"Free" 15cd copy of the new MS Office System coming out later this year:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/orderbeta.asp

$23.95 in shipping charges and it runs until Nov. 30. I picked up a copy a few minutes ago

I thought you could just 'download' this version on the net, no?
what do you mean leaked? Don't tell me microsoft internal network got hacked again

I imagine you could always download a few gb of the beta from the usual suspect warez sites :rolleyes: , this was a link for those who'd rather have a boxed set

For one, my time is worth more than the $24 to have it sent to me... it was available on the MS dev sites a week or so ago, but who wants to download 12-15gb of files?

I actually wonder how they manage to add so many more cds while only adding 3 apps. This sounds like amnother required few gigs. (remember when windows was 50megs)

the main office apps are only one cd, all these are seperate cd's

What You'll Get
With this beta kit, you will receive:

Products
Microsoft Office 2003 Beta 2 CD—including Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Office Excel 2003, Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2003, Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003, and Microsoft Office Access 2003
Microsoft Office FrontPage® 2003 Beta 2 CD
Microsoft Office InfoPath™ 2003 Beta 2 CD
Microsoft Office OneNote™ 2003 Beta 2 CD (OneNote standalone beta is also available by visiting the OneNote Beta order page.)
Microsoft Office Publisher 2003 Beta 2 CD
Microsoft Outlook with Business Contact Manager for Small Business Beta 2 CD
Microsoft SharePoint™ Portal Server "v2.0" Beta 2 CD
Microsoft Windows® SharePoint Services "v2.0" Beta 2 CD
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (release candidate 2) CD
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Beta 2 CD
Resources
Getting Started Guide (printed)
Microsoft Office System Beta 2 Kit 2003 Developer Resource CD
Microsoft Office System Beta 2 Kit 2003 Demo CD
Microsoft Office System Beta 2 Kit 2003 Evaluation CD

that makes more sense (2cds for frontpage??? wow did they reinvent html? )

I don't know if I'd go with a newer version of office until its out of beta... Or corse my insurance company will pay for 2 copies of office due to a claim I filed 2 months ago..

If someone plans to update to office 2k3 anyways, this would probably be a good deal.

FP is one cd, for the near-sighted, that's Beta 2, not 2 CD's

why a good deal? I am sure the beta is time limited and you will have to pay full price afterwards anyway no? or do you get a rebate for testing?

It's a good deal because I just picked up a notebook pc for when I am out of town and now I don't have to buy MS Office to go on it until december or later

Also, I can decide which apps I like and must have and which I don't really need and purchase the appropriate version when the time comes.

umm, yeh buy office :x... if you'd have purchased the full version (expensive one) i'd ask for your recipt :x...

when your are a student you can get the full version for cheap

I'll probably be a student when I purchase office 2k3

lol

cd's came in last week... installed last night without a problem

Don't they expire and become locked after a set time?

I think they do, maybe you have a prefered price for buying the full version?

They expire Nov 30, at which time some of the features are disabled until you upgrade or uninstall. I plan to upgrade anyways, so this gives me time to use it until then.

So you buy something that works till november? thats not exactly a thrill to purchase lol... ::glances at kazaa:: ::shrug::

Shhhh Gizzy. We don't discuss that here.

::zips lips:: yes sir! ...

Haha, my new job is working for one of the top Microsoft developers on the planet, and an author of tons of books and articles in Windows, .net and SQL magazines. I also get every piece of M$ software including some early alpha code. I can honestly say that I can't think of anyway to improve my job, and the fact that our building is a block from the beach north of San Diego doesn't hurt...

Oh yeah, Beta1 of Outlook 11 was more stable than Beta2 so be careful with it...and of course have fun...

:jealous:

Lol, TheX has a good job lol... Oh yeh, I'm in Portland, I'm ::thinks:: 3 hours from their HQ! lol...

Coming Next Week

Haha, I forgot that it isn't released yet, it went RTM a month and a half ago and I've using the gold version ever since. You're gonna love it, it's amazing. If you have a chance to connect to a SharePoint server you've going to be amazed at the document management capabilities.

http://www.openoffice.org/

That is an awesome link, thanks.