Wow… If I had known that my last blog entry was going make the Slashdot front page, I might have spent more time explaining my position (or putting in more jokes). So, for those of you wondering why I just didn’t activate Visio and be on my way. Let me expand upon my original posting. The Core Problem:
From a licensing standpoint Visio and Office are in fact two different products. However, per what I encountered, these two products use the same validation and update framework. The result of this design was that one invalid product was preventing functionality of a valid product. Now considering that there are many reasons for Microsoft’s validation processes to fail (after all it revolves around DRM – Link). Then we really need to ask ourselves, “Where does this slippery slope end?”
For example:
- What if I was just evaluating Visio? By that action, should this mean that I’ve now invalidated my Office installation, thus preventing me from downloading updates?
- What if I want to evaluate Office and some of the MS add-ins or updates were a requirement for my overall evaluation. Does this mean that I need to first purchase a valid copy of Office before conducting my validation?
- What if a bad guy decided to attack the validation process, thus rendering Visio, Office, or worse Windows useless (paranoid but a plausible scenario).
- Now, what if Microsoft decided to use its validation processes as a subversive method to prevent other software from running or worse invalidating your copy of Windows by installing that software (paranoid but a plausible scenario).
Ok, granted the last two examples are me being paranoid. The purpose of my original post was to point out a flaw and hopefully suggest that Microsoft move towards some form of balance. I realize Microsoft needs to prevent pirates from stealing their software. But, there is a fine line between doing that and enraging your user base. Why do you think Apple and others are now looking at DRM free music? Unfortunately, there seems to be a trend within Microsoft to move the other direction towards DRM’ing the kitchen sink.
Cheers – T
