Microsoft has made no secret of the fact that Windows Vista will have fairly draconian anti-piracy measures: if users fail to successfully activate the operating system within 30 days of installation, Vista will lock itself down in a "reduced functionality" mode where users will be able to use nothing but the web browser with an option to purchase a new product key. There is no start menu, no desktop icons, and the desktop background is changed to black. The Web browser will fully function and Internet connectivity will not be blocked. After one hour, the system will log the user out without warning. It will not shut down the machine, and the user can log back in.

Now, a ZDNet blogger has discovered that Microsoft also implemented a similar lock-down system in Office 2007. The new Office suite, which is scheduled to come out in January, will allow users to skip activation 25 times (each time an Office program is opened) before the reduced-functionality mode kicks in. In Office 2007's reduced-functionality mode, a Microsoft Knowledge Base article states, "2007 Office programs function more like viewers. In other words, you cannot save modifications to documents or create new documents. Additional functionality may be reduced."