Will Office v.X Have Secret Activation Registration?

Yesterday, we noted that Office v.X for the Mac will be available from Microsoft on November 19th. We also noted that the internet activation feature of Windows XP was its worst feature. Well, Microsoft may be striking out at Mac users as well. We received an email from a reader who has tested Office v.X in final or near final version. After installing it on his second Mac it would not fully launch on his first Mac if connected to the internet. He gets the message: "This installation of Microsoft Office X exceeds the number of installations permitted by the license agreement. (So and so) is already using this installation of Microsoft Office X. The program will now quit." Of course, he has not registered his copy of Office v.X since it is not out yet so it must have secretly registered while connected to the internet for one or both computers. What this means is that the generally accepted norm for multiple installations, i.e. one can do it as long as only one computer is used at a time (like a desktop in the office/home and PowerBook while away), is not valid for Office v.X. One must own a separate copy for each computer, period. If this is the case, we will have to think long and hard about recommending Office v.X despite our opposition to software piracy. It may be a good tool against piracy, especially in an enterprise environment, but we are not willing to give up our freedom to use software that we have paid for on the computer of our choice at any given time. Let's hope that when Office v.X actually comes out that Microsoft has not poisoned it.