3 ms·
The title is confusing. In reading the article, Microsoft is pushing out an executable see if people are running older versions of Office.
by binkHN 4y ago
The title is confusing. In reading the article, Microsoft is pushing out an executable see if people are running older versions of Office.
- digitallyfree 4y agoYeah the title is terrible - initially I thought they were actually physically screening machines as some sort of anti-piracy initiative.
- Simon_O_Rourke 4y agoDitto, I thought they were physically checking recently terminated employees for it.
- KyeRussell 4y agoIt’s very “The Register”.
- ghaff 4y agoYeah. The Register loves using somewhat weird slangy terms which is at least a bit confusing in this case. Also, maybe wait until Microsoft gets back to you before running the story--assuming they didn't provide a reasonable window to respond--given there's a lot of supposition here.
- 404mm 4y agoI wonder if it also “accidentally” detects alternatives to Office (eg LibreOffice or similar). I’m sure whatever their intention is, it does not come from the desire of making less money.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- valine 4y agoGuessing we will see a new popup ad for office 365 at some point. Wouldn’t rule out a start menu ad either.
- scottmcf 4y agoThere was a full screen popup prior to login after an update earlier this week pushing the benefits of the "new" Microsoft 365 subscription.
- kris_wayton 4y agoIt would probably be more destructive if it were checking for pirated versions of Office.
- solarkraft 4y agoThose are probably "unsupported" too.
- LegitShady 4y agoI don't think microsoft cares about libreoffice at all. Office's customers are unlikely to switch to it, and they aren't really competitive with office for people who need office.
- LegitShady 4y agomicrosoft is pushing out an executable to see if people are running older versions of office, without distinguishing it from an actual update, so if you have automatic updates on they're going to spy on you without consent. This is clearly not an update, nor anything to do with an update, its purely for microsoft's benefit and they're outright using windows update in a way that makes it so you can't trust windows update. >"This update will run one time silently without installing anything on the user's device," By definition not an update to windows or office, using windows update to slip past any friction to having people willingly run spyware on their devices that in no way benefits them. It's news.