Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 2
 

So has anyone downloaded and tried this yet?

http://www.microsoft.com/office/prev...n/default.mspx

It's the entire suite for free and it's really cool. It's such a huge difference from the Office 2000 I've been using for years. It's a big 450 mb download but I think it's worth it. You have to log in to download it but all you need is a hotmail account and you don't even need to give them legit info or anything. I just put in garbledy gook for all fields besides email. The installer is fairly smart and will remove previous versions of office if you have them. Also, you can use the key they give you to install it on as many computers as you like. I've installed it on two computers so far so I just assume it'll allow for more. It does have you activate it at the end when you first run an office program.

My big question is does this last forever? It even let's you do updates and seriously you'll need to run windows update after installing this. There were like 14 updates or something that appeared after putting on the system. I hope it doesn't use the update system to make you stop using it or something. Anyway, I heard that those who got Office 2003 Beta are still using it today so that gives me hope.

What do you guys think?

Uh, can you have it running on all those computers at the same time? My dad and my brother are sharing a copy of MSOffice for Mac OS X and if one of them is running it the other can't start it.

Well the beta is set to expire just like with any MS public beta, but obviously there are methods to get around the timer.

As for Windows 2007, I honestly do not like the ribbon very much. Perhaps it is just a matter of getting used to its functionality, but as of now I prefer the old menu style. Words auto formatting is FAR better in 2007 though and it's much easier to force Word to do things you want it to. So much so that it alone may make it worth the upgrade.

I happen to like the ribbon. It's very user friendly.

Do you have any idea when it will expire? How did people get around the Office 2k3 beta expiration?

Double Post:
My coworker and I have had no issues with running it at the same time. I dunno if that's just a mac thing. We're using PCs.

From the MS Office 2007 site:

Normally to get around time expirations on software, the executable needs to be patched to remove the expiration timer. I'm sure patches will show up around the time the beta is about to expire.

Sounds good. I'll probably get a legit version as long as it doesn't cost more than 200 bucks.

Pretty funky, download it right now.

Can anybody confirm that the crappy photo-wanna be software in Office 2003 is gone and Photo Editor has been put back in? Cause I liked that better. That crap in 2003 just screwed up image previewing in Windows.

I downloaded Office 2007 somewhere else before and I didn't like it at all. The entire layout is a catastrophe, I guess you need to read some 300+ pages manual or take some courses to get into it =/

Have any of you that have used Office 2007 tried OpenOffice v.2? A comparison would be nice. By the sounds of it already, I'll be sticking with OO. A 450MB download PLUS Windows Updates and activation? Get real Microsoft. Is there PDF format exporting yet? That is one of the most useful features of OpenOffice, especially when I submit a resume online.

And as always, when this is final, the price will be completly and totally outrageous.

Yeah, it has PDF exporting in Beta 2 but Adobe is throwing a shit fit so it'll be taken out in the official version. Pretty lame, huh?

Also, being able to make PDF files ain't no thang. Just get one for free. I use this program all the time to print ANYTHING that can be printed to a pdf file.

http://www.cutepdf.com/

Doesn't surprise me. That's one of the biggest differences between the free and Pro versions of Acrobat.

I heard that exporting on the Mac is something that is just built in or something. Why doesn't Adobe give Apple crap about that? Or is it just PDF viewing is built in. I might have heard that wrong.

Although I've found alternatives it would be nice if Microsoft just paid Adobe a fee for exporting PDFs in Office and kept the feature.