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Technology news and Jobs 
Fuzzy Logic Axed: Office 2003 goes bye-bye says Microsoft
Fuzzy Logic Axed: Office 2003 goes bye-bye says Microsoft | Axed: Office 2003 goes bye-bye says Microsoft |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Thursday, 21 June 2007 | |
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The focus will shift to Office 2007, although companies that have taken up Microsoft’s Volume Licensing program will be able to downgrade to Office 2003 and upgrade to Office 2007 in the future when desired without additional license fees. However this does not extend to OEM licenses of Office 2007 – these cannot be downgraded to Office 2003, leaving customers who want the more familiar Office 2003 menu structure to either use the free Open Office, or free Web 2.0 based Office clones such as Zoho, Google’s Docs and Spreadsheets or the Think Free Office Suite. Corel’s Wordperfect Office suite is yet another another software alternative. One option for users wanting Office 2007 but still wish they could have access to the familiar Office menu structure that has been around for more than a decade have the ‘Classic Menu for Office 2007’ software at their disposal. This adds a new tab in the Office 2007 ribbon which is placed at the very left of the existing ribbon tabs and restores the Office 2003 menus to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access, with a Classic Menu for Outlook 2007 promised in the near future. The software sells for US $29.95 and exists as fully functioning trialware for 15 days, but if purchased in large quantities would factor into any purchase decision due to the fact it’s not free but paid software. Other similar alternatives exist but also must be paid for. The announcement was made in a Microsoft MSDN blog by Eric Ligman, a Senior Manager in Microsoft’s ‘Small Business Community Engagement’ program. Ligman said that: “After June 30, 2007, OEM Microsoft Office 2003 will no longer be available from Microsoft. Some authorized OEM Microsoft distributors may have some remaining inventory left for a short time after June 30th; however, Microsoft will no longer be shipping OEM Microsoft Office to them. For all system builders, you can see more about this on the Microsoft System Builder website”. He also reminded OEMs that: “If you are a Microsoft system builder, make sure you are buying legitimate Microsoft OEM software through the authorized OEM Microsoft distributors to help protect your clients from illegal or counterfeit software floating around out there. I have posted a list of OEM System Builder Partner Resources and posted about the dangers of buying OEM through sites online in the past. Not to mention the potential exposure to an audit or fine that illegal software opens your clients up to”. Support for Office 2003 will continue until January 13, 2009, with ‘critical’ security bugs guaranteed to be patched and fixed up until January 14, 2014. Windows XP is in a similar position to Office 2003 as the previous generation which Microsoft would like to also stop selling. Windows XP sales will cease at retail level and through OEMs on January 31, 2008. That won’t mark the end of Windows XP sales however as system builders will be given the option to continue selling XP to customers that want it right up until January 31, 2009, by which time Vista’s successor, codenamed Windows Seven, should start becoming much more prominent on everyone’s radar. So, goodbye, Office 2003, you served us well and made lots of money for Microsoft even while the Web 2.0 clones slowly grew in strength and number, but now it’s time for both Office 2007, and soon, Office 2008 for Mac, to bask in the limelight and take up the fight against Open Office, Corel and software via the web. {moscomment}
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