A distinction that Microsoft is making between professional and standard versions of Office 2003 means that many customers may not get all the features they've been expecting, including broad support for Web services.

For more than a year, Microsoft has touted Office 2003's support for Extensible Markup Language (XML), a highly anticipated new feature of the productivity suite. But Microsoft now plans to fully deliver the feature only in the two high-end versions of the product, one of which will be available only to businesses subscribing to Microsoft's volume-licensing program.


Two other features also are similarly restricted: the document protection technology Windows ... more

While I was browsing on the beta place website I went into the bug fixes section and by the looks of it RTM is being put underway and there will be no beta 3 for all of the testers.



I guess MS wants to push this office out quick and find all of the bugs so they are workin on RTM!
Source : Windowsxpstuff.net ... more

CNET News.com
February 20, 2003, 12:18 PM PT:


Developers and enterprise customers are getting their first glimpse of OneNote, one of two new Office 2003 applications that Microsoft accidentally posted--then quickly removed--from the Web on Wednesday. Microsoft inadvertently released a new test version of OneNote, along with copies of the other new program, InfoPath, and the entire Office 2003 Professional suite.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company posted the Office 2003 betas to its Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) around noon Wednesday, but pulled the software a little more than six hours later following an inquiry from CNET News.com. The accidental posting p ... more

Office 11 beta 2 Released on MSDN
Thats right people. If you have an MSDN universal account you can go grab Office 11 beta 2 right now as its just been posted.

Readmore...As you can see from the screenshot below, included this time is OneNote 2003
beta 2 (scribbler) and InfoPath beta 2 (XDocs).
This surely means that Office 11 beta 2 Kits for testers will be shipped very soon. Office 2003 Beta 2 Core Update Readme Office 11 Beta 2 Homepage ... more

Office 2002 was retailed as Office XP. The next office started as Office NGO (next generation office) then codename Office 11, Office .NET and as of Beta 2 will be released as Office 2003.


... more

Thanks Chris. "Be one of the first to use OneNote. Sign up to receive information about the OneNote beta program and other OneNote news. We expect the beta to be available early in 2003. Shipping and handling charges may apply and participation may be limited to select countries. "
Sign-up : HERE ... more

As you may already be aware, Microsoft will be upgrading their Sharepoint Team Services servers to "Beta 2 bits", according to Microsoft today. You can read the email sent to all Beta 1 participants by clicking the 'Read More' link below.
In preparation for Beta 2 which will be coming in Q1 2003, the Office 11 pre-release program that you are participating in will be upgrading the Hosted SharePoint Team Services Beta 1 servers to Beta 2 bits in mid February 2003.



This letter is being sent to inform you, the site owner and beta participant, of our plan to upgrade these servers and the potential impact to your hosted beta site. This message will be sent twice to the site own ... more

A group called the "Holics Project" have, according to various reliable resources, successfully released a working "crack" that disables Office 11 Beta 1's WPA (Windows Production Activation) module. Sources within WinBeta have confirmed the crack to be a working example of software that "breaks" WPA, for now at least.
This really is quite a blow to Microsoft's anti-piracy effort. Not only is it an embarrassment, but unlike previous Microsoft cracks this crack patches files, as opposed to simply resetting timing mechanisms. This proves a major "advancement" (if one might call it that) against Microsoft's anti-piracy mechanisms. The crack patches the files "Mso.dll", in a similar fashion to ... more