Users have often scoffed at that explanation.Īccording to Microsoft, the goal of the anti-piracy technology is reduce 'casual copying' by tying the software to a specific Mac's hardware configuration. Microsoft has aggressively promoted product activation by arguing that it's one way customers are assured they've purchased genuine software. 'Microsoft Product Activation tries to reduce counterfeit software, and to make sure that Microsoft customers receive the software quality that they expect,' a company support document stated. Wednesday, Microsoft defended product activation on the Mac with the same reasoning that it has used in the past for Office on Windows.

A copy of Office 2010 in reduced mode will not let users edit or print documents, however. Instead, Office 2010 drops into what Microsoft calls 'Reduced Functionality Mode,' which lets users open the applications and view previously-created documents. Nor does the Windows suite go DOA if it has not been activated. Windows 2010, for instance, gives customers 30 days to activate the software, and even lets them reset the grace period countdown clock up to five times, giving users up to 180 days before they must activate. ' becomes unusable,' a Microsoft spokesman said in an e-mail reply to Computerworld's questions Wednesday.įailure to enter the key and activate the suite displays a message on the screen that reads, 'You must activate your copy of Office for Mac before you can use it,' along with a button that initiates the online activation procedure.īoth the grace period and the ramifications of not activating Office for Mac 2011 are stricter than those facing Office users running Windows. At the end of the grace period, Office for Mac 2011 refuses to launch.

Activate ms office on mac