Dell becomes first third-party authorized to sell downloadable Microsoft titles to consumers
Dell announced today that it would be selling popular Microsoft software titles to consumers through its Dell Download Store. Shocking as this may seem, Dell is the first third-party authorized to do so. Prior to today’s announcement only Microsoft sold its hottest software titles, like Microsoft Office, to consumers over the Internet.
Dell insists that it will be able to offer better prices than retailers who are restricted to selling the boxed titles. For example, Dell says that Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 is a top-selling title in the retail world and can be had at Dell for $129.99 compared with the suggested retail price of $149.99.
A little hunting around on our part showed that it is possible to pick up that particular title for less — Amazon has it listed at $94.99. If you wanted to avoid the hassle of loading disks, or your computer doesn’t have a disc drive, Amazon notes that you can download the trial version of the software, buy the boxed version and when it arrives in the mail, use the product-key to unlock and activate your preloaded trial.
Still, it seems astounding that Microsoft has taken so long to authorize another entity to sell its software over the Internet. But there you have it.
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