SOLVED Microsoft retires Office Genuine Advantage program

[clifford_cooley]

Microsoft retires Office Genuine Advantage program

Microsoft has silently killed off one of its primary weapons against Office piracy: its Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) program. ZDNet’s Ed Bott first reported the shut down after receiving word from a tipster, and now Microsoft has confirmed it in a note at the top of several Knowledge Base articles. The tool basically required anyone wanting to download an Office add-in or template to go through a validation process first to prove that they’re running a legit copy of the software.

The move affects all versions of the productivity suite, including Office 2010, which was only released a few months ago. What it doesn’t affect is Office activation, which still requires a 25-character product key and direct contact with Microsoft’s activation servers, so it’s not like the software giant has totally given up the fight against piracy. Still, one less hurdle to jump over for legitimate users is always a nice thing.

Error message when you try to validate Office by using Office Genuine Advantage: "Why didn't my computer complete validation" or "Error code: 0x8018111"

The Office Genuine Advantage (“OGA”) program has been retired. For more information about the benefits of genuine Office, please visit the following website:

• Benefits of genuine Office

When you try to validate the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Microsoft Office 2003, or Microsoft Office XP by using Office Genuine Advantage, you receive one of the following error messages:

• Error message 1 - Why didn’t my computer complete validation?
• Error message 2 - Error code: 0x8018111

To resolve this issue, your computer must be running one of the following Microsoft Windows operating systems to successfully validate a 2007 Office suite, Office 2003, or Office XP:

• Windows Vista
• Windows XP
• Microsoft Windows 2000

If you have the 2007 Office system, Office 2003, or Office XP installed on a computer that is running Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows 2000, try to validate Office again.