If you don't like the mandatory anti-piracy 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.
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.
View: Full Article @ PC World
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.
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.
View: Full Article @ PC World
i disagree , i find open office better and the amount of file types i can save a document as is a bonus too
Why was this even asked?
Open Office is a pretty decent office suite. It may not have every feature available in Office 2003/2007, but it's good enough for most uses, unless you're in desktop publishing. As for it being a pathetic attempt to duplicate Microsoft Office. . I guess it's not feasable that Open Office tries to duplicate the UI to make the transition from MS Office to Open Office easier for users. Nope, not a chance. Of course though, all hail Google Writely. Huzzah.
While I am an Open Source supporter, not every business can (nor wants) to use alternatives to Microsoft's products. For many large businesses, there are features in MS Office that they can not do without.
Microsoft has become such an anti-consumer company lately... guess they've figured they've made too much money. I for one am very glad to see OO.o, Google, and others making headway in this market. Competition will stir innovation and maybe even drag MS back into becoming consumer friendly (get rid of W/OGA, restricted licensing, embedded DRM, etc.).
Again, this relies on what Microsoft considers a legitimate user. With Vista for instance (as we all well know), I am only a legitimate user if I only move my copy of Vista from my first machine to my second machine, and remove Vista from my first machine. If I remove Vista from my second machine and move it to a third machine I am now a "software pirate". Never mind the $400 reciept from CompUSA/BestBuy/Newegg etc. I am a pirate. Is this bullshit going to spill over to Microsoft Office? Microsoft has shown now that once they implement a way to enforce it, they will create policy to restrict their users in such a way as to necessitate repurchasing software a customer already owns. Software Assurance for the enthusiast. Some people saw this coming, and I myself was one of those who defended Microsoft with the same argument you're using. If you're legal, what are you worried about? Well Vista's EULA puts into words the exact concerns that some people had over WGA originally. It's a safe bet that Office 2007, or some version in the future will be followed with the same type of non transferrable license.
Microsoft has become such an anti-consumer company lately... guess they've figured they've made too much money. I for one am very glad to see OO.o, Google, and others making headway in this market. Competition will stir innovation and maybe even drag MS back into becoming consumer friendly (get rid of W/OGA, restricted licensing, embedded DRM, etc.).
O please... I do not think it is possible for more people to pirate MS Office..... go take a look at your local torrent site and see how many people are seeding/leaching Office 2003.... and before that it was Office XP... they all had a version which did not include a WGA/OGA and people went crazy... EVERYONE i knew had Office 2003 Pro ... and I cant imagine anyone paid the full $400 or whatever it costs these days....
Don't believe everything you read as soon you read it. The single Vista re-validation story is BS.
With Vista you'll get ten validations; and if you have a legitimate reason for more than ten, you call Microsoft and they'll give you ten more. There's no way you'll use up that many validations over the life of the OS.
<sarcasm>Also this is bound to work because WGA worked swimmingly for Microsoft...</sarcasm>
I have to prove my innocence again just to plug their programming bugs and security holes.
I get the warm fuzzies with I use MS.
Everyone, switch to OpenOffice and save us from the plague that is MS Office.
Yeh, right. Pull the other one MS.
One thing that MS has almost got right is a feature of Vista VL. The corp server runs its own "WGA/OGA". You buy 100 Office licenses and your server "xGA" is updated. As clients connect so the licenses are ticked off.
Autodesk got it right years ago with their Network Licenses. You install say AutoCAD on 200 computers, but you only have 50 licenses. The first 50 clients to open the app get licenses. As they close the app, log off or become inactive, so the licenses are returned to the pool. You can also make the licenses "portable" so that laptop users can take the license with them when they disconnect from the lan.
One thing that is going to be a problem with OGA and is a current problem with WGA is that MS does not realise (or just doesn't care) that there is a seizable portion of computer users that have no internet connection.
Not the way to go, it alienates those without net connections and is ultimately a lost cause.
Office is expensive but I believe it is worth every penny. Especially for large scale deployment.
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.