Want to try Office 2007 Beta 2? That'll be $1.50, please

IDG News Service - Microsoft Corp. this week will begin charging users $1.50 to download a copy of Office 2007 Beta 2.

"In just the past two months since its launch, more than three million people have downloaded the 2007 Microsoft Office system beta 2," the company said in a statement sent via e-mail. "Given how dramatically the beta 2 downloads have exceeded our goals, we have made the business decision to implement a cost-recovery measure for downloading the beta."

Microsoft said it will begin charging users starting Wednesday. The company released Beta 2 of Office 2007 in May.

Though users will be charged for downloads of the actual Office 2007 Beta 2 software, Microsoft will continue to offer an online test drive of the Office 2007 beta it launched in late June that users can access through a Web browser.

Users can visit Microsoft's Web site to access the online test version of Office 2007.

Microsoft plans to release Office 2007 to business customers before the end of the year and to consumers in early 2007. Both of those releases have been delayed from their originally scheduled ship dates.