Microsoft sorry over quiet Office Mobile 2010 beta kill date
Microsoft has apologised to Windows Mobile 6.5 users this week after it killed a beta of Office Mobile 2010 some had been running on their devices.
The software giant quietly released the beta last year and it expired on April 5, but Microsoft didn’t adequately warn users of its imminent demise. The company only provided details of the expiration date in the small-print terms and conditions of the beta.
“The beta expired on April 5, 2010. We apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused. While the expiration date was mentioned in the product terms of use, we realise that you may have questions,” the company said in a post yesterday on the Office 2010 Engineering blog.
Microsoft said that anyone who installed the Office Mobile 2010 beta on their Windows Mobile 6.5 handset would be affected by the beta’s quiet expiration, because those customers can no longer launch Office Mobile apps on their phone.
Sadly, there’s not a straightforward workaround to fix the cockup. Any Windows Mobile 6.5 users who had Office Mobile 6.1 pre-installed on their devices should uninstall the beta to revert back to the older version of the software, Microsoft said.
However, customers without an Office Mobile 6.1 pre-install have to remove the beta and then reinstall the older version of Office Mobile - at a price.
Microsoft claimed that customers would not lose any of their documents when dumping the now-obsolete beta and reverting to an older version of the software.
As for when a finalised version of Office Mobile 2010 will land, Microsoft reaffirmed that it would arrive in June 2010. ®
Microsoft has apologised to Windows Mobile 6.5 users this week after it killed a beta of Office Mobile 2010 some had been running on their devices.
The software giant quietly released the beta last year and it expired on April 5, but Microsoft didn’t adequately warn users of its imminent demise. The company only provided details of the expiration date in the small-print terms and conditions of the beta.
“The beta expired on April 5, 2010. We apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused. While the expiration date was mentioned in the product terms of use, we realise that you may have questions,” the company said in a post yesterday on the Office 2010 Engineering blog.
Microsoft said that anyone who installed the Office Mobile 2010 beta on their Windows Mobile 6.5 handset would be affected by the beta’s quiet expiration, because those customers can no longer launch Office Mobile apps on their phone.
Sadly, there’s not a straightforward workaround to fix the cockup. Any Windows Mobile 6.5 users who had Office Mobile 6.1 pre-installed on their devices should uninstall the beta to revert back to the older version of the software, Microsoft said.
However, customers without an Office Mobile 6.1 pre-install have to remove the beta and then reinstall the older version of Office Mobile - at a price.
Microsoft claimed that customers would not lose any of their documents when dumping the now-obsolete beta and reverting to an older version of the software.
As for when a finalised version of Office Mobile 2010 will land, Microsoft reaffirmed that it would arrive in June 2010. ®
