Office 2003 Delayed

The planned summer release of Office 2003 has been delayed to permit another round of beta testing. Microsoft is calling the new beta a “beta refresh,” because it will be a downloadable patch that can be applied only to existing beta installations. Although Microsoft had said only that it will release Office 2003 in “mid-summer,” the delay is likely to push Office’s release to manufacturing into August or September and general availability to October or November.

Reasons for the Delay

Microsoft did not cite a specific reason for the delay, but indicated it was related to the company’s “commitment to quality.”

The company might also be a victim of its own success in rolling out Beta 2 of Office. The US$29 product was purchased by more than 600,000 people and has built-in error-reporting mechanisms that automatically report usage data and bugs to the Office development team. It is likely that the company has had, as a result, more feedback on this beta than any it has launched before.