2007 Microsoft Office System Public Beta 2 now available

I just received word from Microsoft that the public beta of Microsoft Office 2007 is now available.  I have been using Beta 1 for some time and have been not so patiently waiting for this new beta and I will grab it as soon as I can get in, as the servers seem to be swamped.  I notice that the official (and new) name for Office 2007 is 2007 Microsoft Office System.  That’s certainly a mouthful.  If you want to take the new beta on just keep trying until you can get in for the download.  Don’t forget to download OneNote, in my opinion the best program of the lot.

The downloads are handled by a new utility that makes downloading multiple products a breeze, which is a nice touch.  Note that on the two profile pages you have to fill out to get to the download you must fill out all questions, even though they do not say they are required.  Otherwise you get an error and have to start over.

Comments

[scoobie]

I keep getting an error! Anyone else get this? I'm sure I've filled out the whole form

[scoobie]

I've managed to install smartsource for microsoft office downloads. Then it asks for my email address, then it says "invalid email address". Grrrrr. It was too much to hope this beta process would be smooth

[Tablet PC User]

Scoobie,

The servers are swamped! I'm getting the exact problem. If you don't get through today, try again later on in the week.

You must remember that Office is THE most popular office productive suite on the planet! EVERYONE in EVERY part of the globe is trying to download right now.

[scoobie]

Maybe , but it should say "servers are busy" , instead it says "invalid user, contact customer support". Then it doesn't give a link to customer support

So I've hunted them down on the web

I've registered a complaint with licensetech who seem to have had the download outsourced to them

http://www.licensetech.com/4_contact.asp

[Todd]

Got it downloaded and installed, but is anybody getting a dialog box saying that it can't find an "active connection the the Internet" when you try to activate?

Before you ask.... I do have an active connection (can get to email and various websites) and have tried this both at home and at work.

[JonGH]

Todd,
I have experienced exactly the same problem. I have an active connection and my firewall is correctly onfigured. For now I'm asuming that the servers are busy so I'm going to keep trying.

Best of luck to you, so far I've used and loved Outlook and Word. haven't hada chance to get into OneNote but will later today.

[Todd]

Yeah, I got it to Activate by just clicking 'OK' then 'Next', when the dialog box said it couldn't find a connection. Eventually, it went through. I would have prefereed the message to be something like "Servers too busy" because otherwise the user is lead to believe that it's an issue on their end.

Kinda tedious, but I understand the servers are getting hammered.