Peter Vatistas

A couple years back I signed up for Microsoft’s free beta version of Office Live which at the time I thought was pretty slick. Now after seeing what else is out their in regards to an online “Office” environment I knew that Office Live was not anything special. Google Apps is definitely the way to go for an online office environment and its very compatible with many general application including Office 2007/2008 and Mozilla Thunderbird (using IMAP).

I chose to migrate everything from my Office Live account (email, calendar, chat) to Google Apps (email, chat, calendar, docs) and host my domain at GoDaddy. I quickly found that the reference material available to do such a migration was non-existent and I had to find my own way. Now that I know exactly how to do it and have successfully done so several times, here is my step-by-step on how to cancel Office Live and transfer your domain to another registrar.

First off, go to here and fill out the information to receive your cancellation email with domain registration key.

1. Now go to http://www.melbourneit.com.au/cc/godirect/
2. Enter your domain name and registry key and click on continue.
3. Click on ‘create a new account’ below the text box where you are prompted for my account password.
a)     Fill up all the information needed:
i)      Contact Information
ii)     Login Information
b)     Other Information:
i)      The Country Code is “1″ for United States (for UK it is 44)
ii)     The email address you enter must not be related to the domain you are attempting to transfer/manage.
4)     After filling up all the information, check the box that says I have read and understood the Sign up Terms and Conditions. I agree to abide by the terms and conditions, as stated there in.
5)     Click Create.  Now your account is created.
6)     On the My Account Console page, click Logout on the right side of the page.
7)     Now you will be redirected to the Melbourne IT web site.
8)     Click Manage Domain Name on the right side of the page.
9)     Type your domain and registry key.
10)  Click Enter Management.
11)  Click Transfer management to Melbourne IT.
12)  Sign in using the username and password for your Melbourne IT account using the username and password, which you created for your Melbourne IT account.
13)  Click Continue after you have verified all the information on the page.
14)  Click on My Account console.
15)  Click on the link “View/Manage domain name” under the Domain Names.
16)  Click on your domain name (customer domain name) under the Domain Name section.
17)  Click on the Unlock Domain Name.
18)  To change name server, click on Change Delegation Details under Name Server Details on the right side of the page. Here, you can change the domain name server settings for your new service provider.
19)  To obtain new authorization code in order to transfer your domain, click Retrieve Domain Name (auth info) Password (on the same page on point 17).

Now you have all the necessary information and your domain is unlocked and ready for transfer. Log into your favorite domain registrar and begin the transfer with the credentials provided using the steps above.

From here I transfered my domain to GoDaddy which took about 2 or 3 business days; when the transfer was complete I pointed all my cname & mx records to Google’s names servers. Since then I have never been happier with my email solution and full online office experience.

Good luck!

Tags: Cancel, Domain Regsitrar, Domain Trasnfer, gMail, GoDaddy, Google, Google Apps, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Melbourne IT, Microsoft, Office Live