Genuine Advantage Comes to Office

The Genuine Advantage antipiracy program will be extended to Office, and it is currently in testing for Office 2007. Originally created for Windows, the Genuine Advantage program requires users to demonstrate that they have genuine (i.e., not pirated) software before downloading from Microsoft Web sites, such as the Microsoft Download Center. The program ultimately could require Office users to validate their copies with Microsoft to get Office templates and other add-ins, even among users whose organizations bought Office through volume license agreements.

The Office Genuine Advantage program, which entered a pilot phase in Apr. 2006, will be similar to Windows Genuine Advantage launched in July 2005. Users will be required to download and run an ActiveX control that validates their copies of Office before they may download specific Office add-ons and updates. Users who activated software during installation, or whose software was activated by an OEM or with a legitimate Volume License Key, will likely find validation with the ActiveX control to be automatic. Similarly, validation will be automatic for most volume license copies, other than copies with volume license keys that Microsoft has revoked. If the ActiveX control cannot validate the copy of Office automatically, users will be required to enter a product key manually to validate their copies.