Microsoft Office 2003 Readied For ReleaseMicrosoft Office 2003 Readied For Release

Microsoft's Office 2003 applications have been released to manufacturing, setting the stage for their availability on new PCs in September and then more widely via retail stores on Oct. 21. The upgraded software suite will be formally launched in New York on Oct. 21.

The sticker price for Office 2003's various editions will be unchanged from the existing Office XP editions. The standard edition will list for $399, while a professional edition will be priced at $499. The standard edition will come with Word 2003, Excel 2003, PowerPoint 2003, and Outlook 2003; the professional edition will include those, plus Access 2003, Publisher 2003, and Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager.

Two new applications, InfoPath 2003 and OneNote 2003, will be priced separately, at $199 each. For businesses customers, the Office 2003 apps will be available on Microsoft's volume price list beginning Sept. 1.

Company officials refer to the full software suite as the Microsoft Office System, a reference to the increasing interdependencies between the Office desktop applications, complementary server software such as SharePoint Portal Server 2003, and services in the Windows Server 2003 operating system.