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When I updated my Macbook Air to Monterey, I purchased and installed Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 (having an earlier incompatible version, 2011 I believe).

It's been working fine, but the other day, at about the one year anniversary of the initial install, Excel refused to save my work.

I eventually figured out that I needed to log in to my Microsoft account and "activate" the program again, which happened automatically and painlessly once I'd logged in.

Is there a way around this, such as editing my /etc/hosts file so that Office cannot "phone home"?

(I find this behavior exceptionally annoying. Seems if I buy and install a program, and one that doesn't require an annual charge, I shouldn't be bothered with this. Imagine I hadn't had internet access at the time, and would've effectively been unable to use my software. Is my attitude reasonable?)

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    Were you logged out of your Microsoft account? Apps have the right to engage in licensing however they want to. In this case, they store your license in your MSFT account so you need to be signed in to use it - if you don't like the terms, then you can choose not to buy those apps.
    – Ezekiel
    Oct 8, 2022 at 22:50
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    Also, just to answer that last bit in your question: You could use a firewall like Little Snitch to block network access for Office, but it will probably expire your license after the same timeframe not being connected to the internet.
    – Ezekiel
    Oct 8, 2022 at 22:50
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    Just to add to what @Ezekiel said: You didn't buy any tangible thing and in particular you didn't buy Office (which would be worth many Billions). What you purchased was the right to use Office under the conditions specified by Microsoft.
    – Gilby
    Oct 9, 2022 at 4:22

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Is my attitude reasonable?

Yes, I would be annoyed too, but you seem to have activated Office 2019 with your Microsoft account and this "reactivation" behavior is specifically mentioned in the license terms for Office 2019:

When you connect to the Internet while using the software, the software will automatically contact Microsoft or its affiliate to confirm the software is genuine and the license is associated with the licensed device.

(...)

If you activated the software by Internet, you may be required to periodically reconnect to the Internet while using the software to confirm the license associated with the licensed device; and if you do not reconnect, the software may operate with reduced functionality.

The easiest way to prevent this annoyance is to stay logged in, or log in and out periodically.

Note that this only applies if you activated Office 2019 over the Internet, so if you owned a license key, you could use it and hopefully get rid of "reactivations".

Is there a way around this, such as editing my /etc/hosts file so that Office cannot "phone home"?

You could definitely try that, but as mentioned by Ezekiel, this would probably cause your license to expire.

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  • Thanks @Ezekiel, I somehow mistyped your display name, sorry for that.
    – jaume
    Oct 9, 2022 at 16:41
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    Thanks for the helpful answer. I seemed to have touched a nerve with my questions (based on comments to it). I have just never seen software that behaves like this before, including a number of previous versions of MS Office (except I believe Turbotax won't let you print without an internet connection).
    – RustyShackleford
    Oct 9, 2022 at 16:49
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    I'll simply put an annual reminder in my calendar and hopefully forestall any inconvenient disablings of my software.
    – RustyShackleford
    Oct 9, 2022 at 16:51
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    @jaume No problem! You just used a different spelling 🙂
    – Ezekiel
    Oct 9, 2022 at 20:56

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