Office 2003 to be manufactured in Aug. 15

For IT administrators who consider Outlook 2003 the best part of the upcoming Office 2003 suite of applications, the wait for the new messaging client won't be much longer.

Office 2003 is expected to go to manufacturing Aug. 15, which is also when pricing information should become available, according to people familiar with the company's plans. Office 2003, which has been tested by about 600,000 users, is the upgrade to Office XP. The software was originally set to launch in June but was pushed back because of additional testing requirements.

Microsoft officials declined to comment on the Office release to manufacturing (RTM) date or on the official launch of Office and Exchange 2003, which is expected around mid-October, the sources said.


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