[WinPartners] Microsoft Office 2003 Release Announcement

[Bryant C. Vernon]

Date: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
To: MIT Community: itpartners at mit.edu, winpartners at mit.edu,
sw-release-announce at mit.edu, ed-tech at mit.edu, kakapo at mit.edu
Cc: itag at mit.edu, is&t at mit.edu
From: Software Release Team
Subject: Microsoft Office 2003 Release Announcement

Good Afternoon,

I am pleased to announce support for Microsoft Office 2003. Microsoft Office
2003 is the latest version of the Office productivity suite from Microsoft
for the Windows platform and includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. 

A separate release effort will ensue shortly that focuses on Outlook
support.  

New Features and Improvements to Microsoft Office: 
--------------------------------------------------
-Office 2003 Pro includes additional support for Extensible Markup Language
(XML)
-Word 2003 Formatting and Editing Restrictions maintain formatting structure
and document integrity

For a complete list of new features, please reference the Microsoft Office
2003 Reviewer's Guide
(http://www.microsoft.com/office/editions/prodinfo/guide.mspx) or visit the
Microsoft Office 2003 Product Information Site
(http://www.microsoft.com/office/editions/prodinfo/default.mspx).

Known Issues:
-------------
- You should immediately apply the Office 2003 Critical Update: KB828041
from Microsoft.  This update fixes an issue in Microsoft Word 2003,
Microsoft Excel 2003 and Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 that occurs when opening
a file last edited and saved in Office 2000. Under this specific scenario it
is possible for graphic content to be inadvertently lost on save.

-After installing Office 2003 you should turn off script debugging in
Internet Explorer to avoid being prompted to debug scripts. Testing and user
feedback has proven this prompt to be an issue in some cases.

Instructions for addressing these issues can be found in the Office 2003
documentation link from the Getting Help section below.

Discontinuation of Support for Office 2000:
-------------------------------------------
In order to provide support for the latest Office release, support for
Microsoft Office 2000 will end on June 30, 2004.

How to Obtain:
--------------
Special pricing for Microsoft Office and other Microsoft applications is
available through MIT's Microsoft Select Agreement from GovConnection:
http://web.mit.edu/ecat/govconnection/

GovConnection Part# - Product Description 		- MIT Pricing
462225 	- Office 2003 Standard License Only 	- $45.24
461895 	- Office 2003 Professional License Only 	- $54.19

You will also need Select installation media to install Office and use the
select license key; we recommend you purchase the media at the same time if
needed.  Use GovConnection# 463851 for Office 2003 Standard CDs and
GovConnection# 463853 for Office 2003 Professional.  Both cost $22.47. One
media set can be used for multiple installations for the Select License.

Both the licenses and media are special order, so expect about 7 days for
delivery.

Please note that your department may have special licensing agreements with
Microsoft that supersede MIT's licensing agreement. If you have questions
regarding departmental licensing agreements, please contact your
departmental IT administrator or administrative officer.   

Getting Help:
-------------
The Office 2003 at MIT page is located at:
http://itinfo.mit.edu/product?vid=613

If you have a question or need assistance, please contact the Computing Help
Desk at computing-help at mit.edu or x3-1101.

All the Best,
Bryant C. Vernon
Microsoft Office 2003 Product Release Coordinator 
Software Release Team 
Information Services and Technology