[Infowarrior] - Yes, there is an Office 2007 'kill switch'

[Richard Forno]

Yes, there is an Office 2007 'kill switch'
Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 5:20 am
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=111

Buried in a Knowledge Base article that Microsoft published to the Web on
November 14 are details of Microsoft¹s plans to combat Office 2007 piracy
via new Office Genuine Advantage lockdowns.

When asked last month whether Microsoft was planning to punish alleged
Office 2007 pirates by crippling the functionality of their software in the
same way that Microsoft is doing with Vista via reduced-functionality mode,
Microsoft officials were noncommittal.

But now Microsoft¹s intentions are clear: Just as it is doing with Vista,
Microsoft plans to incorporate what basically amounts to a ³kill switch²
into Office 2007. Office 2007 users who can¹t or won¹t pass activation
muster within a set time period will be moved into ³reduced-functionality
mode,² according to Microsoft¹s Knowledge Base article.

³When a program runs in reduced-functionality mode, many commands are
unavailable (dimmed). Therefore, you cannot access those functionalities,²
the article explains. ³Some of the limitations of reduced-functionality mode
include the following:

€ You cannot create new documents.

€ You can view existing documents. However, you cannot edit them.

€ You can print documents. However you cannot save them.²

In late October, Microsoft officials did acknowledge that its Office Genuine
Advantage (OGA) program will become mandatory for Office 2007 users starting
in January 2007. But when asked whether Microsoft was planning to make some
kind of reduced-functionality mode ­ like what it plans to include in Vista
­ part of its forthcoming Office release, company officials avoided the
question.

Ashim Jaidka, Lead Program Manager for Office Genuine Advantage, gave me the
following statement on October 31: ³Regarding your question about OGA
eventually doing the same thing as WGA with regards to lock-downs into the
product, Microsoft is absolutely committed to having Microsoft Office
participate in the advantages of Microsoft¹s overarching Genuine Software
Initiative (GSI) from a long-term, broad perspective as part of upcoming
releases, but (we) don¹t have anything further to share regarding any plans
for building lock-downs at this time.²

With Vista, retail customers have 30 days to activate successfully their
copies of Vista before Microsoft disables access to the Aero user interface,
ReadyBoost and Windows Defender.

Additionally, in Vista reduced-functionality mode, the default Web browser
will be started and the user will be presented with an option to purchase a
new product key. There is no start menu, no desktop icons, and the desktop
background is changed to black. The Web browser will fully function and
Internet connectivity will not be blocked. After one hour, the system will
log the user out without warning. It will not shut down the machine, and the
user can log back in. Note: This is different from the Windows XP RFM
experience, which limits screen resolution, colors, sounds and other
features,² as my blogging colleague Ed Bott explained last month.

Office 2007 users who are running the Office 2007 programs under the
one-month free trial have no OGA grace period; ³the Office programs run in
reduced-functionality mode the first time that the programs start,² the
Knowledge Base article says. Users who are licensing Office 2007 under a
regular ³perpetual² license may skip product activation 25 times. On the
26th attempt, Office 2007 will start in reduced-functionality mode,
according to Microsoft's Knowledge Base article.

Update: While some blogs and Web sites are reporting there is no 'kill
switch' in Office 2007 (per Microsoft's supposed claim), you be the judge.
Here is Microsoft's statement, dated November 20, 2006, courtesy of a
Microsoft spokeswoman:

"Product Activation technology is not new to Microsoft Office, which has had
Product Activation since Microsoft Office 2000 SR1. It is important to note
the distinction between activation and validation. Failure to validate your
copy of the 2007 Office system as being genuine does not result in moving to
reduced functionality mode (RFM) or de-featuring the product.  However, if
the product is not activated , it will go to RFM (reduced-functionality
mode) after starting up a Microsoft Office application 25 times."


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