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.