Microsoft has unveiled its intention to gather information from Office customers about which out-of-date merchandise they’re nonetheless working.
The corporate says it’s seeking to collect information concerning the variety of customers working 2007, 2010, and 2013 variations of Microsoft Workplace.
Microsoft additionally stated that the scheme, a part of the KB5021751 replace, “will run one time silently with out putting in something on the consumer’s gadget”, although there are nonetheless some unanswered questions on why the tech big needs to roll out this census-type replace.
Microsoft Workplace 2007, Workplace 2010, and Workplace 2013
“This replace is meant to assist Microsoft establish the variety of customers working out-of-support (or quickly to be out-of-support) variations of Workplace,” the corporate acknowledged.
Nevertheless The Register (opens in new tab) notes the contradicting data on the corporate’s support page (opens in new tab) on the subject of the set up and working of the replace, main the publication to consider that the corporate might have finished a poor ‘copy and paste’ job of the article.
It additionally identified that the maker of Workplace has failed to supply any details about the way it will acquire the information, and whether or not it is going to go away something behind on the consumer’s pc.
Apart from this, there’s the priority that some customers might not even wish to inform Microsoft which model of the office software they’re working. Whereas the 2007 and 2010 variations have been decommissioned, and help for the 2013 model is ready to finish in April, customers are nicely inside their rights to proceed utilizing the unsupported software program even after safety patches have been dropped.
Past these, and Workplace 2016 which is ready to cease receiving prolonged help in 2025, Microsoft is eager to push its subscription-based Microsoft 365 (previously Workplace 365) suite, which allows common updates as a part of an ongoing plan.
TechRadar Professional has requested Microsoft about its motive for pushing an replace to gather the information; an replace for which shall be posted right here if obtained.