OpenOffice does not require any product activation nonsense nor does it require product registration.
If there were no other reason to chose OpenOffice over MS Office XP or 2003, not having to put up with the Microsoft product activation mechanism would be more than reason enough to chose OpenOffice!
There are many reasons why Microsoft product activation is a bad thing. Discussion of all the bad and obnoxious things about Microsoft product activation is beyond the scope of today's article. However, a word of caution to anyone who is considering installing Microsoft Office XP or 2003 on a computer system.
The Microsoft product activation mechanism that Office XP and 2003 places on your system can shut down your MS Office applications until such time as Microsoft decides to let you use your own software that you bought and paid for. In other words, Microsoft, not you, ultimately is in control of your Office XP or 2003 applications.
There is something that you can do to counter the Microsoft product activation mechanism if it does shut down your Office XP or 2003 applications. Install OpenOffice on your computer before Microsoft can shut you down. Then you can access all your MS Office files on the computer even though the Microsoft product activation mechanism has shut down your Office XP or 2003 software
The product activation mechanism in MS Office 2003 is not likely to shut down your entire computer. However, it effectively can shut down MS Office 2003 and its component products such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and so forth. The MS Office 2003 product activation mechanism, puts Microsoft and not you in control of your office and productivity software.
Fortunately, AbiWord and OpenOffice have MS Windows versions. So, when Microsoft's Office 2003 product activation scheme shuts you down, just open your MS Word documents in AbiWord or OpenOffice Writer, Excel documents in OpenOffice Calc, PowerPoint documents in Impress and so forth.
