microsoft is pushing out an executable to see if people are running older versions of office, without distinguishing it from an actual update, so if you have automatic updates on they're going to spy on you without consent. This is clearly not an update, nor anything to do with an update, its purely for microsoft's benefit and they're outright using windows update in a way that makes it so you can't trust windows update.

>"This update will run one time silently without installing anything on the user's device,"

By definition not an update to windows or office, using windows update to slip past any friction to having people willingly run spyware on their devices that in no way benefits them.

It's news.

I wonder if it also “accidentally” detects alternatives to Office (eg LibreOffice or similar).

I’m sure whatever their intention is, it does not come from the desire of making less money.

Yeah the title is terrible - initially I thought they were actually physically screening machines as some sort of anti-piracy initiative.

It’s very “The Register”.