Office 2007 is Golden

[john]

Today marks the start of a very special month. Office 2007 is Golden, yes thats right for anyone who doesn't understand the phrase Golden in this context, Microsoft today announced that Office 2007 has been RTM - Released To Manufacturing.

 

REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 6, 2006 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the completion of the 2007 Microsoft® Office system code and confirmed its release to manufacturing (RTM). This gold code milestone concludes the largest Microsoft Office beta program to date, with more than 3.5 million people downloading Beta 2. The unprecedented quantity of feedback from beta testers and customers helped the Office development team effectively validate product quality and optimize performance. Microsoft Office RTM also marks a critical step toward worldwide business availability of the 2007 Office system, Windows Vista™ operating system and Exchange Server 2007 on Nov. 30, 2006. To underscore the significance of this new day for business, Microsoft executives will participate in events around the globe, including an event with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in New York. General availability of the products will follow in early 2007.

 

So its on its way! Yay! One down 2 more to go!

 

Press Release text from http://www.microsoft.com:80/presspass/press/2006/nov06/11-062007OfficeRTMPR.mspx

[Geoff]

Educational Prices? How much for upgrades from 2k/XP/2k3 for example?

[john]

According to Ramesys when I asked them about it 2 weeks ago they said it was expected to be approx the same price for Office 2007 Pro as we pay now for Office 2003 Pro. (I get via the Specialist Schools Licence with them) so thats what they were expecting, so that makes it £30-£40 area if I remember correctly.

[Ravening_Wolf]

Does one not get the free upgrades for the life of their volume license agreement?

[mrforgetful]

You know what annoys me about Ramesys nowadays?

 

It used to be when you bought software from them you paid the license, and paid £20 for media if you needed it. Fair enough. The media was a nice holographic legitimate Microsoft CD, worth the one off £20 to have a nice shiney CD to look.

Now, you buy the license as before, and pay £20 for media. Unofrtunately it's now a cheap knock-off CDR with a Ramesys sticker on the top. I could run one of those off myself!

 

I'm bitter because like Magpies, I like the shiney CDs!! Bring them back!

[john]

I have only had one of them for Server 2003 R2 and that was because I wanted it urgently for a new system and they had run out of the MS disks, but still cost me £20 for them which is a ripoff, but if they are doing that for all of them now thats not good.

[GrumbleDook]

There are 2 reasons why this is done ... firstly that is how they get it from MS ... secondly, the shiny, holographic CDs are to stop piracy ... surely no school gets involved with that so why bother?

 

I'll get my coat .. it's the one with the external hard drive full of ISOs of software we need to "archive" off-site!

[john]

You lost me Tony, were moaning that Ramesys are selling us Ramesys cloned CDs, not the nice shiny holographics disks. We want the nice shiny disks as they are soo........ (gets distracted by shiny MS Licencing Disks on his desk.....)

 

I have a hard disk like yours as well, it matches my CD set, i'll send you a 500GB drive and a copy of ghost boot disk

[GrumbleDook]

Ramesys get a master image from MS ... they get permission to create their own CDs/DVDs from those images as another method of keeping prices low ... MS cant see the point in sending out lovely holographic disks to schools as school don't get involved in the priacy stuff and aren't going to sell on their only original holographic copy of the media ... so they aren't likely to sell the Ramesys branded version either ... it is only naughty business types that do that ...

 

People in schools never get involved with pirated or unlicensed software ...

[john]

But why are we still paying £20 for media sets then when it now must cost Ramesys like 20p to make them?

[GrumbleDook]

Because the costs are offset in the licenses ... we may pay £x for the license but the cost the latest slashes of prices are partly due to the taking over of production of the CDs by Ramesys ... it also means Ramesys are no longer reliant on Microsoft for delivery of media ... something that has been an issue in the past ... a major issues for some people (me included!)

[john]

hmmm, my licence costs aint fallen, they are still the same as they were at the start of the year.... Must be time to press harder

[GrumbleDook]

These were from a wile ago ... IIRC the first Ramesys CD we got was 18 months ago ...

[Norphy]

Because the costs are offset in the licenses ... we may pay £x for the license but the cost the latest slashes of prices are partly due to the taking over of production of the CDs by Ramesys ... it also means Ramesys are no longer reliant on Microsoft for delivery of media ... something that has been an issue in the past ... a major issues for some people (me included!)

 

I don't see it myself. When we order MS licences, we generally order thousands of pounds worth at a time. Our last two orders from Ramesys were of the value of £20k and £9k. Making a poxy £24.70 on media doesn't seem like that much when you consider that kind of volume

 

That said, the last lots of media they've sent us were free too

[GrumbleDook]

yeah ... we only tend to pay for mislaid* or damaged media replacements now

 

*mislaid means that it has been tidied away instead of being put back into the main CD storage case and put back into the server room ... and tidied usually means dropped into a box with other stuff and hidden in the the strong room we use for storage ... and it will be discovered during the next major tidy up ... which will probably be Easter!

[john]

I am naughty, and misplace media often, but in my last place we were too poor to buy a new copy so we borrowed another schools disks, they were also from Ramesys and SST agreement so we thought we would get away with it for a while, which we did. Now I remember to get 2 sets one for the safe / strong cabinet and one for real use and I never go for the others until I have really really really looked for the main set.

[GrumbleDook]

Yep ... and this is why we have backup ISOs too ... in case we get desperate.

[k-strider]

When i joined my school they were in the Schools Agreement.. i'm looking at a buy out cause i'm not sure how cost effective it is... but thats OT...

 

the point is cause im a VL customer i get a login at Licenses.microsoft.com which allows me to d/l ISOs... my Software provider charges me 25-40 odd for media but i can get the ISO for free direct from MS

[Xiol]

If you get your licenses from Dabs they send you the official shiny CDs in an official Microsoft folder.

 

IIRC, they were a bit cheaper than Ramsys too...

[Simcfc73]

Since I found the microsoft licensing website I download IMG files direclty from microsoft and don't get official disks.

 

Always hated spending £30 on a disk anyway.

[StewartKnight]

The start of this thread (if you can remember that far back) was about Office 2007 going Golden, great, but at the time of writing, I can't download it from Licensing.Micro$haft, which is odd..... because it WAS there when they released Vista........

[Simcfc73]

I downloaded it last week from them. It was called

 

Office Professional Plus 2007 Win32 English Disk Kit MVL CD

 

Trying to get Exchange 2007 but it seems to be 5517Mb so I might do it at home on my faster connection.

[StewartKnight]

Just installed the new Office 2007, and the computer (Vista) needed to reboot.... for office! For goodness sake!!!

[Simcfc73]

Burn Bill at the stake.