Thus far, Microsoft’s Office Beta 2 has been downloaded over 3 million times for free. According to a spokeswoman for Microsoft, that is 500% more than what was originally expected. Because of the high costs of downloading from the servers, beginning next Wednesday at 6 p.m. those who download the new beta will be charged a $1.50 fee.
While new downloads will cost a small fee, the current users of the software will be able to get the ‘technical refresh’ or ‘updates’ and it will remain free. If you want to try out the Beta 2, you’ll be able to test drive online for no charge. However, if you want to install it on your computer you’ll need a download or a CD in which case you’ll be charged.
If you haven’t yet gotten a download of Beta 2, you may want to get it before they start charging! While $1.50 isn’t a whole lot, it’ll still be more of a hassle to pull out your credit card. This is the first and hopefully last time Microsoft will charge for a beta.
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Tags: Pre-Release, Software
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Do you know if this beta will overwrite an existing version of Microsoft Office (2003 I think- the current newest) or whether it will be installed seperately so I could go back just in case I don’t like it.
You can install it seperately. Just choose a different (custom) directory during setup.
Max: What Jason says is true except for Outlook. Two different versions of Outlook cannot co-exist on the same machine.
Just double checking, but I’m supposed to download Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007? Because there are lots of options on the list.
I thought it was going to be more like: What do I want to download Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc..
Yes, that is the one to download. Hey, looks like our new quote features works nicely
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-Ryan