Intuit said Wednesday that it has dropped product activation and digital-rights-management software from almost all future products, including paid copies of TurboTax, in response to a backlash from its customers.

Adding digital-rights-management software to the company's tax preparation neither paid off financially in attracting new customers, nor in consumer satisfaction, Intuit spokesman Scott Gulbransen said.

"We're dropping (DRM) in all prepaid products-that means any copy you purchase at a retail store or direct from us," the spokesman said, referring to sales over the Internet from Intuit's web site.

"That means no Macrovision DRM software, no DRM software from anyone," Gulbransen said.

The consumer rancor over the Macrovision DRM software included in TurboTax exploded in January, when ExtremeTech reported the growing unrest over the use of DRM software. ET's message boards swelled with consumer protests, and Intuit added an uninstaller program in response. However, ExtremeTech tests reported that the technology wrote data to the undocumented Sector 33 of the boot track, even as Intuit executives publicly worried about piracy and claimed that the protests were the result of "other interests".

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