The expansion of the anti-piracy efforts around the Office System announced by Microsoft on August 25th, 2009 was accompanied by the release of an update for Office Genuine Advantage. OGA together with Windows Genuine Advantage are part of the Redmond company’s strategy to curb the piracy of its two main cash cows. Microsoft is now offering Office customers an updated version of OGA via Windows Update. The company informed that the refresh was designed for users running Office 2007, but also previous versions of the productivity suite, including Office 2003 and Office XP.

“On Tuesday August 25th, 2009, Microsoft released an important/high priority non-security update for Office called Office Genuine Advantage Notifications to assist Microsoft’s efforts to reduce piracy. This update applies to Office XP, 2003 and 2007 suites and applications, and helps users confirm that the copy of Office that is installed on a computer is genuine and correctly licensed,” revealed a member of the Microsoft Office Sustained Engineering Team.

On August 25th, 2009, Microsoft revealed that it was expanding the reach of Office Genuine Advantage to an additional 13 countries and territories worldwide. OGA had previously been available only in 28 markets. The anti-piracy measure is designed to allow Office users to install a client-side component on their local computer that is running the productivity suite and to verify whether the product is genuine or not.

“Piracy is an industry-wide problem and it’s certainly not a victimless crime,” noted Cori Hartje, senior director of Microsoft’s Genuine Software Initiative. “When non-genuine software comes bundled with hardware or when it is painstakingly packaged to look like the real deal, customers become unsuspecting victims. There are many methods that can be used to defraud consumers, and as an industry leader, Microsoft is constantly engaging in cross-company efforts through programs like Office Genuine Advantage to protect our partners and customers.”