Author Topic: MS Software To Have Lockdown "Feature" (Read 1153 times)

GhostShip · « **on:** November 22, 2006, 09:09:28 am »

Yes folks be very scared, Microsoft is flexing its muscles over your purchased software.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061120-8256.html

Quote

Microsoft's battle with pirates, which started as early as 1975 with Bill Gates' infamous "Open Letter to Hobbyists," continues on in 2007, as the company has built a feature into Office 2007: Reduced Functionality Mode.
While Microsoft has been fairly coy about whether or not this feature exists in the latest Office release, a new Knowledge Base article on their site confirms that it will apply to all Office 2007 products.

Reduced Functionality mode is triggered whenever Office 2k7 fails activation. This can happen when the program is initially run after installation, or if it fails a subsequent check following an Office update. Once the switch is thrown, Office continues to run, but with the following restrictions:

You cannot create new documents.
You can view existing documents. However, you cannot edit them.
You can print documents. However, you cannot save them.
Despite what some media outlets are reporting, the Reduced Functionality Mode is not new. It already applies to Office 2003 and even Office XP versions. While the approach undoubtedly has at least some impact on piracy, the process is not 100 percent foolproof: some legitimate users have reported problems with the activation process.

Microsoft is not just limiting Reduced Functionality Mode to its Office programs, however. The company is also planning to introduce reduced functionality limitations to Windows Vista, which also must be activated after installing. Copies of Vista that fail the activation process will have the Aero visual effects disabled and any "Premium" or "Ultimate" features deactivated.

What we are seeing here folks is a growing trend from Microsoft to add trojan and trap software, hidden amongst its offerings, from its media player to the latest internet explorer 7, items are being installed without asking your permissiion. Fail to follow its ever increasingly draconian rules and your software will shut down and leave you forced to contact them at your own inconvenience and cost, and this can happen as many times as they wish.

I get the idea Linux and Open Office are going to flourish under such conditions

nylly444 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 22, 2006, 07:29:42 pm »

* nylly444 pets her penguin...

SamSeeSam · « **Reply #2 on:** November 23, 2006, 03:59:07 am »

Why would people even bother to try out an office 07 if it has such reduced functionality.
Then again, it's always avaiable for free in piratebay

Quote from: nylly444 on November 22, 2006, 07:29:42 pm

* nylly444 pets her penguin...

Cheers

Cobra · « **Reply #3 on:** November 23, 2006, 06:16:33 am »

Maybe I am confused, but all it sounds like is they check to see if your software is pirated through some form of online registration/id validity check, which is nothing new, and if it is priated, it shuts down or reduces key features.

If this is what the article is saying then Microsoft is way behind in the times. Musicmatch Jukebox, for instance, has been doing that since at least version 5, and they are at version 10 now. Open your firewall to allow a scan and if you have an illegal key the speed at which you can burn CDs is reduced.

Or am I missing the point?

GhostShip · « **Reply #4 on:** November 23, 2006, 08:40:41 am »

The point is they are doing it steathily Cobra.

If the software was openly labelled as being full of anti user traps no one would install it and thats the thing, the WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) at minimum was false triggering on a minimum 6% and I saw one artlcle claim 20% of users, that is not acceptable.

When you purchase software you expect it to function with no problems and not steal your private information, unfortunately MS fail on both counts.

Max™ · « **Reply #5 on:** November 23, 2006, 03:10:19 pm »

i dont use windows media player for that reason, when it searches the net for information on what you are playing, it is probably sending the same info to microsoft along with how they think you got it in the first place, they want to copyright your cd's so only you can play them on that pc, all this is a way to control what we watch & listen to as well as how and when we do it.

Scyre · « **Reply #6 on:** November 24, 2006, 02:33:11 am »

M$ feels that they finally have enough of a hold on everyone's daily lives that they can strongarm the public, lest you be cut off from what the rest of the world is able to do.

I expect it to get much worse for windows users. Hopefully other OS's are gonna make it difficult for them to pressure their users. I agree this will do well for Linux, and when ReactOS gets a little further along, they are gonna be a very good alternative, as well.

These little tricks by M$ may work for a little while, but they are gonna act as a catalyst for development of other systems so people are not at the mercy of Billy.

Best Regards, and Be Good!
Scyre

Faithless_Sniper · « **Reply #7 on:** November 24, 2006, 10:15:45 am »

when you think about this situation logically they are being really fair. Microsoft have made it more than clear that if users do not want to pay for their products actions will be taken I personally agree with what Microsoft are doing.

KM · « **Reply #8 on:** November 24, 2006, 10:27:30 am »

actions like that only effect the people who wasted their money on it

XP has that activation thing in it - people who went and wasted money on it are having it break for absolutely no reason and are being screwed over, whereas those who didn't pay for it have it working just fine... it can be cracked and therefore it is not going to make any difference to those who download cracked copied, but it will effect those who payed for non-cracked copies because they will need to find cracks they shouldn't need to run the programs they payed for!