Microsoft releases Office 2003 betas

Laz

1
Taken from:- http://nl1.vnunet.com/News/1139363
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Huge campaign sees half a million copies distributed for evaluation
Microsoft has made half a million copies of its forthcoming Office suite available for businesses and developers to evaluate, one of its largest ever beta releases.
Around 10,000 copies will be tested in the UK and 15 international companies of varying sizes are using the suite ahead of its high-profile launch this summer. Microsoft would not name the beta testing companies.

Office 2003, previously code-named Office 11, will be marketed as Microsoft Office System.

The software giant is trying to ditch the suite's image of being just a word processor, pushing it as a collaborative platform that can deliver business benefits.

"It is to do with the way our customers use our product; it is not just a word processor or spreadsheet," David Bennie, Office System product manager at Microsoft UK, told vnunet.com.

The beta includes the Office suite, InfoPath, OneNote, FrontPage, Publisher, SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server. To take part in the testing, users must have either Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 or Windows XP.

Microsoft Office System pricing and availability were not revealed.

However, the company faces a battle to convince users that it will be worth the pain and cost of an upgrade.

Analyst Gartner has indicated that mass customer migrations to Office 11 are unlikely to begin until the second half of 2004.

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More dough for Bill then, any real reasons to upgrade yet again? I doubt it! :rolleyes:
 
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