Microsoft has accidentally posted details about a promotion it will be running for those who buy Office 2007 a few months before and after the release of Office 2010 in June 2010. It is called the "Microsoft Office 2010 Technology Guarantee Program," though Redmond is not yet ready to announce it. "Microsoft has not disclosed an Office 2010 Technology Guarantee," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. "We have no further comment at this time."
According to a cached copy of a post on "In The Know - Charles Van Heusen's Weblog," which is part of the Microsoft US Partner Community website, Customers who purchase a copy of Office 2007, with or without a new PC, from an authorized reseller between March 5, 2010 and September 30, 2010 qualify for the promotion. They must install and activate Office 2007 by September 30, 2010 and request their free Office 2010 product by October 31, 2010 using an activated Office 2007 Product Key and a dated sales receipt. Office 2010 will be available for a free download for those that qualify, though discs will be orderable for a fee (Microsoft usually charges for shipping and handling when sending out copies of discs for software it is giving away via download). One Office 2010 product is allowed per qualifying Office 2007 purchase, though there is a limit of 25 per person.
This information leaked via a post that quickly disappeared. Clearly Microsoft wanted to tell its partners about the offer in advance, but the information was inadvertently posted publicly instead. We spotted it via our RSS reader, but when we tried to access the actual blog post via the accompanying link, it led to a dead end. Microsoft had pulled the blog post. Thankfully our RSS reader still showed the content, and thus we knew it was cached somewhere. Only Google was quick enough to pick it up; it's not on Yahoo or Bing.
Microsoft has offered such deals in the past, both for Windows and Office (a similar leak occurred for Windows 7 eight months ago). For example, the Technology Guarantee Programs For Microsoft Office & Windows currently says that the Technology Guarantee program for Windows XP has ended. The one for Microsoft Office 2003 is still available in nine countries. Microsoft did not say what countries this offer would be available in, but it will likely be an international offer again.
Taking the March 2010 date into consideration, Redmond likely plans to officially announce the Microsoft Office 2010 Technology Guarantee Program in the coming weeks. We can't say for sure that all the information listed above will remain unchanged, but we will post updates as this story develops.
Source: ars technica
