Year after year, Office turns out to be Microsoft's biggest software cash producer. Beyond Windows and any other single suite, Office is what makes Microsoft scads of dough. Given the relative high cost of the suite, it's no surprise that Office is also one of the most pirated pieces of software in the world. Hoping to curb losses incurred from rampant piracy, Microsoft is introducing some new countermeasures to the newest versions of Office.

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As long as their anti-theft mechanisms aren't intrusive to legitimate owners, I could care less how annoying they make it for counterfeiters and thieves.

and... they don't make any mistakes in penalising legit owners.
Still think if they dropped the price it would alleviate (though not eliminate) the problem!

I saw this in my "New Updates Available!" window, I right clicked and chose "Hide Update" that will probably prevent me from being able to get certain updates in the future...

Mine is a legal copy, I got it from going to the Microsoft Launch event for it and Vista, I don't like that I have to install something just so Microsoft can verify I'm not pirating it.

Oh darn, now I'll...uh...keep using Open Office and preferring it?!?

I skipped upgrading to Office 2007. The price was too high. I didn't even look for a pirate copy, wasn't interested. And honestly, there wasn't anything wrong with Office 2003.
In reality, I would be just as happy on-line cloud applications like Google Docs or free to use applications such as OpenOffice to fill my needs. I've recently started using Pixlr.com Editor to replace my needs to buy PhotoShop.