We're Watching. After reading that Microsoft Office 10, or XP, or whatever, had been released to manufacturing, I was surprised to (still) not find it on the MSDN subscriber download site. But I just received my monthly CD shipment in the mail, which includes Office 10, and, in the letter accompanying the CDs, a hint to why it wasn't downloadable: "As an anti-piracy measure, you will be prompted to activate each installation, which requires a connection to the Internet. Your Product Key is valid for 10 activations so be sure to keep your Product Key safe." I'm sure I read about this controversial, though understandable, scheme before, which I have no doubt will find its way into more products soon, though I'm sure it will freak some people out. They're obviously aware of this risk. Here's the privacy statement on the Activation Wizard. Somewhat surprisingly -- and nicely -- on the next screen, where they ask you to enter your contact info, the only required field is country. And on the one after that, where they ask if you want to subscribe to email crap, the default is no.
