Office Registration Process Tightened

A new Office 2000 registration policy, already tested in some international markets and for academic licenses in North America, will be included in all future North American versions of Office 2000. The Office Registration Wizard (ORW) creates a unique identifier-generated in part from a number on the CD-ROM case and partly from the computer hardware on which it is installed-to prevent a copy of Office 2000 from being installed beyond its license limits. The ORW allows installs on two separate machines, such as a desktop and a portable. Any subsequent registration attempt will fail; the software will not work on a third machine. Further, if the software is installed but not registered, it will fail after the program has been started 50 times.

Customers who have volume licenses will be able to skip the Office Registration Wizard. It applies only to customers who purchase retail copies of Office 2000 or get the program as part of a bundle with a new PC. Although advance word of the introduction of the ORW has raised some concerns among customers, Microsoft says the measure is a reasonably painless process that will help combat the piracy of Office 2000, one of the most commonly pirated programs. A two-year trial of the registration technology has given Microsoft confidence that the concept is ready for the large North American market.