Office 2007 Goes Gold

By Geoff Duncan November 6, 2006

Software juggernaut Microsoft announced today that it has sent Microsoft Office 2007 for Windows to manufacturing, ending the large Office beta release and testing program the company has ever undertaken. Business customers and volume licensees will be able to set hands on Office 2007 beginning November 30, 2006—the same date those customers will be able to obtain Windows Vista and Exchange Server 2007. Everyday consumers will have to wait until January, 2007, to purchase either Windows Vista or Office 2007.

“We’ve crossed the development finish line, and the team deserves to celebrate,” said Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division. “The 2007 Microsoft Office system RTM completes the most significant improvements to the products in more than a decade. It’s rewarding to be able to send this release off to our customers and help them take the next big leap forward in productivity.”

According to the company, more than 3.5 million people downloaded the second beta release of Office 2007.

Microsoft plans a series of new tools and Office trials to promote the new release, including downloadable product trials via Office Online beginning December 1, 2006 (these are in addition to the Office Test Drive already available), plus 35 new demos, 24 new online training courses, 400 new downloadable doocument templates, and some 50,000 new help articles. Microsoft has posted a complete product guide to Office 2007, along with a summary of new features; however, in true Microsoft fashion, you may need to be using Internet Explorer to view them.

Microsoft plans to office Home and Student and Professional editions of Office 2007, as well as upgrades to the Professional version; pricing information has not been announced.

Editors' Recommendations

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Computing

How to create a new team in Microsoft Teams

Example of Teams chat.

Few communication applications are as versatile as Microsoft Teams. Along with allowing you to send quick messages to teammates or launch a video chat, the software is fully integrated with Office 365 so you can optimize its performance. One of its most useful features, however, is the ability to create a new team. This lets you group people together so they can chat about certain projects or goals without spamming everyone in your organization.

Knowing how to make a new team and how to properly organize teams makes it easy for a company to enhance productivity and streamline communication. When used effectively, Microsoft Teams is useful for both in-office and remote workers, ensuring everyone stays on the same page regardless of location.

Computing

Walmart shoppers can’t get enough of this $169 HP laptop with Office 365

HP 14 laptop with intel Celeron on desk.

With more than 1,000 units sold over the past 24 hours, the HP Stream 14 is one of the most popular laptop deals on Walmart right now. That's because from its already affordable original price of $229, it's currently available for even lower at $169 for savings of $60. You're going to have to manage your expectations with this device, but for this cheap, you're going to get amazing value for your money, especially since it comes with a year of access to Office 365. You'll need to act fast though -- at this rate, stocks of the laptop will get sold out sooner than you think.

Why you should buy the HP Stream 14 laptop
The HP Stream 14 laptop isn't going to challenge the performance of the best laptops with its Intel Celeron N4120 processor, Intel UHD Graphics 600, and 4GB of RAM. However, it will be more than enough to tackle daily activities like typing documents, making presentations, and managing spreadsheets. To help you with these tasks, the laptop comes with a one-year subscription to Office 365, or now officially known as Microsoft 365, which will give you access to Microsoft's popular line of productivity apps that include Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

Computing

How to set up an out-of-office reply in Outlook on any device

Automatic Replies in Outlook on the web on a Mac.

If you’re going to be away from work on vacation, a leave of absence, or something similar, you may want to set up out-of-office in Microsoft Outlook. This is an automatic reply that lets others know that you’re away and won’t be responding for a particular time period.

The nice thing about automatic replies like this in Outlook is that you can schedule them for the timeframe you need. If you prefer, you can also turn the feature on and off manually.