Tech Geek

I have presented a variety of options to using Microsoft Office and, in some cases, other Microsoft products. Generally, Microsoft products are quite powerful, but they require a powerful computer to run them on and a powerful wallet to purchase them with. However, there is a way to legally acquire Microsoft and Adobe products for use at an ELCA congregation or related institution.

CDW (Computer Discount Warehouse) has been authorized by both companies to sell software to ELCA not-for-profit organizations with Section 501(c)(3) status. This program provides substantial savings by purchasing through their Nonprofit Licensing Programs. Our secretary recently received a gift from a member of the congregation and decided that she wanted to upgrade from Microsoft Office 2000 to something a bit newer. One boxed copy of Microsoft Office 2007 Small Business Edition at Amazon retails for $450 and you can get it for $240. There may be other offers available, but they're all quite expensive.

So I went to the CDW page at the ELCA Website and found the contact information for the ELCA representative at CDW, Geoff Carlson. You can reach him at 866-874-3596, by fax at 312-705-0613, or by e-mail at geofcar@cdw.com. Geoff sent me back a comparison sheet of the various versions of Office and the price through CDW. I could get Small Business Edition, which I needed because it includes Microsoft Publisher, for $66 per license. The Standard version of Office was $59 under the same program. You have to purchase five licenses to start with, either five for the same software, or for five different pieces of software, or any combination that adds up to five or greater.

I called Geoff and gave him the church credit card number and told him we wanted five licenses of Office SBE. A couple of days later, I got an e-mail with instructions to log on to a Microsoft Website. I entered my Windows Live ID and linked the Authorization Number and Agreement Number that Geoff had sent me to my account. Then I could see a list of Volume License Keys. I did some more clicking and downloaded the software right onto my computer. There is a download manager, so it resumes if something goes wrong, which is good since it's over 350MB! (If you don't want to download the software, you can purchase it on a CD for $25.) Once it downloaded, I extracted the files and installed Microsoft Office 2007 SBE onto our computers. I went back to the same website for the Volume License Keys, which were needed to complete the installation process.

So instead of one license of Office for $240, we got five for $330. That enough for everyone in our office and a spare computer that our boards and committees use. We could also purchase other products now, one license at a time, for the next two years. After two years, you have to re-up and purchase a five-license pack. By the way, the program is available for the Macintosh version of Office as well and I'm sure all of the Adobe products for Mac.

This is a great way to legally get software at a much better price than purchasing it off the shelf!

I hope to see some of you at the Extravaganza! You can Twitter me at adnyla.