- ACTIVATE OFFICE HUP IN WINDOWS USING A PRODUCT KEY SOFTWARE LICENSE
- ACTIVATE OFFICE HUP IN WINDOWS USING A PRODUCT KEY INSTALL
- ACTIVATE OFFICE HUP IN WINDOWS USING A PRODUCT KEY SOFTWARE
- ACTIVATE OFFICE HUP IN WINDOWS USING A PRODUCT KEY SERIES
However we are concerned that the ability to disable software remotely can affect all customers – big and small. Microsoft acknowledges that this happens and says they ‘work with customers’ – which could mean anything and probably does.īecause enterprise product keys can apply to hundreds or thousands of installations the risk of misuse is greater.
That’s not so farfetched – perhaps a friend of your children is using your computer and ‘needs’ a product key? Anyone who uses your computer could do it, and that’s not forgetting the sticker that has the product key in the first place – if that’s left lying around your home or office it could be copied.Ĭorporate users are even more at risk, with copies of their licensed software on laptops and perhaps computers at home there has always been trouble with product keys ‘escaping’. Someone who has access to your computer, your desk or bookshelves, makes a copy of the 25 character product key, then uses it on their own computer or worse, makes it available to many other people.
ACTIVATE OFFICE HUP IN WINDOWS USING A PRODUCT KEY INSTALL
You buy a copy of Windows Vista, install it and it’s been running happily. All that’s needed is a stolen product key to activate the software.įirstly let us give you some examples of what could happen: Getting the software itself is a trivial matter – copies of the Office 2007 CD are already available for download from many unofficial sources.
You could lose up to US$400 for Vista or US$680 for Office 2007 at the judgment of Microsoft – as a customer you’d have little idea of why your money has been lost.Īll it takes is someone to merely take and use the product key for your Vista or Office 2007, and as we’ll see that’s absurdly easy. As we’ll see this can happen at any time, with no reason given and no proper recourse or avenue of appeal. If that happens, eventually your legally purchased software could be disabled by Microsoft remotely. In other words, what if your Vista or Office 2007 product key was stolen and used on other computers? If Microsoft decides that the product key for your software has been stolen and misused then your copy of Vista or possibly Office 2007 can be disabled remotely (after a warning period).ĭisabling software is reasonable if you’re using a stolen product key but what if you’re the victim of theft? Now – with Windows Vista and potentially Office 2007 that changes – the activation system will occasionally check if the product key is still ‘legal’. An invalid product key can stop you from getting later major updates and add-ins but the software itself will always work and there’s nothing Microsoft can do about that. The important point is that once activated the software (Windows or Office) will continue to run even if Microsoft discovers later that the product key used was illegal. We’re not concerned about the activation technology which, aside from some glitches and misunderstandings, works tolerably.
ACTIVATE OFFICE HUP IN WINDOWS USING A PRODUCT KEY SOFTWARE LICENSE
Depending on the license attached to that key (ie number of computers that software license was sold for) the software will be activated on that computer for ongoing use. Activation checks with Microsoft to see if the product key has been used before on other hardware. In short, it links a particular computer to a software product key. The level of concern is raised, not reduced, by the responses we’ve received from Microsoft.įor Office 2000, XP and 2003 you need to ‘activate’ your software after installation. It’s important to keep in mind that the problems we highlight probably won’t happen to you, but even rare occurrences (in percentage terms) with MS Office will happen to many people. We’re going to deal with these issues in-depth as Office Watch has done from time to time over the last decade.
ACTIVATE OFFICE HUP IN WINDOWS USING A PRODUCT KEY SERIES
This is the first part of a series on some concerns about Microsoft’s anti-piracy measures as they apply to Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows Vista.īoth these products can be disabled by Microsoft after they have been initially activated – Windows Vista has that now and Office 2007 could have the ‘kill switch’ implemented at any time Microsoft wishes. The first part of a series on some concerns about Microsoft’s anti-piracy measures as they apply to Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows Vista.
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