Microsoft is entering the world of free software. Who would have thought? Today, Microsoft released Office Accounting Express 2007 for free. The software is an updated version of the previous Office Small Business Accounting 2006 that was sold for $179 US. A higher end version of the application will be for sale early next year. Microsoft has integrated eBay and Paypal into the system which I think are great features that a lot of people will jump at the opportunity to use. It does supposedly have great connection abilities with Outlook 2007, and a strong set of accounting tools that support up to five currencies.
Unfortunately I can't seem to download a copy to try out, the site looks like its down, however, I have some screenshots of the application in progress after the jump.
UPDATE: As "joshj" in the comments writes, you must open the link in IE in order to gain access to download the application. The application file size is 369.35 MB.
Outlook with business contact manager.
Inventory control and management.
eBay setup.
Creating forms.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-30-2006 @ 5:08PM
Ryan Carter said...
Chris, this piece of software aims to be a Quickbooks killer in some ways, and I am very impressed. It integrates nicely with paypal and has a lot of features. I will be using this for my business. Thanks for the info!
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10-30-2006 @ 6:02PM
Sheldon said...
Go to www.ideadwins.com to get a copy, its a MSFT site, but direct to the download.
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10-30-2006 @ 6:06PM
Raj Mandalia said...
Thanks for the info, I'll check it out as soon as I can find a download. BTW, I just wanted to comment on the free software, who would have thought comment. Not get me wrong, I would normally be the first to join in a good ol' Microsoft bashing but I have to give credit where credit is due; don't forget all the free Express developer tools (VB Express, SQL Express, et al). These are simply gold for programmers without big budgets.
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10-30-2006 @ 6:55PM
Alex M said...
I would like to comment that there are differences between Free Software (as in Free of Constraints) and Free of Charge Software (or "Freeware")...
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10-30-2006 @ 8:11PM
Qwfwq said...
I checked the linked site out of curiosity and noticed that this is the Beta 2 version of Microsoft Office Accounting 2007 and that it can only be "tested" for free until it expires in June 2007 - I would hardly call it free software don't you agree.
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10-30-2006 @ 11:20PM
joshj said...
the site works "http://connect.microsoft.com/officeaccountingbeta"
you just have to open in ie :)
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10-31-2006 @ 12:55AM
Mike said...
The download works fine... as long as you're visiting with IE - it requires an active-x plugin.
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10-31-2006 @ 2:03AM
Marl Balou said...
As a solo consultant, I downloaded it from ideawins.com (took 20 minutes!). Good functionality and easy to get started. Now I can give up my Lotus Spreadsheet! Definitely worth it for small businesses
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10-31-2006 @ 7:05AM
Scott said...
The Microsoft link in the post (and comment #6) goes to the BETA, which is a free Beta until June '07, as mentioned by Qwfwq in comment #5. But the Beta is not the Express version, which *is* free.
Sheldon had it right: ideawins.com is the place to get the Express version, and it is a Microsoft site. As it states on the site: "...we're offering Microsoft® Office Accounting Express 2007 software absolutely free! No strings attached."
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10-31-2006 @ 8:27AM
The Rest of The World said...
Pity that Microsoft doesn't seem to be aware of a world beyond the US. You cannot even register if you are not in the US (except by lying). Then you cannot set up a company with a non-US address.
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10-31-2006 @ 8:40AM
chrisk said...
http://ideawins.com/productinfo.html
It is the Express Edition (same as Visual Studio Express), therefore free.
The other is the beta for the commercial product.
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10-31-2006 @ 1:00PM
Fabulo said...
No stings attached? I find it hard to believe. So I can do whatever I want with it? No eula? Free as in freedom? No? Didn't think so.
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11-01-2006 @ 9:43AM
grimbus said...
For what it's worth, I dl'd it around midnight with Firefox 2 with no problems. I haven't installed it yet, but it seems to have come doen the pipe just fine.
It didn't take any 20 minutes, either; Marl, that may have been heavy demand (since you weren't downloading at midnight ;).
They may have realized that they were better off making this download possible for FF users, since the point is presumably to get this installed in as wide a base as possible. (Which of course will mean that many more people getting the included incentives to start using Outlook (all the slick integration) and start thinking about popping for a copy of Office. Very clever, Bill, you sly boots.)
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