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Thanks to WinBeta for this one....
Microsoft to delay Office debut
Microsoft is preparing a new test version of its upcoming Office 2003 desktop software, which will delay the final release of the product until later this year.
Microsoft on Thursday confirmed that it is preparing the unexpected Office beta release, which could debut in June. A company representative said the release is intended to give customers a chance to try out changes made to the software as a result of testing. The release will not be a completely new test version. Instead, Microsoft said it will issue a "refresh" to the existing second beta test release.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker said more than 600,000 people are testing the software, more than double the number of testers for any previous version.
Delivery of the new test version would not give Microsoft enough time to adequately test the software in time for its planned summer delivery, the company said. Now, Microsoft says Office 2003 will ship "later in the summer," which is also subject to change. "Microsoft's first commitment is to quality and doing right by our customers, and if that means adjusting our (shipment) targets, then that's what we'll do," said a company representative via email.
Analysts interpret the new test release to mean that the product, developed under the code name Office 11, might not ship until October or November.
Gartner analyst Michael Silver believes it's likely that Microsoft won't deliver Office 2003 until the fall. "It's safe to say (it won't ship until the) second half (of the year) and maybe even into the fourth quarter," said Silver.
A slip in the schedule will likely have little direct impact on many customers, since most businesses test for a year or longer before moving to a new version of Office. But delivery after Oct. 31 could potentially cause problems for the minority of customers who signed up for Microsoft's controversial Licensing 6 software-licensing program. Their contracts expire on that day, making them ineligible to receive the upgrade to Office 2003 on which they might have been planning.
Also, any delay in shipment of Office 2003 could potentially hurt Microsoft's revenue in the long term. Office is Microsoft's cash cow, generating roughly a quarter of the company's product revenue.
wase4711
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