Late June Targeted for Office 2003 Beta Refresh

In an e-mail sent to Office System testers Monday, Microsoft beta coordinators officially unveiled details behind the much anticipated Technical Refresh of Office 2003 Beta 2.

"We haven't sent a specific date, but are targeting the last half of June for most languages," the company said. "The languages are the same as Beta 2; English, French, German, and Japanese. Note The English-language version includes a multilingual user interface (MUI) pack for Chinese (simplified or traditional), Korean, Arabic, Japanese, and German."

Redmond first announced its intentions to issue a refresh of the latest beta release in April, with plans to make "a number of improvements to the Beta 2 versions of the Office System products."

To reduce the time it takes to distribute the update and avoid major delays to the final launch of Office 2003, Microsoft will make the refresh code available via download. Only Office files will be updated. "Downloads of update (patch) files will be available as the primary means of distribution," beta testers were told.

"A limited number of CD kits will be available for IEP or OEP technical beta participants who cannot use the download option. However there can be issues with delivery to some worldwide locations and the CD's could take 2 or more weeks to arrive."

Microsoft says it is still "on track to finish the product in the late summer," but has yet to announce a final ship date. A company spokesperson would not speculate as to what changes will be made to the Office 2003 release timetable to accommodate the Beta 2 refresh.