Three and a half million people downloaded Beta 2 Technical Refresh of Office 2007, making it the largest Office beta program to date, according to the company. Other users chose to at Microsoft's Web site using the Internet Explorer Web browser.

A company representative told Computerworld that no new features have been introduced since the Beta 2. The company did, however, announce a new service -- SMS Link for Office Outlook 2007 -- that lets Outlook 2007 users send and receive e-mail, contacts, appointments and tasks to mobile phones as SMS text messages.

Office 2007 includes a revamped user interface, greater support for non-English languages and more collaboration tools and has been marked by controversy over a significantly revamped interface in many of the applications familiar menus and toolbars have been replaced with the Ribbon, a colorful tabbed bar divided into groups of icons and buttons organized by task. (See The Lowdown on Office 2007 for an in-depth review and visual tour of the suite's new interface.)

Microsoft praised the quantity and quality of the feedback from beta testers of the software suite. According to Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division, "The 2007 Microsoft Office system RTM [release to manufacturing] completes the most significant improvements to the products in more than a decade."

The suite will ship in seven editions. Microsoft Office Basic includes Word, Excel, and Outlook and is available only from OEMs, meaning it will most likely be the version preloaded on new desktops and notebooks. The new Office Home and Student (H&S) version includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.