ON MICROSOFT'S OFFICE 2007 "TEST-DRIVE"

TRY IT BEFORE YOU BUY IT

At first glance, reading this Microsoft announcement almost makes it seem like the company is offering users the opportunity to download and try it's Office 2007 as a beta product.  That doesn't compute since the company has already offered a Beta version for a while now.

The headline in the announcement asks the user to take Office 2007 "out for a spin".

But a closer examination shows that it's really a slick, online "web demo", using a thin Citrix web-client that needs to be downloaded (via Microsoft News Tracker).

It's a clever touch, presumably to allow more mainstream users to check out the application without having to download the whole beta application.

Not quite the same thing as kicking the whole software package around for a bit on your own machine.  You can do that with the official Beta version of Office 2007 though, targeted mostly at developers and IT managers.

It's an interesting twist  to the industry's on-going  predilection for releasing Beta software.

I guess we can call it a Beta "Lite".

Comments

[thatedeguy]

I think that some of us are missing the forest for the trees. I'll admit that it's a great marketing ploy to not have to download the beta to test it out, but I think there are alternative motives here as well.
I've explained a little further in my blog post at the link below: http://www.thatedeguy.com/archives/2006/06/office-2007-test-drive-or-online-office-test

Basically, I think that MS is using this "test drive" as a way to test out an online office suite for release later this summer.

[CynicalGeek]

I feel that it's an easier way for Microsoft to show off their new products. Many people now understand that "installation of this beta should not interfere with your preexisting installed Office product but could destroy your data" is a red flag. For those who want to try it, they should find a spare computer to install it on. Now not many people have a spare computer with 1GB of RAM to use Microsoft Office Vista Outlook (or whatever it's called) so the Citrix solution is a wonderful way to promote the new software. Microsoft also recently signed a 5 year contract with Citrix, so that is part of it as well.

[CynicalGeek]

I've run the Live web demo and I've noticed that in the demo, some apps have the "File" menu and others don't. Does anyone know if this is an option that users can choose from? I have heard that there is no backward compatibility on the interface, so did some apps get a interface update and others not? Outlook is the old interface, as well as Publisher.