Microsoft announces Office upgrade guarantee 7 March, 2010 By Mark Cox

PromoPipeline Exclusive Channel Promotions Find Out How You Can Make Money Today! ENROLL FREE! >> Underpromising William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels Services: I Can See Clearly Now Beth Vanni - Amazon Consulting Cutting the margin so many times William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels The Sign of Success - High Maintenance William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels Question for the Times: Build or Resell? Gary Bixler - AMD

Microsoft gave exactly the same kind of guarantee when it released Office 2007, said Jason Brommet, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Office, Microsoft Canada. The intent is to prevent a dropoff in sales between now and the product release by customers who don't want to get stuck with a key applications suite that is about to become obsolete.

"The focus here is really on the consumer and small business markets," Brommet said.

To be eligible for the Office 2010 Technology Guarantee, a customer who purchases Office 2007, or a new PC with Office 2007, and activates it between March 5, 2010 and September 30, 2010 needs to have or create a Windows Live ID and redeem the Tech Guarantee before October 31, 2010 by visiting http://office2010.microsoft.com/search/redir/FX101810297.aspx?lc=en-ca

Microsoft simultaneously made another announcement in addition to the Office 2010 Technology Guarantee. It confirmed that Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 are on schedule and will release to manufacturing (RTM) next month.

"This is a significant announcement, that we are on target date for RTM, and I would encourage partners who have related applications to make sure they are on time for that wagon," Brommet said. "Partners need to be the first out of the gate."

For businesses, Microsoft will launch the 2010 set of products, including Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010, and Project 2010 worldwide on May 12.

For consumers, Office 2010 will be available online and on retail shelves this June.