Microsoft Plans Office 2003 Service Pack For May

Microsoft is pulling out the stops to get Service Pack 1 for Office 2003 out by May, sources say. The current schedule is to prepare a release candidate by April and final, or "Release To Web," code by late May. This release is critical because many companies hold off on upgrading to new versions of software until the first service pack is available.

The plan now is for Service Pack 1 to include not only the hot fixes and patches that typically flow after the retail release of a product, but also fairly major new features for both InfoPath and OneNote, the sources say.

InfoPath is the application that enables a user's desktop applications, such as Word and Excel, to tap into back-end data via XML links. OneNote is a note-taking application that eliminates the need for keyboard entry.

Office 2003 hit the retail shelves in late October, although volume buyers could get it a month earlier.

The release also will include fixes and security bolstering as part of the company's continued security push, code-named Springboard, the sources say.

"This is a date-driven release," an insider confirms. Some point out that the rush to finalize code appears to run counter to the company's push to build in quality and security up front and not ship products until they're solid.

Officially, Microsoft is circumspect on the subject. The service pack "is still in the early development stages, so anything we say about it would only be speculation right now, as a lot can change during the development process," said Dan Leach, lead product manager of the Information Worker Product Management Group, through a spokeswoman. "One thing we can say is that, thanks to new technologies like Watson and feedback from over 600,000 beta testers, the newly launched Office System represents the most stable, reliable, and secure version of Office Microsoft has ever produced."

Microsoft has acknowledged that Watson and new tools including Service Quality Monitor are key in the development of the Longhorn Office release, also known as Office 12.