Microsoft has made its Office Genuine Advantage
anti-piracy scheme mandatory, six months after it was introduced as
an optional pilot.
The new requirements mean Office users downloading templates
from within 2007 Microsoft Office System applications will first
have to validate their software. From January, using the Office
updates service will also require software validation.
An optional Office Genuine Advantage validation scheme has been
running as a pilot since April.
Microsoft said it would provide free copies of the productivity
suite to those who had unknowingly acquired pirate versions of
Office 2003 – provided that they filled in a counterfeit report,
provided proof of purchase and sent in the counterfeit CDs. Those
unable to provide the documentation would have to pay for a
licence.
Office Genuine Advantage is an offshoot of Microsoft’s
controversial Windows Genuine Advantage scheme. Users have
criticised WGA, claiming that it is full of bugs and that it has
activated pop-up windows claiming that they are running pirate
versions of the software when they are not.
Microsoft is facing two major lawsuits over WGA alleging that it
is a spyware program and that the software giant misled users by
labelling it as a critical security update.