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It’s been over two months since Office 2008 was released at Macworld. Shipped on January 15th, 2008, Office 2008 became one of the last applications to become a universal binary. In addition to being universal, Office 2008 is a major upgrade to the flagship Microsoft product. While you can buy Office 2008 online, at retail stores, and via education discounts, there was one place you couldn’t buy it; via the Home Use Program. The wait is finally over for those wishing to purchase Office 2008 from the Microsoft Home Use Program. Microsoft added Office 2008 to the availability list today.

The Home Use Program (HUP) allows employees of companies with Volume Licensing agreements to purchase certain Microsoft Products at steep discounts for use in their homes. For instance, my company is part of the HUP and I’m able to purchase Project, Visio, and Office for less than $20 USD ($19.95).

For those waiting to get Office 2008 via the HUP, go forth and purchase!

Popularity: 50% [?]

If you work at a fairly large corporation, chances are pretty good your company spends a ton of money on Microsoft products. Chances are also good that your company has some type of Volume Licensing agreement with Microsoft. Did you know that many companies with Volume Licensing agreements are also part of the Home Use Program?

The Home Use Program (HUP) allows employees of companies with Volume Licensing agreements to purchase certain Microsoft Products at steep discounts for use in their homes. For instance, my company is part of the HUP and I’m able to purchase Project, Visio, and Office for less than $20. Though there is one notable exception to the offerings by Microsoft.

Shipped on January 15th, 2008, Office 2008 became one of the last applications to become a universal binary. In addition to being universal, Office 2008 is a major upgrade to the flagship Microsoft product. Though it has been released in stores, Office 2008 is not yet part of the HUP. In fact, no one knows when it will become an option in the HUP.

I contacted customer support about Office 2008 and the inclusion of the software in the HUP. Here’s the response I received:

The Home Use Program hopes to add Office Mac 2008 to its listings shortly. However, we do not have an exact date as to when this will be. We are sorry for any inconvenience.

We do update our listings on a monthly basis. You may want to check back at a later date, to see if the product that you wish to purchase has become available.

The forums at MacRumors are filled with a number of people who received similar responses when they contacted customer support. While there has been no official date for Office 2008 joining the HUP, one forum user received the following response from Microsoft: “..it should be available not later than April 2008″. While this isn’t an exact date, it’s at least more than what was previously said. If you were holding out to get Office 2008 through the HUP, you might want to rethink your purchase either way based on this information.

Popularity: 35% [?]

If you’re a Mac user that absolutely needs Office for Mac, you’ll be happy to know that Office for Mac 2008 is nearing store shelves. As of December 12th, Office 2008 has been released to manufacturing. This means that the MacBU has signed off on a final build that has been sent to manufacturing sites.

Office 2008 will be released on January 15th at Macworld. A large number of the MacBU team will be on hand at Macworld to show off their work and talk to Office users.

I’m actually going to buy Office 2008. I nearly purchased iWork 08 as my Office replacement, but I decided to wait until Office 2008 is released. I don’t absolutely need Office 2008, but for less than $20 you can’t go wrong. In an upcoming post I’ll reveal how you too might be able to get Office 2008 for Mac for less than $20.

Popularity: 12% [?]