, so please don't recommend that.
I'm also not interested in the office-esque software, which whenever I have tried simply messes with the formatting and is too much of a pain in other ways.
I just want Word and occasionally Excel to sit there and do its thing when needed.

Suggestions?

[miniman]

Sorry to jump straight in with a response that’s not terribly useful but I’m writing a piece on evolving software licensing and I’m intrigued to know why you object to O365 subscription model.

[TownIdiot]

You can buy direct from Microsoft for around 120 quid

[mikef]

miniman said:

Sorry to jump straight in with a response that’s not terribly useful but I’m writing a piece on evolving software licensing and I’m intrigued to know why you object to O365 subscription model.

Sorry to jump in, when the question isn’t to me, but my objection is that there has been no new functionality in Office that is of any use to me within around the past 10 years

I’m happy to subscribe where there is significant advance (eg Adobe Photoshop) or improved security (MacOS - oh wait, that’s free), but there really is nothing that merits an update in MS Office other than compatibility with newer operating systems

[miniman]

mikef said:

Sorry to jump in, when the question isn’t to me, but my objection is that there has been no new functionality in Office that is of any use to me within around the past 10 years

I’m happy to subscribe where there is significant advance (eg Adobe Photoshop) or improved security (MacOS - oh wait, that’s free), but there really is nothing that merits an update in MS Office other than compatibility with newer operating systems

Indeed, one of the points I’ve talked about so far - what new feature in Word have I used in the past couple of decades.

[JulianHJ]

I use www.cjs-cdkeys.com - they advertise full retail keys, and I’ve never had any issues with them. You’ve got a choice of Microsoft Office Home & Business 2024 for £82.49, Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for £54.99, Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for £17.99, though it’s out of stock right now.

[mikef]

One problem with subscription software -

I am retired, but still subscribe to a few bits of software that I know, and use them occasionally - MS Office, Adobe, Parallels, some Photoshop plug-ins, but I have to pay the same as a professional who is using those to earn their living every working day. There needs to be a model that reflects this distinction

[megaphone]

OP you can pick up Mac office 2019 for not a lot. https://www.macheist.com/sales/microsoft-office-ho...

Or just use the generic Mac apps or use Libre office which works fine for me.

[Brainpox]

You have an old version of the software, you've bought the license for it, and you know it is only for that version.
You want to upgrade to the new version, clearly you need to buy a new license. You already know this becuase you've done it before.
The subscription model you've eliminated as an option would stop this being a problem as it will cover the latest version.
After this the recommendation would be using an alternative office suite, but you've said no to that as well.

So, you already know the answer, am I right in thinking you are just unhappy Microsoft doesn't support ancient hardware and software indefinitely?

[Mr Pointy]

JulianHJ said:

I use www.cjs-cdkeys.com - they advertise full retail keys, and I’ve never had any issues with them. You’ve got a choice of Microsoft Office Home & Business 2024 for £82.49, Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for £54.99, Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for £17.99, though it’s out of stock right now.

OP: this is your cheapest route to upgrade. An alternative is https://softwarebase.uk/mac but it's much the same price.

The keys are legitimate, not hooky fake ones.

[mikef]

Mr Pointy said:

The keys are legitimate, not hooky fake ones.

Aren't the keys genuine Microsoft ones, but being sold in contravention of Microsoft licensing terms?

[camel_landy]

I had a similar issue and there's no fecking way I'm going down a subscription route... It's a slippery slope.

On my Macs, I now use Libre Office and Thunderbird (email). The look, feel & file formats are compatible, though there are one or two differences (eg: how to change page orientation from Portrait to Landscape).

M

[Mr Pointy]

mikef said:

Mr Pointy said:

The keys are legitimate, not hooky fake ones.

Aren't the keys genuine Microsoft ones, but being sold in contravention of Microsoft licensing terms?

No. MS went all the way to the EU courts & lost when they ruled that keys can legitimately be resold. I can't be bothered to find the link but it's a simple enough search. Both of the sites linked just give you the activation code & you download the software from the MS servers, so it's not hooky software.

Of course someone may have a link to a different ruling, in which case post it up.

[eeLee]

I can honestly say I am or was not usually a fan of subscription but for the whole family, for about £40 a year, we all have latest Office on all devices plus 1Tb of OneDrive plus 60 minutes of Skype Out and fewer limitations on Teams calls, it’s completely worth it.

If you’re not wanting that, check out the Microsoft Workplace Discount Program (formerly called HUP). If your company has an enterprise subscription, you will likely get licences for cheap.

[mmm-five]

Mr Pointy said:

No. MS went all the way to the EU courts & lost when they ruled that keys can legitimately be resold. I can't be bothered to find the link but it's a simple enough search. Both of the sites linked just give you the activation code & you download the software from the MS servers, so it's not hooky software.

https://brodies.com/insights/ip-technology-and-data/european-court-confirms-the-right-to-resell-used-software-licences/
https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.js...
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=d32...
https://www.software-reuse.eu/en/blog/microsoft-li...

[mikef]

Cheers

[GCH]

Mr Pointy said:

JulianHJ said:

I use www.cjs-cdkeys.com - they advertise full retail keys, and I’ve never had any issues with them. You’ve got a choice of Microsoft Office Home & Business 2024 for £82.49, Microsoft Office Home & Business 2021 for £54.99, Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for £17.99, though it’s out of stock right now.

OP: this is your cheapest route to upgrade. An alternative is https://softwarebase.uk/mac but it's much the same price.

The keys are legitimate, not hooky fake ones.

megaphone said:

OP you can pick up Mac office 2019 for not a lot. https://www.macheist.com/sales/microsoft-office-ho...

Thanks, decent prices, as I'm certainly not paying microsoft £120 for it.
That was my primary concern, hooky keys being sold or scammed, so if they are reputable I'll grab a 2019 one from one of those places.

[GCH]

Brainpox said:

So, you already know the answer, am I right in thinking you are just unhappy Microsoft doesn't support ancient hardware and software indefinitely?

Yes and no. I was also wondering if as well as purchasing a newer version for cheaper than the headline microsoft price, or going to some dodgy licence seller (and I didn't even know whether they can be resold, which others have been kind enough to clarify), there was maybe some alternative method that might be recommended, of perhaps getting the old version to work on a 64 bit OS, kinda like how you can get iTunes running on the newer OS using retroactive, or how I have the older version of the airport utility 'tricked' into running on newer mac os, when they aren't supposed to be compatible, rather than binning my airport extreme and airport express units.


I don't care if it isn't 'supported' as i don't need updates to it. Ever. It's microsoft word, not something critical that does new stuff or requires modern updates. There is a reason I haven't needed to update it before now.
Every single other program and software company (including apple) that I personally use on this mac and others pushed out a 64 bit compatible upgrade to account for this stuff, at zero charge. Microsoft didn't, because they want to (and know they can) fleece people.

I'm annoyed because I've paid for something that has worked very well as intended, and I'm now being told that it no longer works and I have to shell out for another version, or get pushed into a subscription model I have zero interest in being part of. It's not a car, it hasn't gone rusty, or blown the gearbox, and I'd be perfectly happy continuing to use the version I have, but by this forced obsolescence I'm now being pushed to throw that away and buy another version because latest and greatest, even though I won't use any of the functionality of the new one. Call it being a luddite if you wish, but at the very least I'd expect the fact that I previously paid for it to give me a fairly steep discount on the version I'm being forced to buy. It isn't like I can sell the old one to recoup some of the cash towards it is it? It is now junk. You could argue that so is my macbook air, but it serves my needs.

To be clear, it isn't the price - i can comfortably afford it - it is the principle of the matter and the whole attitude of microsoft, as I alluded to in my OP, which I remember with windows 10. Hell, I even remember on my old PC netbooks whenever I had to reinstall, I'd lose the windows XP 'starter' editions installed and be prompted to purchase a full version, as you couldn't re-download the starter edition, as they were OEM installed only.