Tuesday, 1 August 2006

New Trend in beta Software as Microsoft Charges USD 1.50

When was the last time you checked to see how much a piece of beta software cost? Don’t look far as Microsoft will begin charging USD1.50 per download for Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 2. Could this be a new trend in beta software?

The company cites download demand in excess of three million in the two months since the beta 2 was made available and describes the decision to charge for further downloads as a 'cost recovery measure'. "This is the first time Microsoft has charged for an Office beta, and it's not something that is planned for on a repeat basis," a spokesperson said.

Although Microsoft's Information Worker Product Management Group decided to initiate a fee for new users of Beta 2, the 'technical refresh', or update, for current users of the software will remain free, the representative said. Those who want to test drive Beta 2 to see how it works can access the software for free. But if they want to test it against their internal systems, a download or the CD is required.

However, for those looking to test how the client and server systems behave within their own networks, a local installation is required. Beta 2 can be anything up to 2GB in size for the client version depending on which components are selected, and the server versions can exceed 1GB in size.

Microsoft has said that the decision to charge is not a blueprint for things to come and that there are no plans to introduce paid-for betas across the board.