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February 16, 2006
Behold Office 2007 (Ars Technica)
The big news here is the "student" version, which was previously known as the "Student and Teacher" edition. Microsoft introduced that version with Office v.X for the Mac and Office 2003, and the company allowed it to be sold in just about every possible retail location. The end result was that people who were neither students nor teachers were buying the edition because of its low price, and Microsoft didn't care. With 2007, the company is formally acknowledging that many people just want a few apps for the lowest cost possible, now pitching the $149 price point for both academic and home settings.
If the basics don't do it for you, the next entry point is considerably steeper. Office Standard 2007, which includes Outlook as well as the standard trinity of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, will retail for $399. Upgrades to this version will be $239, and this is the lowest price that any 2003 users can pay to upgrade to 2007, since upgrades are not available for Basic or academic versions. Small Business 2007 adds Publisher 2007 and the business contacts manager for Outlook, for $449 ($279 upgrade).
[Geektastic! Another affordable version of Office for students and academics. However, I am not sure how much more Office my Hewlett-Packard 256MB RAM Windows XP desktop can chug. It processes sluggishly with Office 2005 on it now. Besides, there is a new edition of Adobe Macromedia's Studio 8 available that I run on my iBook, but I think I will wait for the next Office for Mac and buy a double whammy then. BK]
Posted by kuechebj at February 16, 2006 03:44 PM