May I sell a novel written with the 'non-commercial' Word?

Legitimate uses of MS Word Home & Student? Guess what I came across?
Microsoft's OWN description of how you may use this softwa

================================================== ==
Introducing Your Household Helper
Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007

Such an indispensable part of home life, Office Home and Student 2007 may
make family pets jealous. It's designed to help the whole family manage
information for school, work, and home in one convenient place. With more
reliability, security, and help than ever, it's easy to create great-looking
documents, keep in touch, and stay on top of everything.

Try Office Home and Student 2007 Now!
================================================== ==
See:
http://us20.trymicrosoftoffice.com/p...&culture=en-US
....or if that changes, take your pick from:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://...&culture=en-US

You read it yourself, folks: "It's designed to help the whole family manage
information for school, WORK [emphasis mine -RB], and home in one convenient
place." Obviously a professional writer who works at home will be managing
the information for his work when he does his word-processing on this
software!

Now I realize that Microsoft can claim, 'Yes it was _designed_ to help the
whole family manage information for work, etc. However, it wasn't _licensed_
for that!' -- but given that this is what you see _before_ you buy, and the
long, fine-print license only after you buy and open the package, how
compelling do you think that argument would be to a judge or jury?

Disclaimer: I am not licensed to give legal advice. Consult your own legal
adviser.

-RB



"JoAnn Paules" wrote:

Homework, family newsletters, family budgets, home inventories, family
medical records

(Not arguing the point, just listing legitimate uses)

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]
Tech Editor for "Microsoft Publisher 2007 For Dummies"



"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
OK thanks - but I still think you might be hard pressed to find a
legitimate use for the software given the wide ranging exclusions..

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org



JoAnn Paules wrote:
The EULA says that if you don't agree to it, stop and return the
software.
"BY USING THE SOFTWARE, YOU ACCEPT THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT
THEM, DO NOT USE THE SOFTWARE. INSTEAD, RETURN IT TO THE RETAILER FOR
A REFUND OR CREDIT.
If you cannot obtain a refund there, contact Microsoft or the
Microsoft affiliate serving your country for information about
Microsoft's refund policies.
See www.microsoft.com/worldwide. In the United States and Canada,
call (800) MICROSOFT or see www.microsoft.com/info/nareturns.htm."




"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
Hmmm. On that basis, it is difficult to see what legal use you could
put the program to. The application is, for example, widely sold to
educationalists. It could be argued that education is a 'commercial'
endeavour. I wonder too to what extent purchasers of the software are
aware of the limitations imposed when they pay their money for the
product i.e. before they get as far as being able to read the EULA?
And if they did not agree, could they then get their money back on
the basis that it cannot be used for a legitimate home user task,
that may later have a commercial application e.g. writing a novel?

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org




JoAnn Paules wrote:
When you installed the Home and Student version, *you agreed* that
it would not be used for commercial endeavors. Doesn't matter if
you're freelance or not. You can't even use it to do volunteer work
for a non-profit oprganization.


"RBlan" wrote in message
...
It really irritates me to see that "not-commercial use" line on the
Home and
Student version title bar -- it almost says "you'll never sell
this, you fool!" This restriction was not mentioned on the product
information when I
was selecting this software. I certainly didn't need the
'Enterprise" edition.

I suppose that since a novel or even a screenplay manuscript has
nothing that can't be done in .rtf that one could save as .rtf ,
open in Wordpad and
then save again and/or print from a program that, as far as I know,
does NOT
prohibit 'comercial use'. This really irritates me. The license
mentions 'business' use, and if I were writing a screenplay on a
movie studio's machine, that would be clear, but what about
freelancers? --RBlan