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114 TalkBacks

By Dawn Kawamoto
Posted on ZDNet News: Jul 28, 2006 10:25:00 PM

Microsoft plans next week to charge a nominal fee for Office 2007 Beta 2 downloads, a move that runs counter to the practice held by most software companies.

Consumers who download the 2007 Microsoft Office system Beta 2 will be charged $1.50 per download, beginning next Wednesday at 6 p.m. PDT, a Microsoft representative said.

"Since the end of May, Beta 2 has been downloaded more than 3 million times...That's 500 percent more than what was expected," the representative said. "The fee helps offset the cost of downloading from the servers."

Although Microsoft's Information Worker Product Management Group decided to initiate a fee for new users of Beta 2, the "technical refresh," or update, for current users of the software will remain free, the representative said.

Those who want to test drive Beta 2 to see how it works can access the software for free. But if they want to test it against their internal systems, a download or the CD is required.

The fee marks the first time Microsoft has charged for a download version of an Office beta, the representative said, noting that customers have long had to pay the shipping and handling costs for CD versions of betas.

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  • Most Recent of 114 Talkback(s)
Excellent - scare them off so they won't commend on the FLAWS!!!
Forget the stupid RIBBON and FIX the THINGS THAT DON'T WORK since Office 2003 and even previously.

I would have liked -

1 Outlook to open 2 outlook profiles at the same time. This has b... (Read the rest)
Posted by: boed Posted on: 08/25/06 You are currently: a Guest | | Terms of Use
Snork!  Cardinal_Bill | 07/28/06
It'll be interesting to see . . .  999ad@... | 07/28/06
Calling more BETA TESTERS! Calling more suckers ...  michael_t | 07/28/06
Good idea - keeps the riff raff out ...  Prognosticator | 07/28/06
that's a cool idea! how many times did U download that BETA  michael_t | 07/28/06
This beta seems to be a good deal vs the "regular" betas .. happy  michael_t | 07/28/06
bunch of sick bastard  Quebec-french | 07/28/06
Is anyone forcing you to download it?  georgeou | 07/28/06
Nope.  Cardinal_Bill | 07/28/06
Nobody would pay me enough to beta test--  Quebec-french | 07/28/06
I don' tthink anyone would pay you for anything.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 07/29/06
comming from someone like you  Quebec-french | 07/30/06
Someone like me buys guys like  No_Ax_to_Grind | 07/30/06
Someone like you...  whisperycat | 07/31/06
Actually,  Patrick Jones | 07/31/06
O'damn , let's not get so touchy George_Ou .  Intellihence | 07/29/06
nope but it does show you the  barsteward | 07/29/06
Mr OU stop the brown nosing please nt  toxicfreak | 07/28/06
NO ONE asked *you* to test anything.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 07/29/06
Pay to test?  rfr88@... | 07/29/06
Then don't do it...  No_Ax_to_Grind | 07/29/06
I bet this will bug the sh*t out of some people  Confused by religion | 07/28/06
There you go with that common sense thinga again.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 07/29/06
I think it is sad and funny  Patrick Jones | 07/31/06
RE: I bet this will bug the sh*t out of some people  richdave | 07/31/06
M$ greed never ceases to amaze me  DarthRidiculous | 07/28/06
Other thinking  A.Sinic | 07/31/06
torrent anyone?  Arm A. Geddon | 07/28/06
Gimme a break  mark16_15@... | 07/31/06
re: Gimme a break  Arm A. Geddon | 07/31/06
Cut MS some slack..........  dave95. | 07/28/06
Fiscally responsible  PB_z | 07/28/06
Fiscally Responsible....  crash89 | 07/28/06
Earth to crash89  John Zern | 07/28/06
Agreed, but....  crash89 | 07/29/06
Printers are $5.00, not $39.99  MGP2 | 07/31/06
Kudos: a well reasoned and articulated post ...  michael_t | 07/28/06
Fascinating mystery  theo_durcan | 07/28/06
Users aren't cheapskate's if they refuse to pay for it ,  Intellihence | 07/29/06
But technically Fool Hardy.  el1jones | 07/29/06
Where you are completely off base.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 07/29/06
You're actually right.  dave.leigh@... | 07/29/06
Of course it's marketing.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 07/30/06
I guess that Feedback Button isn't there either...  el1jones | 07/31/06
Internet Load  A.Sinic | 07/31/06
Like OOo is free  INGOTIAN | 07/31/06
Would you pay to test drive a car?  MGP2 | 07/31/06
Beta testing isn't the same thing  critic-at-arms | 07/31/06
So, you're saying it's OK then?  MGP2 | 08/01/06
I agree...  DMeeks | 07/31/06
MS Charges for Beta  radar_z | 08/01/06
Charging For A Beta?? BUWAHAHAHAHH!!!  itanalyst | 07/28/06
HAHAHAHAHAHA  John Zern | 07/28/06
Free  Cardinal_Bill | 07/28/06
In truth  John Zern | 07/28/06
Opps I see that your folks finally revealed the "family secret" ...  michael_t | 07/31/06
Unfortunately its not MS being the idiot  barsteward | 07/29/06
Getting Paid to Sail  mighetto | 07/31/06
What Babies!!  DMeeks | 07/31/06
Yup  tech.paul@... | 07/31/06
Beta=BROKEN and............  raymarc001 | 07/28/06
May I ask what kind of job you have?  harrisharris | 07/31/06
Nobody charges money to download beta's  Boot_Agnostic | 07/29/06
Well there you go, true innovation.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 07/29/06
And the clueless parade continues  Confused by religion | 07/29/06
Note who it is whining Milly...The same  No_Ax_to_Grind | 07/29/06
Yep.  Cardinal_Bill | 07/29/06
Rent???  No_Ax_to_Grind | 07/30/06
you believe you BAUGHT Word 1.0?  B.O.F.H. | 07/30/06
Without going into...  Cardinal_Bill | 07/31/06
Not entirely true  Michael Kelly | 07/29/06
Yep, I bought Vista beta to test my own software  stevey_d | 07/30/06
Nope, if you are a developer  No_Ax_to_Grind | 07/30/06
depends how you measure quality..  mdsmedia | 07/30/06
Interesting..  Patrick Jones | 07/31/06
Here's a better idea  elkinm | 07/29/06
HAHAHAHA PAY to be a BETA TESTER????  swbobcat | 07/29/06
I don' tthink you could qualify or meet the requirements  No_Ax_to_Grind | 07/30/06
That depends No_AX....  Arnout Groen | 07/31/06
You've got to be kidding...  Russedl | 08/01/06
Live Phishing  databaseben@... | 07/30/06
CIA  wadoz1 | 07/30/06
Recommendations  al.case.at.techspend | 07/30/06
Microsoft plans next week to charge a nominal fee for Office 2007 Beta 2  not of this world | 07/30/06
Actually...  A.Sinic | 07/31/06
Huh? Which MS product *ISN'T* betaware??  whisperycat | 07/31/06
actually...  nix_hed | 08/01/06
i am the typo king, bow before me mortals.  nix_hed | 08/01/06
Small Charge  georgegreen@... | 07/31/06
Whatever  mlrodman@... | 07/31/06
This is the software rental fee happy  BitTwiddler | 07/31/06
Push it on you? HOW?  Russedl | 08/01/06
A windows beta tester is born every second!  Reverend MacFellow | 07/31/06
darn  Boot_Agnostic | 07/31/06
nope  nix_hed | 08/01/06
Short Term Thinking  imguessing | 07/31/06
The hidden cost to Beta  firstworld | 07/31/06
Microsoft Charging for everything.  res1am1i@... | 07/31/06
Huh? "I" should get paid for being a tester.  aryderb | 07/31/06
At least this time they admit it . . .  critic-at-arms | 07/31/06
Microsoft saw an opportunity to score some $$$  chas_2 | 07/31/06
Bandwidth...  Russedl | 08/01/06
Are you really suprised?  No1Special | 08/01/06
Monopolies R' Us strikes again!  exspook | 08/01/06
And you care because why???  deepee912 | 08/01/06
Are you seriously complaining about $1.50!?!??  Russedl | 08/01/06
Fee fir Beta  rob_rein@... | 08/01/06
They've been charging for Betas for years...  ericha8 | 08/01/06
paying for beta testing  SRGRMB | 08/01/06
This looks more like a sociological experiment for MS to gauge  michael_t | 08/01/06
MS didn't need to do this with their bank  Boot_Agnostic | 08/02/06
Boycott them  format4nz@... | 08/05/06
Just download a beta of Open Office  Boot_Agnostic | 08/06/06
Excellent - scare them off so they won't commend on the FLAWS!!!  boed | 08/25/06

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