Microsoft Office for Mac Home & Student 2011 - 1 PC License Key Card [Lifetime Activation] - Perfect for Students, Home Office & School Projects

This is a review of the Microsoft key card version of Microsoft Office for Mac 2011: Home and Student edition. The truly terrible issue I had with this program was getting it downloaded from Microsoft's website. I have wasted at least 12 hours of my life trying to get this version installed. I have downloaded the program over 30 times on 3 different computers and with 3 different browsers. I have received checksum errors every time I clicked on the downloaded file. This is a known issue: https://www.google.com/#q=checksum+error+when+downloading+Microsoft+Office+for+Mac+2011. I was unaware of this when I purchased this version from Amazon. Also when I initially searched for Office for Mac on Amazon the option to get the program on disc was not displaying. This would have been my preferred option for a number of reasons, my present problems included. At least with no Internet connection I could have still installed the program.Finally last night I was able to resolve my issue. One of the tech support persons in the Philippines told me that Microsoft had issues with downloads via my ISP Mediacom. I actually thought of a solution that worked which I suggested to him. I had to leave the call after telling this person about my solution but was able to implement it later that evening. I had my son who lives in another city with a different ISP download the file into his or my Public Dropbox I forget which. I then dragged the disk image file onto my desktop and was able to install the program. It is worth noting that when he download the file it was the correct size hence no checksum error. The program installed without issue. I was also able to update the program through the update feature and the update downloaded using my ISP without issue. So I really don't know where the fault lies with respect to this issue. It is not as simple as it seems.One warning. The program included an icon for Outlook. I was curious because it was not listed as coming with the Home and Student edition. When I clicked on it and it asked for a product key. This appears to be an attempt to get you to purchase Outlook. Based on other posts I stayed away from the offer to connect to Office 365 and MicroSoft Document Connection. I seemed to remember other reviewers having issues with these features.I am admittedly an Apple fan but I was very favorable impressed with the quick look I took of Excel and Word. They are much more feature rich than Numbers and Pages the Apple equivalents. They also have a much `busier' interface and the icons in the menu bars did not have elegance that one associates with Apple design sensibilities.A so called "upgraded MAC operating system" no longer supported my Microsoft Office for MAC software. I had lost all of my e-mail messages, including some important documents. I was advised in an on-line technical Chat session to purchase Microsoft Office Mac Home & Student to replace my e-mail software and retrieve my mail messages. The Microsoft Office Mac Home & Student software that I purchased from Amazon did not include the e-mail component which was the primary purpose for purchasing the suite. I thought the suite included Microsoft Word, Power Point, Excel, and Entourage (or comparable e-mail) for MAC. I also thought I was also getting a CD. Instead, I was given a code for downloading the software, which did not work. I contacted Apple tech support on-line for assistance and was advised that because I purchased the software from a 3rd party vendor (Amazon), Apple could not assist in the download. I was also told that the origin of the software was an out-of-country source with a code that was not compatible for in-country downloading. It was then that I was told that the software also did not include the e-mail component of the suite. Total loss.I had to purchase the Microsoft Office for Home & Business version of the software for an additional $219.99 to get the software which included the e-mail component. However, I had to purchase the software from Microsoft, not Apple to get the technical support needed for the download. Each time I attempted to access the Microsoft site, somehow Apple would re-direct my browser to the Apple Store! Frustrating. I had to completely shut down my computer, wait for several minutes and re-boot before I was allowed to access the Microsoft site. Once I got to Microsoft, I had to work my way to their "MAC Department" where I bought the correct software and was able to download it. Once it was downloaded, I discovered that I could not access my e-mail.A Microsoft technician attempted to load my archived e-mail but the system crashed and in the meantime he had to leave for the day. The next morning Microsoft jettisoned me to their technical support office in the Philippines. A technician advised me to disregard the archived mail on my computer and re-open an account with the prior Internet carrier. She contacted the carrier, and they agreed. Again, we ran out of time. Next day I contacted the Philippine tech support office and was bluntly told by a technician to forget it, I would never be able to retrieve my mail. It was gone in cyber space forever. Then the phone connection went dead.I happened to glance down at my computer screen. My e-mail account was open. It was loading messages...loading and loading...message after message! It was retrieving my lost mail...all the way back to 2006! Holy Cow! The first Philippine technician was right...And the Microsoft Office for Home & Business e-mail software did work! I contacted the old Internet Carrier and asked to keep the e-mail account open. "There is a $4.95 monthly charge," the rep replied. "Let's do it!", I responded. So it is. I am grateful for "Divine Intervention"! All is forgiven... but not forgotten. I am sharing my "lessons learned" not to harm but to enlighten those who may encounter a similar problem and perhaps, help avoid a similar experience.I am very pleased with most of my purchases from Amazon. They are have high quality merchandise, good delivery, and very reasonable prices. This is the first time I've experienced a problem. I'll be back!First, if you buy downloadable software please keep the key "safe" I had bought similar software from a different website other than amazon and this was for my new mac. the computer crashed in three months and apple wiped everything while installing and fixing. unfortunately this did not last long and I had a new replacement but going to the site I even contacted the seller but the key was not there anymore, the kept it on site--my account--for only 3 months. this time I was almost buying a new software on CD but found good rating on first the Amazon and the seller. I downloaded this software to my mac and has been running very good. what I like with this download is the fast access to the downloadable software, fast product key access after payment, easy to download instructions that come with the product key, support just in case you need extra help to get things going. because of my previous experience, I have saved the product key on both my computer and written form. again there was nothing to lose, I had tried CD soft ware on a friends mac as well and it was no better than online download. while the end result for both remain the same, for online download, I had no worries of scratching my CD or even misplacing. overall, the big difference between the two is the savings!!! at the comfort of my computer desk I was able to buy the downloadable software online and safe at least $50 bucks. It depends with the bargain though and surely you can safe anywhere 20 - 60 bucks. for these reasons I would highly recommend this downloadable version.I purchased Office Mac 2011 only because I needed to make a decision about whether or not I would purchase the WordFast software for my job and WordFast isn't compatible with Office 365. Office 2011, specifically WORD and EXCEL have to be the worst ever versions of MS Office. Absolutely horrible, clunky, complicated, not intuitive at all. Even the installation with the product key didn't go very smoothly. I used this Office2011 for one week, about 40 hours, with the downloadable demo of the WordFast translation memory and I could not wait to get everything out of my Mac and get back to my Office 365. So it ended up costing me a lot of money just to be able to explore another application only to finally decide that I would definitely never work with any of these applications.The usual office suite, easy to install online. Much better than the nonsense subscription model that is coming with the newer versions.Works for me. New version of pages and numbers has too many hidden menus that make you wast far took much time trying to locate menu commands.