Shock: Microsoft to charge for Office beta downloads starting August 2nd

[Milhouse Van Houten]

(This is a great way to encourage the public to help MS test their products.
And one wonders what's in store for Vista, which is several times larger.
Note: MS makes about $1 billion in net income--profit--per month and has $40
billion in cash reserves.)

By Dawn Kawamoto
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+to+charge+for+Office+beta/2100-1012_3-6099987.html

Story last modified Fri Jul 28 15:25:25 PDT 2006

Microsoft plans next week to charge a nominal fee for Office 2007 Beta 2
downloads, in 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 spokeswoman 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 spokeswoman
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 spokeswoman said.

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

"This is the first time Microsoft has charged for an Office beta, and it's
not something that is planned for on a repeat basis," the spokeswoman said.

 

[Milly Staples - MVP Outlook]

1. You are NOT beta testers, you are beta users.

2. I, for one, hope this puts a major stop to the public downloading this
beta, installing on production essential machines and then yelling like
stuck pigs when it doesn't work.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Milhouse Van Houten asked:

| (This is a great way to encourage the public to help MS test their
| products. And one wonders what's in store for Vista, which is several
| times larger. Note: MS makes about $1 billion in net
| income--profit--per month and has $40 billion in cash reserves.)
|

 

[JoAnn Paules [MVP]]

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe, just maybe, having to pay something
will make people stop and think about whether it's worth screwing up their
system. A buck and a half isn't much but it'll stop some people.

 

[Patrick Schmid]

Same thought here.

Patrick Schmid
--------------
http://pschmid.net

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe, just maybe, having to pay something
will make people stop and think about whether it's worth screwing up their
system. A buck and a half isn't much but it'll stop some people.

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]

1. You are NOT beta testers, you are beta users.

2. I, for one, hope this puts a major stop to the public downloading this
beta, installing on production essential machines and then yelling like
stuck pigs when it doesn't work.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Milhouse Van Houten asked:

| (This is a great way to encourage the public to help MS test their
| products. And one wonders what's in store for Vista, which is several
| times larger. Note: MS makes about $1 billion in net
| income--profit--per month and has $40 billion in cash reserves.)
|

 

[Milhouse Van Houten]

I don't know, these responses sound more like grousing from the
shell-shocked on the support front lines. I empathize, but my thoughts go
more toward what's best for the product, not what's best for those
supporting it. What's best for you guys is not to release it at all to the
general public, not even for a price. What's best for the product is to
encourage as many people as possible to try it, because all it takes is one
of them to find that major problem that would have slipped through the
cracks otherwise, thereby causing perhaps millions later using the finished
product to experience it themselves, along with another bruising round of
bad publicity for Microsoft (particularly if it's a security issue).

Same thought here.

Patrick Schmid
--------------
http://pschmid.net

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe, just maybe, having to pay something
will make people stop and think about whether it's worth screwing up
their
system. A buck and a half isn't much but it'll stop some people.

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]




"Milly Staples - MVP Outlook"

1. You are NOT beta testers, you are beta users.

2. I, for one, hope this puts a major stop to the public downloading
this
beta, installing on production essential machines and then yelling like
stuck pigs when it doesn't work.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Milhouse Van Houten asked:

| (This is a great way to encourage the public to help MS test their
| products. And one wonders what's in store for Vista, which is several
| times larger. Note: MS makes about $1 billion in net
| income--profit--per month and has $40 billion in cash reserves.)
|

 

[Patrick Schmid]

I don't have a problem at all releasing the product to a wide public
audience. Unfortunately the meaning of a beta has been eroded over the
past few years thanks to software that has been labeled beta, but
essentially was marketed and is often just free, fully working software
(I am thinking of the many Google betas, MS betas like Windows Defender,
etc). Office 2007 on the other hand is a real beta with all its flaws.
There are many, many people out there who know what they are getting
themselves into with this beta. Those people come to these newsgroups,
because something doesn't seem to work correctly. Almost all of them
though never endanger production data though. I have followed up quite a
few of those posts with a private email conversation and then submitted
issues they found as bugs to Microsoft. The beta should be publically
available so that this can happen. In addition, these are the users who
will be teaching Office 2007, rolling it out, etc and therefore really
need a look at the product before its release.
On the other hand, there are unfortunately too many posts of users that
follow the same sad pattern: downloaded B2, installed it over a working
Office 2003 on a production machine, now in serious trouble, lost data,
etc. and then the scream for help. It is really sad to see how many
users have wrecked perfectly working systems with this beta and got into
trouble. For those users own best, I can just hope that the fee will
stop them from recklessly doing this.

Patrick Schmid
--------------
http://pschmid.net

I don't know, these responses sound more like grousing from the
shell-shocked on the support front lines. I empathize, but my thoughts go
more toward what's best for the product, not what's best for those
supporting it. What's best for you guys is not to release it at all to the
general public, not even for a price. What's best for the product is to
encourage as many people as possible to try it, because all it takes is one
of them to find that major problem that would have slipped through the
cracks otherwise, thereby causing perhaps millions later using the finished
product to experience it themselves, along with another bruising round of
bad publicity for Microsoft (particularly if it's a security issue).

Same thought here.

Patrick Schmid
--------------
http://pschmid.net

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe, just maybe, having to pay something
will make people stop and think about whether it's worth screwing up
their
system. A buck and a half isn't much but it'll stop some people.

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]




"Milly Staples - MVP Outlook"
<[email protected]>
wrote in message 1. You are NOT beta testers, you are beta users.

2. I, for one, hope this puts a major stop to the public downloading
this
beta, installing on production essential machines and then yelling like
stuck pigs when it doesn't work.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Milhouse Van Houten asked:

| (This is a great way to encourage the public to help MS test their
| products. And one wonders what's in store for Vista, which is several
| times larger. Note: MS makes about $1 billion in net
| income--profit--per month and has $40 billion in cash reserves.)
|