Office 2007 Beta 2 Refresh Released
Microsoft on Thursday will release a Technical Refresh build of Office 2007 Beta 2, which originally debuted to the public in late May. The update brings to the table a number of performance and reliability improvements in all Office applications.
By any measure, the beta program for Office 2007 has been an astounding success for Microsoft. The company has counted 3.5 million people downloading the pre-release code, and has gathered a vast amount of feedback by tapping into the general public.
Like Beta 2, the Technical Refresh will be available for public download at a cost of $1.50 to those who haven't yet installed Office 2007, a nominal fee Microsoft has added in order to recoup some of the distribution fees associated with the beta. Current Beta 2 customers, however, will receive the update free of charge.
For those users, the Technical Refresh will be distributed via the Web as a patch that is installed over Beta 2. Individuals who download a completely new install must back up their data and first uninstall Beta 2 before loading the Technical Refresh.
"This Technical Refresh is the final external product milestone leading to RTM," a company spokesperson told BetaNews. "Microsoft listened carefully to customer feedback (from the more than 3.5 million beta 2 testers!) and has developed a Technical Refresh with modifications such as improved performance, better product integration, improved collaboration tools as well as general fit and finish changes."
Among the changes is a tweaked user interface with smaller "Ribbon" menus and a new silver theme to go along with the current blue and black color schemes. Microsoft has also removed the curved upper-left corner, along with making the Quick Access toolbar look more like a separate entity.
When asked why Microsoft is branding this as a "Technical Refresh" rather than Beta 3 or RC1, a company spokesperson told BetaNews, "The dev teams wanted people to see the impact their feedback from Beta 2 is having on the product so far, especially regarding performance, so they have issued the refresh to the beta code. Additionally, the dev teams will have several more internal builds based on the feedback they get from this refresh (these builds will be VERY similar to the refresh, just a few ‘perfection’ tweaks)."
"So, while it seems like this is a Beta 3 or RC due to it being the final public release, because of the way it’s delivered and the fact that internally the dev teams will continue to incorporate feedback to make the final tweaks, it’s a refresh," the spokesperson added.
Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh will be required for those wanting to run the site over Windows Vista Release Candidate 1, expected to be available to the public in the coming days. The updated code will also run on Windows XP SP2. Five languages will be made available: English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese.
Development of Office 2007 is currently scheduled to be complete before the end of the year, with a public launch slated for early 2007. The suite will likely arrive on store shelves alongside Windows Vista. Standard Edition will run $399 USD, with Office 2007 Professional priced at $499 USD. A new "Ultimate" edition with every Office component will cost $679 USD.