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Microsoft is starting a trial scheme of 'nagging' Office users who have 'non genuine' copies of Office.
At present there are various 'Genuine Software' technologies built into Office but there's little direct notice or penalty if the copy of Office you are running isn't legal.
That's going to change with a pilot of the Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) notifications program in Chile, Italy, Spain and Turkey. While nothing has been said, it's only a matter of time before this program expands around the globe.
If Microsoft believes your copy of Office isn't legal, the nagging will start with an icon on the ribbon or toolbar. A dialog box will appear when you open an Office app at the start of each day and two hours later. That continues for 30 days then, as yet undescribed but more obvious 'visual clues' will appear.
Microsoft is at pains to say that these nagging dialog boxes etc do NOT stop you using Office. This doesn't seem to be the feared 'kill switch' that was in the original Windows Vista but dropped after public complaints.
Currently Office 2003 and Office 2007 users with non genuine software can run their software but can't directly download some updates and templates from the Microsoft site. However the downloads are usually available elsewhere so this isn't a major hurdle.
According to Microsoft the 'notifications' system occurs through a 'voluntary Microsoft update' - exactly why anyone would willingly download this update isn't clear so presumably the label and description are something more innocent than 'the download will start nagging you if an illegitimate copy of Office is detected'. The trial of the Office licence nagging is only in the countries listed above though it's not clear how the 'country' is determined.
What if you have a genuine copy of Office?
Microsoft continues their process of licence enforcement with no consideration (at least not publicly) of the possibility that their 'Genuine Advantage' systems can falsely trigger on a legitimate, paying customers, computer. Such a possibility is continually dismissed by Microsoft staff as either impossible or so rare as to be unworthy of bother. After all, we all know how perfect and flawless Microsoft software is <sigh>.
As always, we have no problem will efforts to encourage people to buy a legitimate version of any software they use. Our concern is with the very real possibility of error in any technology that can enforce licencing with no proper recourse, especially when that enforcement can be retrospective to original installation and licencing. In the case of this 'trial' there's no indication of what customers should do if they beleive their copy of Office is legitimate (ie the nagging isn't warranted).
Microsoft's Announcement
The trial program 'announcement' was buried in the bottom of an 'interview' released by Microsoft and titled Microsoft's Genuine Software Initiative Makes Steady Progress on Protecting Customers which we've cloned to our 'Office news wire' section on our web site so you can read it in full. Scroll down to the fifteenth paragraph, near the bottom, to see the mention - talk about 'burying the lead'.
The interview starts with the curious assertion that "Computer users have had their share of challenges with software piracy." While it may be true that some people have had problems after unwittingly buying illegal software, the bigger 'challenges' is to Microsoft to protect the company from the drain on their revenues. Microsoft would get a lot more credibility in this area if they stopped pretending that software piracy was some enormous concern for customers when they are really protecting themselves. There's nothing wrong with corporate self-interest and Microsoft looks silly suggesting otherwise.
Article posted: Tuesday, 08 April 2008
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