infoTECH Feature

March 17, 2010

Microsoft Sets Upgrade Pricing for Office 2010

By Lance Whitney
Microsoft (News - Alert) is moving forward with the upcoming debut of Office 2010 by setting a release date and free upgrade pricing for certain buyers. The folks in Redmond announced recently that the new Office edition will be available to the business world starting May 12 and to the general public in June. Also on stage for the May and June launch dates will be Visio 2010, Project 2010, and SharePoint 2010.
 
Those of you who already have an Enterprise Agreement or Open Value Subscription, which I described in a previous column, will be able to get the new Office for free as part of your software assurance. Any of you with a Technet Plus subscription, which I wrote about in the same column, can also grab Office 2010 for free.
 
But for the rest of you, Microsoft has unveiled the Office 2010 Technology Guarantee, a program that offers free upgrade pricing on individual copies of Office. If you buy Office 2007 between March 5 and September 30 this year, you qualify for a free upgrade to Office 2010. You can take advantage of the deal whether you buy Office 2007 on its own or as part of a new PC. But you must have purchased it from an authorized retailer—buying it off eBay (News - Alert) or Craigslist doesn’t count.
 
All you need do is activate your copy of Office 2007 by the September 30 deadline and set up a Windows Live account if you don’t already have one. You’ll also need to have the purchase date and the 25-character product ID for Office 2007. You can then redeem the guarantee by visiting the Office 2010 Technology Guarantee Website where you can download your free upgrade or order an upgrade CD for a small fee. You must register to get the upgrade by October 31.
 
The Tech Guarantee entitles you to upgrade your Office 2007 edition to a corresponding version of 2010. Home and Student 2007 users will get Home and Student 2010. Owners of Office 2007 Standard or Basic can upgrade to Office Home and Business 2010. And users of Office 2007 Small Business, Professional, and Ultimate qualify for Office Professional 2010. Those of you with the 2007 editions of Project and Visio can also upgrade to their 2010 counterparts.
 
Office Home and Student 2010 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Office Home and Business 2010 adds Outlook, while Office Professional 2010 completes the mix by throwing in Access and Publisher.
 
The guarantee is geared toward individual users and SOHO customers who don’t have any volume licensing plans in place. Microsoft is offering up to 25 free upgrades per person. So those of you who work for or with small businesses with no other licensing plans might find this a worthwhile option.
 
You can learn more about the guarantee and find the answers to some of your questions at Microsoft’s Technology Guarantee FAQ page.
 
 

Lance Whitney is a journalist, IT consultant, and Web Developer with almost 20 years of experience in the IT world. To read more of Lance's articles, please visit his columnist page

Edited by Stefania Viscusi
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