Microsoft Office System 2003 hits yet another milestone Monday when volume customers will be able to download it.
Office 2003, and its Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook components,will be available for download as will OneNote, the totally new note-taking application.
Customers on Enterprise Agreements or Software Assurance will be able to download as of Monday, as will MSDN subscribers, said Dan Leach, lead product manager for Microsoft"s Information Worker Product Management Group.
Leach said hardware OEMs will start shipping the first machines preloaded with the Office suite by the end of September. After that, the next major event will be October 21 New York launch of the retail product where Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Group Vice President Jeff Raikes will hold court.
Microsoft has been dribbling out Office 2003 news for a year now. Last week, the company announced Office Online, a web-based repository of Office add-ons and content from Microsoft and third parties. Users can go there to find and download free and paid content including clip art, sounds, and automation tools for use in Office applications.