Microsoft Has A Reduced Functionality Mode In Office 2007
Microsoft is not only fighting piracy in Windows Vista but they are also doing so in Office 2007, just as expected. According to a Knowledge Base article found by ZDNet there will be a reduced functionality mode for those people who are pirating Office 2007. The article that ZDNet published is a little misleading though because they make it sound like the reduced functionality mode will be a result of not passing the Office Genuine Advantage. That is not the case at all.
The Knowledge Base article says:
The 2007 Microsoft Office suites include an Activation Wizard. To fully use a retail version of a 2007 Office suite or program, you must activate it. If you do not activate the product after you install it, the 2007 Office programs can be started only in reduced-functionality mode. In reduced-functionality mode, 2007 Office programs function more like viewers. In other words, you cannot save modifications to documents or create new documents. Additional functionality may be reduced. No existing 2007 Office files are damaged when a product runs in reduced-functionality mode.
This is not really anything unexpected. If you can’t activate Office then of course Microsoft will limit you to what can be done in the application, but there is one tiny thing that this fails to cover. Microsoft is trying to stop piracy by doing this but the current version that is leaked on the Internet uses a Volume License Product Key which does not require any sort of activation. So Microsoft can block those users from accessing templates and such but as of right now they have not mentioned anything about the Office Genuine Advantage putting the Office Suite into reduced functionality mode.
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Tags: Software
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Just stick with Office 2000 – still has the basic features for 90% of the population.
Classic MS. Only seeing the job halfway through, and way too late. I’m not going to upgrade either, though. Office 2003 is good enough for me.
I agree that the older versions of Office still do everything that most people will require but Office 2007 looks so pretty.
I have been using the beta of Office 2007 for quite some time now and I have become very accustomed to it. Unfortunately I think it would be hard for me to go back to using any other Office Suite.