Neowin.net - Microsoft Office System 2007 Beta Ends

Microsoft Office System 2007 Beta Ends

Posted by DJ Prem on 06 October 2006 - 16:57 · 23 comments & 21397 views

We are thrilled with the incredible excitement around the upcoming 2007 Microsoft Office system as is evident by over 3 million people installing the Beta 2 and later Beta2TR builds. With your help, we have far exceeded our technical participation goals.

At this time, we are pleased to announce that the 2007 Office system will be released to manufacturing (RTM) in the next few weeks. We thank you for your participation in the planning, development, and testing of this new release. As we approach the end of the beta testing phase of Office 2007, we would like to make you aware of several upcoming events that will affect you.

10/25 - Office Preview website closes down
On October 25, the Office Preview site will be closed down. Since this is the home of all Beta2TR product downloads, you will not be able to download Beta2TR after 10/25. All other information currently found on the Office Preview site will be migrated to the Office Online website (accessible via online help from within Office 2007 applications). This includes the FAQ, Product Guide, Top 10, Overview, the Demo tab, the New UI tab for programs, and other related information.

10/28 - Technical support gets a new home
Beginning October 28, support for Office 2007 products will transition from the Beta support newsgroups staffed by Office employees to the in-market product support provided by Microsoft Customer Service and Support. Starting 10/28, you will need to use http://support.microsoft.com to receive support for Office 2007 products.

10/30 - BetaPlace website and support newsgroups close down
The BetaPlace website (http://beta.microsoft.com) will close down on 10/30, signaling the end of the formal beta testing phase of the 2007 Microsoft Office system technical beta. At that time, the betanews.microsoft.com support newsgroups will also be closed down.

10/31 - SharePoint team sites decommissioned
The team site that you have been using at [name].spbeta.iponet.net will be shut down on October 31. If you have any important files or information stored on your team site, you need to store a local copy before 10/31, as all data on your site will be destroyed when the site is decommissioned.

Common Questions About the Transition NEW
Will there be a release candidate or other beta release beyond Beta2TR?
No. We are not planning to make any further builds available to technical beta testers. Office 2007 products will be available in retail channels early next year. The Beta2TR build is set to expire on March 15, 2007 for all client products and May 31, 2007 for all server products. This should allow you to use Beta2TR until you can upgrade to the retail version.

How will upgrading to the retail version work?
You may upgrade/migrate server products from Beta2TR to the retail release. However, all Beta version client applications (Office Professional, OneNote, SharePoint Designer, etc.) will need to be uninstalled before you install retail versions on your machine.

Will I still be able to access old newsgroup posts?
No. We will not be providing access to archives of any newsgroup posts. Please refer to Office Online for information and training, and http://support.microsoft.com for technical assistance beginning October 28, 2006.

Will I receive a free copy of 2007 Office system products?
Copies of 2007 Office system final product are not automatically distributed to all participants at the end of the Technical Beta. This program has been a volunteer effort by participants for the mutual benefit of you/your organization and the Microsoft Office team to enable feedback on your testing of 'real world' usage scenarios, and improvement of the final product quality for all Office users.

Thank you again for your willingness to help us make the 2007 Office system better than ever. We appreciate your participation and look forward to teaming with you again for future beta programs.

News source: Microsoft

View: Activewins Report on Office 2007 RTM

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#1 Posted by briangw on 06 Oct 2006 - 17:07: Wow, that was quick.

#2 Posted by mram on 06 Oct 2006 - 17:07: Nice. January is ramping up to be one hell of a deployment month for MS.

#3 Posted by xxdesmus on 06 Oct 2006 - 17:08: And this will leak in....3...2...1... just kidding.

This is great news

(4 replies) #4 Posted by [bear] on 06 Oct 2006 - 17:10: yesss, I can't wait for it to be 30 dollars at my university :-D. I wonder when a new Mac: Office will be out. Any word on builds of that?

#5 Posted by Destroyer of Nations on 06 Oct 2006 - 17:24: "...In the next few weeks." <~ That's hwat.

(2 replies) #6 Posted by GeeZuZz on 06 Oct 2006 - 17:38: Actually, i haven't noticed any bugs since i started using it at Beta2. Well done

(1 reply) #7 Posted by jasondefaoite on 06 Oct 2006 - 17:58: Outlook on Beta2 was buggy as hell ... so I guess you weren't using that :p But since the TR its been solid for me

#8 Posted by Julius Caro on 06 Oct 2006 - 18:20: Wow. Office 2007 rocks. PR works very good, no problems at all.
Vista's development was very "accidented", whereas office was quick, fast, and I think office 2007 is like a "revolution",hehe-

#9 Posted by hardgiant on 06 Oct 2006 - 18:32: Outlook 2007 B2 and B2TR is buggy as hell.

It has cpu spikes constantly just trying to delete email or anything.

Read: http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPo...7&SiteID=17

#10 Posted by Jugalator on 06 Oct 2006 - 19:06: I think Office 2007's UI is both accessible and now also streamlined with auto-hiding ribbons, as well as esthetically pretty. I'm sad to see the Vista and Office UI teams doing so separate work, and believe at least the Explorer and Internet Explorer UI's would benefit from the Office ribbon system. It's such a flexible system. In many cases, Vista now has incosistency between using toolbars and using toolbars and menus. I think using ribbons instead would be a great common ground as it's "toolbars with a touch of menu", and also standardizing things.

(1 reply) #11 Posted by Saadu on 06 Oct 2006 - 19:24: Actually Office 2007 gave me the incentive to move to Openoffice and so far im ok with it. I tried the beta and it was a resource hog.

(1 reply) #12 Posted by DrunkenMaster on 06 Oct 2006 - 20:15: Is there any news on a Mac version? I'm hoping the Mac version is under a new drawing to screen architecture since the current one uses an older system and causes Office to lag a bit. Its a carbon instead of Cocoa app.

#13 Posted by haveblue128 on 07 Oct 2006 - 03:50: This is one of the first signs that all of the creative energy has not been drained out of MS. A sweet beta too. It ended way too suddenly. I guess I was not quiet ready to say goodby, but c'est la vie.

Buy this one if your looking for a new office sys. Nice!!!!!!!!!

#14 Posted by Yuxi Jr on 07 Oct 2006 - 04:43: WTF so that's why my download suddenly stopped at 59%. Two hours later I look on neowin and see this...

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