Microsoft has launched a new way to use Office 2007 without downloading and installing the trial version.
Microsoft has launched a new way to use Office 2007 without downloading and installing the trial version.
It’s an online trial without installing anything except a browser plug-in. If you’ve used Windows Remote Desktop or Terminal Services then you’ll understand the concept.
This is a good idea because installing Office 2007 in its current beta form is only for either the brave or the foolhardy. In addition you won’t fully appreciate the interconnection between the core Office programs (Word etc) and the server-based elements like Sharepoint Server 2007 unless you can try a setup that integrates both.
Microsoft is calling this “Try before you buy” but given that Office 2007 isn’t yet for sale it’s really “Try but you can’t buy … yet.”
You can do this by starting here. A Windows Live ID is necessary (aka MSN login or Passport), then there are some survey-like questions about you and your company. You’re prompted to install a Citrix Metaframe plug-in which downloads and installs smoothly.
From there we’d like to be able to give you a report of our online trial experience, but we can’t because the connection with the server wouldn’t complete for us. Most likely the load on the server has been too high for everyone who wants to try it at present.
We can tell you that, if you can get on, you can demo the software but without the saving or printing options, so it’s not a replacement for your desktop software.
Using a terminal service for this demo has raised the conjecture that this initiative is partly a test of providing Office over the web. Microsoft denies this.
If you’d like to get some idea about how the new interface works, this online trial is certainly a non-invasive way of giving Office 2007 a run.
