Microsoft has announced that it has completed the code for its 2007 Office system, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and a slew of other applications. U.S. and Canadian customers can download a fully functioning 60-day trial of the suite starting on December 1. Ths is a major overhaul of the widely used Office Suite.

The announcement that the 2007 editions of Office have been released to manufacturing does not mean, however, that you can and buy one of the five retail versions of the suite right away. While some enterprise customers will get Office 2007 as early as November 30, the packaged and downloadable versions of the suite probably wont be available for sale until early 2007. Pricing information is available on Microsoft's Office Online site.

The 60- day trial versions will be available starting December 1, through the Office Online Web site. The 60-day trial will start out as a fully functioning version of the suite, but at the end of the trial period, it will downgrade in functionality. You will no longer be able to create, modify, or save files. You will still be able to read and print existing files.

The 2007 suite differs significantly from the last release, Office 2003. There is a new interface built around a context-sensitive "ribbon" that graphically displays options and features formerly accessed via standard drop-down menus and toolbars.

By default, Office 2007 documents will be based on Microsoft's new Office XML Formats, which have been made publicly available and should eventually allow for greater compatibility with third-party productivity software. There is a compatibility pack for Office 2003, XP, or 2000 users which needs to be download and installed. This will ensure compatibilty with the older versions and for these users to to be able to open and edit Office XML documents.