Filed under: Office, Microsoft, Beta
Once again, Microsoft puts a download page live with no downloads to back it up
.There's been plenty of buzz today about the Office 2010 public beta. Download links have gone live for Technet and MSDN subscribers, but as for the general public - they're left browsing yet another Microsoft tease.
Head over to the Office beta download page, and you'll see three links to chose from. Pick any one you like. The result's the same, a redirect to a page that says "Hey, Office 2010 beta is coming soon!" I guess that's fine, right? I mean, it's not like anyone clicking a download button would expect 1) direct access to a download or 2) a form they can fill out to get at the files.
Now, I don't run a big fancy website like Microsoft's, but is it really that hard to keep pages like this offline until the files are available?
The good news in this is that yes, the public beta is coming soon. It'd be nice if that landing page actually had "coming soon" buttons instead of shiny green "download" buttons. That seems like a distinction which is important to make.
As a bonus, it might save your servers having to deal with 12,000,000 page refresh requests.
Head over to the Office beta download page, and you'll see three links to chose from. Pick any one you like. The result's the same, a redirect to a page that says "Hey, Office 2010 beta is coming soon!" I guess that's fine, right? I mean, it's not like anyone clicking a download button would expect 1) direct access to a download or 2) a form they can fill out to get at the files.
Now, I don't run a big fancy website like Microsoft's, but is it really that hard to keep pages like this offline until the files are available?
The good news in this is that yes, the public beta is coming soon. It'd be nice if that landing page actually had "coming soon" buttons instead of shiny green "download" buttons. That seems like a distinction which is important to make.
As a bonus, it might save your servers having to deal with 12,000,000 page refresh requests.
I don't know if this is a labor of love or merely the brainchild of four very gifted games designers, but Level Up is a really weird mash-up of gaming elements that you have probably never seen in a Flash game before.
Let's start with the premise itself: Groundhog Day meets Memento. The game experience revolves around 'days': you explore the world and the clock slowly ticks towards the evening. You bounce around picking up gems and talking to the denizens of 'Level Upland'. Eventually you feel tired and head back to ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
216 said 4:14PM on 11-16-2009
so there's only 2 major versions? Smart move
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Sgt Zeppelin said 7:26PM on 11-16-2009
Well 3 actually: Home and Student, Professional, and Professional Plus. And Microsoft will more than just these 3 versions, it's just that the beta is only offered in 3 flavors.
I can understand the need/want to release several versions of Office because not everyone needs most of the apps. But it would be nice if they'd release just one version of Windows with all the features and priced well (say at home premium level?).
Kenn.keeper said 4:50PM on 11-16-2009
Microsoft is like most companies that have employees that are way too anxious to get something done and out of the way without thinking about the consequences of doing so. They are just in a hurry to get things done so they don't have too be bothered by extra work later.Just think of it as part of the ineptness that goes on a day to day basis everywhere.
Free is Good.....
Kenn
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Spedione said 5:34PM on 11-16-2009
Does anyone have the link?
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TURNERSVILLE said 6:22PM on 11-16-2009
http://officebeta.microsoft.com/en-us/msproducts/homeandbusiness/download-the-beta-FX100996086.aspx
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