Text 13531, 60 rader
Skriven 2006-10-27 17:15:10 av /m (1:379/45)
Ärende: If You Dislike Microsoft's Windows Antipiracy Checks, Look Out
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From: /m <mike@barkto.com>


http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127678/article.html

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If you don't like the mandatory antipiracy checks that Microsoft now enforces
for Windows, brace yourself. The Microsoft Office productivity and
collaboration suite is about to get a similar program.

The company's Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) program will require mandatory
validation of Office software starting October 27, the software vendor quietly
disclosed today. After that date, any Office Online templates downloaded from
within the Office 2007 Microsoft Office System applications will require
validation of legitimacy.

Similarly, starting in January, users of Office Update will have to validate
the legitimacy of their Office software before they can use the service,
Microsoft added.

Users absolutely hated the first iteration of the Windows Genuine Advantage
(WGA) program, and their protests pressured the company into revising it about
a year after it launched in July 2005.
'Quick and Simple'

Microsoft said in a press statement that the validation process will be "quick
and simple" for users. The OGA program, currently in the testing phase, is now
available in 26 languages worldwide.

OGA is a sibling program to WGA; both automatically check a user's version of
Microsoft software to ensure it is not counterfeit or pirated.

Microsoft has integrated this check directly into the next version of its OS,
Windows Vista, as part of what it is calling a "Software Protection Platform."
Through that automatic validation system, a Vista user must activate his or her
copy of the software with a valid activation key within 30 days after purchase
of the software, or see the OS enter a reduced functionality mode. In that
mode, users can browse the Web for an hour but then the system will log them
out, and they will have to log in again if they want to browse more.

Microsoft has increased its efforts in recent years to fight software piracy
and counterfeiting of its software products. But these efforts have met with
some resistance from users, especially when early bugs in the WGA checks were
tagging legitimate software as counterfeit or pirated.

Microsoft also was forced to turn off a notification feature in WGA that sent
information to the company from users' PCs when some users complained that the
feature was acting like spyware.
===


I use MS Office 1997 here at home, and Office XP at work.  Oddly, I see nothing
in MS Office XP that would cause me to upgrade from MS Office 1997 here at
home.  And lots of reasons why I shouldn't upgrade.


  /m

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