Dan Warne15 September 2006, 3:19 AM
Officially, Aussies are still blocked from downloading the Office 2007 beta, but we've found a direct download link that will let you get the technical refresh -- the final beta before Office 2007 goes to manufacturing.
If you, like me, installed Office 2007 beta 2 and found it frankly unusable due to the number of bugs, you'll really want to get the Technical Refresh that came out today.
Microsoft says this will be the final beta before Office is shipped, so it's no doubt a substantial improvement on the bug-laden code of beta 2.
It has over 1,000 user interface changes.
The trouble for Australian users is that if you go to the Office 2007 beta 2 download page and click the "download the beta now" button, you'll be offered a list of countries to choose from that doesn't include Australia.
That's a result of Microsoft closing down the Office beta program to Australians, arguing that it only ever intended to offer a limited number of downloads in each region of the world, and Aussies had maxed out the quota. (Damn you tech enthusiasts, blowing out Microsoft's bandwidth bill!)
In other areas of the world, it still offers the beta at $US1.50 per download, but for some reason, Microsoft doesn't want to take the grubby Australian dollar.
However, as long as you already have the original release of Office 2007 beta 2 (included on APC's cover DVD on the July 2006 edition) it's my pleasure to present to you the direct download link for Office 2007 beta 2 technical refresh anyway... and it works from Australia.
