Microsoft gets tough on Office fakers

Microsoft’s voluntary scheme for Office licensing checks is about to become mandatory

After first introducing a voluntary way for users to ensure that they only used licensed and legal copies of Microsoft Office products, the software giant announced on Monday that it is about to make scheme mandatory.

The move means that users who are caught using software that can’t be proved to be 100 percent legal won’t get access to add-ons and updates from Microsoft.

As of Friday, Office Online templates downloaded from within Microsoft Office System 2007 applications have to be validated. As of January 2007, Office Update also must be validated by Office Genuine Advantage (OGA). The OGA scheme was introduced in April as a pilot.

Users who are denied access to the applications because their versions of Office do not pass a validation test will need to prove that their software is valid before they can proceed.

Full story: ZDNet UK