[German]Microsoft has once again declared some Windows and Office components as deprecated and will sooner or later switch them off or remove support for them. In addition to the DRM functionality for media content in Windows 7/8, ActiveX in Office 2024 is also among the components that are on the way out.
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ActiveX will be deactivated in Office 2024
ActiveX is a software technology introduced in 1996 that allowed developers to create software components that used the Windows COM object model. The ActiveX components could be used in Internet Explorer, but also in Microsoft Office.
In the upcoming Microsoft Office 2024, this support for ActiveX technology is to disappear to some extent by switching off the functionality by default. Microsoft already announced the details last week in a new entry in the Microsoft 365 Message Center (only available for registered administrators).
"Starting in new Office 2024, the default configuration setting for ActiveX objects will change from Prompt me before enabling all controls with minimal restrictions to Disable all controls without notification."
The colleagues from Bleeping Computer addressed this in this article a few days ago. Their article explains how ActiveX can be switched on in Office 2024 if required and thus still be used.
Legacy DRM will die in Windows 7/8
The abbreviation DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, a copy protection function for playing legally acquired digital media under Windows in Windows Media Player.
On the Microsoft page Deprecated features for Windows client there is now a reference to "Legacy DRM services" (neowin.net noticed this):
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Older DRM services used by either Windows Media Player, Silverlight clients, Windows 7 or Windows 8 clients are deprecated.
Microsoft then states that the following functions will no longer work if these services are switched off completely:
- Playback of protected content in the old Windows Media Player under Windows 7
- Playback of protected content in a Silverlight client and Windows 8 clients
- Ih-home streaming playback from a Silverlight client or Windows 8 client on an Xbox 360
- Playback of protected content copied from a personal CD on Windows 7 clients with Windows Media Player
In other words: Legitimate buyers of DRM-protected material are left out in the cold as soon as the DRM function is switched off. This is the case, for example, if someone has ripped an audio CD into the .WMA format of Windows Media Player. I therefore had the material ripped into .MP3 files so that there was no longer any DRM copy protection and I could play the audio tracks on different devices. I also use the VLC Player for media playback.
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