ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER (OEM) WOES

Vannevar: What about people who purchased Office 97 bundled with their computer - how do they get Enterprise Update?

Peter: Get ready for the bad news. If you bought Office 97 pre-loaded on a computer (ie from an OEM company like Dell, Gateway, Micron ) then you can only use the patch at this time. 'Enterprise Update' is not available from Microsoft and you'll have to ask your OEM service dept. for assistance. But at this stage, many (if not all) of the OEM's don't even know that SR-1 exists - let alone take orders for 'Enterprise Update.

V: Hang on, if I have Office 97 then it’s a Microsoft product and they are responsible for updates and service. Can’t I just call them for Enterprise Update?

P: I’m afraid not - part of the bundling agreement between Microsoft and the OEM companies is that the computer maker, not Microsoft, is responsible for all support and updates. If you call Microsoft they’ll tell you to call your OEM support desk and chances are the OEM support people will either deny the Enterprise Update exists or some other nonsense.

Since most OEM makers use a special version of Office 97 called ‘Small Business Edition’ (SBE) it takes longer to issue a replacement CD. Furthermore those companies want to cut costs and don’t want to release Enterprise Update unless they can help it.

V: That’s outrageous - have you asked the OEM’s and Microsoft about this?

P: OEM companies like Dell don’t even bother replying to our requests for a comment and their response to customer enquiries (that WOW readers have sent to us) is little better.

Microsoft mumble the usual platitudes about ‘working with our OEM partners’ but for all that alleged work there’s no full fix for the people who have paid their money to those companies - even months after SR-1 was released to all other Office 97 users.

V: What if I have a bug that only the Enterprise Update CD fixes or the patch itself has one of the known bugs?

P: Effectively the message from Microsoft and the OEM's is 'bad luck'.  Your only choices are to stick with the original (unpatched) Office 97, try to live with the worrisome patch, or go out a buy another 'real' Office 97 off the shelf (and thus qualify for a free CD from Microsoft).  None of these options are palatable - but that's the lurch the companies have left their supposedly 'valuable' customers in.

V: Ouch - that’ll make me think twice about getting a machine with bundled software.

P: Can’t say I blame you - I don’t know which is worse, the demarcation problem between the OEMs and Microsoft or their joint ‘head in the sand’ attitude to the problem. The OEM’s in particular try to fob off their customers with outright fibs that a cursory glance of the Microsoft Knowledge Base shows to be inaccurate.

There is talk of a new version of ‘Office 97 Small Business Edition’ in 1998 that presumably will include all the SR-1 fixes. Time will tell if the OEM’s have the gall to try charging for this update.

V: How can I tell if I have an OEM bundled version of Office 97?

P: Like with the various English language release, you should know from the way you bought it. But in case you’re not sure or are fixing someone else’s computer here’s how to work it out:

If you received Office 97 pre-installed on a new computer, there are a couple of easy ways to verify that you have an OEM version that takes responsibility for support away from Microsoft:

Users who purchase the retail Office 97 box will not see any of the three things described above.