Woohoo, I got a pleasant surprise this morning- my much awaited MicroSoft Office System Beta 2 Kit 2003 forced its way through the letter box and landed with a resounding thud on the welcome mat. After removing it from the jaws of a large dog, who thought he had a new toy, and wiping the slobber off (that?s what work jeans were made for :P ) the size and weight of the package finally struck me- It?s big and heavy!

Upon opening the package I was surprised at the array of software provided. I have to admit when I signed up for the beta kit I only skimmed the web page so I wasn't prepared for the 15 CD?s that were presented in the pack. The 15 disks were:

Demo CD (Product Demo?s)
Evaluation CD (Product Guides)
Developer Resource CD (S.D.K. and White Papers)
2 MUI Language Pack CD?s
Office Installation CD
Publisher 2003
FrontPage 2003
InfoPath 2003
OneNote 2003
Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager
Windows Server 2003 RC2 Enterprise Edition
Windows SharePoint Services
Windows SharePoint Portal Server ?V2.0?
Exchange Server 2003 Beta 2

The first thing I noticed was the inclusion of an expiration date on all the Office 2003 install disks, November 30th 2003. This is not the usual for MS in my experience, the software usually comes with an evaluation period (30, 60, 90 days etc) which had me wondering about the importance of the date in question. I will leave you to think of some reasons for such a specific date, it could be important or it could have been drawn randomly from a hat. The Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 packages both have a 360 day time-bomb as is the usual.

As would be expected, the software has to be activated via the ?Office Activation Wizard?, this coupled with the fact that Microsoft provides 2 unique product keys, and uniquely number each Beta Kit mean that Microsoft should have no problem tracing leaked keys- so be warned! Each key is good for installing the software on a limited number of machines so you would be wise to keep the keys to yourself.

Although the documentation maintains that the product is unsupported it comes complete with a list of news group based support forums which strangely enough provide support. Hmmmmm.

The Bottom Line

The sheer range of software provided means that you can fully test the components in virtually all conceivable configurations, from operating a stand-alone copy of office on a single computer to deploying it over a network, providing data access through an intranet via Exchange Server or SharePoint Portal. The inclusion of D.R.M. means that you can finally get to grips with a much talked of aspect of the new Office suite. Its also a chance for other software developers to get a decent look at how Microsoft plan on using XML for information storage and retrieval- giving them a chance to develop software to compete with or work alongside future versions of Microsoft software.

I?m impressed.

All I need now is my test rig back so I can set the whole lot up and play till my hearts content :D

Hum..............

I'm waiting for my package too ;)

I want to see the new Frontpage 2003 and Outlook 2003 :lol:

It definately was shocking and awesome sight when you unfold the side panels of that software "booklet". :D I'm really like what M$ has done with their picture library and frontpage 2k3... There's just so much to see/use, it'll probably take till november! haha... but that's of course way after the RTM date...

later,
CaP

still waiting for my package

I got mine on the 21st, totally unexpected. I had applied for the beta a long time ago with an email address that I don't check any more, so when I read that I should have received an email, I searched frantically for it.

Will this mean I am automatically in all future Office betas? This is the first private beta I have ever been in so I don't know how it works.

They usually notify you that the next beta is due for release and ask if you want to participate in the program (They have on almost all the beta's i have been involved with)

Is this only available in US?

I'm in the UK, i think it is available to most of the world.

I'm from Canada and I'm waiting for my Beta kit ;)

Cos shipping is $19.95 ... so was just wondering. I'm in the UK too.