REDMOND, Wash., May 9, 1997 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the upcoming Microsoft® Office 97 Service Release, scheduled to be available in July, further assisting the large number of customers migrating to Office 97. With more than 60 million Office application users, and more than 8 million Office 97 licenses sold to date, Microsoft is responding to customer feedback about migration challenges and is hard at work on a release that will address those needs.
“Providing solutions to help customers move to Office 97 is our No. 1 priority,” said Richard Fade, vice president of desktop applications at Microsoft. “The majority of our corporate customers are currently in the midst of deployment, and we are now hearing feedback from them about migration challenges. Supporting customers is and always will be our primary focus.”
The Service Release will address migration challenges such as backward file compatibility and coexistence with previous versions. In addition, Microsoft currently has a number of programs in place to help with migration, including the following:
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Migration Web site. A central location containing important resources for migrating to Office 97, available at >http://www.microsoft.com/office/migration/
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Free TechNet. A free 30-day trial offer of TechNet during June while supplies last. TechNet includes over 150,000 pages on two CDs of the most complete and latest technical information about all Microsoft business products – everything users need to know about migration, including the Office Resource Kit. This offer is available through the Office migration Web site.
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Microsoft Office 97 migration technical support hot line. A new service hot line to Microsoft’s world-class technical support. This dedicated line supports specific migration questions on backward compatibility options with Microsoft Office and allows a quicker response from senior support engineers. It is scheduled to be available from June through September.
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Solution Provider training. Three-day workshops conducted by Microsoft consulting services across the country to train 10,000 Microsoft Solution Providers (MSPs). MSPs will then work directly with customers who rely on the Microsoft partner program. Materials are available at http://www.microsoft.com/directaccess/partnering/microsoft/default.asp at no charge (connect-time charges may apply).
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Free Online Version of Microsoft Office 97 Resource Kit. The popular 1,000-plus page Microsoft Press® guidebook for deploying Office 97. The Resource Kit is available online at http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/ (connect-time charges may apply).
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Backward-compatibility tools:
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Word 97 viewers. Allows users to view and print Word 97 documents without Word 97 installed. Available for download at no charge (connect-time charges may apply).
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Word 97 installable converters. Allows users of Word 6.0/95 to open Word 97 documents within the current version of Word. Available on the Microsoft Office 97 CD and the migration Web site.
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Word 97 Compression Enhanced .RTF Converter. Converter that reduces the file size of .RTF documents containing graphics. Available for download at no charge (connect-time charges may apply).
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PowerPoint® presentation graphics program and Microsoft Excel dual file format. These allow users to save two versions in one file, allowing users of Office 97 and Office 95 to view and edit.
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