How To Activate Office 2010?

Most cost effective way to purchase Office 2010 in volume?

• What is the most cost effective way to purchase roughly 50 Microsoft Office Standard 2010/2013 licenses? My company is in the middle of ridding ourselves of all our XP machines (about 50 in total) before it stops being updated in April. As part of this process, we're looking to standardize all machines to Office 2010 and Win 7 Pro x64. We currently have a mix of 2007, 2010, and even some 2003. The Windows licenses are inexpensive and easily obtainable. The Office licenses are astonishingly expensive with a CDW quote of $356 + tax (more expensive than the PC hardware and OS). This is for a 2013 Standard license that we would then "downgrade" to 2010 on Install. We currently have a volume license key with 64 Office 2010 licenses on it. You, of course, are not allowed to simply add to that. Ugh. I have no problem keeping track of product keys in our inventory system, rather than having one convenient VLK if that would reduce the spending at all. I understand Office 365 is the obvious choice, but long-term it will cost us dearly and the additional bandwidth strain would be troublesome for our more remote locations. I get that there is likely no good option here, but before I go suggest we give Microsoft $9,000 for some licenses, I thought I would check. PS As much as I appreciate LibreOffice and other OSS alternatives, it's just not viable for us.

• Answer:

  Not terribly familiar with the latest Office pricing, but talk to more than one reseller. CDW has the highest prices on almost everything. They're great if you need a specific part tomorrow, but I'd at least talk to some other resellers to see what your options are.