Hi, I have a product key for Microsoft Office Live Beta, but can't use it because I'm outside the uk.

first to EMAIL me will get it free.

I emailed you. If I wasn't first then you can still give it to me.

Just to let you know, the key has now gone.

Cheers

Why is everyone so interested in beta software, anyways?

I have to deal with people going, "OMFG this software sucks-- it crashes, it's buggy!" and it's BETA software. Wouldn't you rather sit tight, wait for the finished product to come out, and then make your decisions?

I've beta tested some of the latest Vista releases. My experience was none too pleasurable. But, I keep in mind it's still a BETA release. Things are going to change!

Unless you're in a field where you'll be required to support a product as soon as it launches, there's not really any reason to be running a beta version of a commercial product. Otherwise, most folks are just running it for the "cool, I'm running it before everyone else" factor.

What brought about that silly rant?

Good question. I didn't entirely consider it a "rant", nor did I consider it silly.

What is the point of running beta software if you have no real reason to do so? Is that not a valid question? All the same, I guess it really doesn't matter all that much-- it just irks me how a large subset of beta software users are willing to swear off using a product because they had a bad time with the pre-release stuff.

I have to agree with Alex, about the only good thing about most beta products are the bragging rights, to be the first on your block to have the new toy, whether it works or not.

I don't know what it is, but I just felt like trying it out whatever it was. And I don't bash MS like the ignorant linux users. I love MS and what they do. I also have beta releases of VC++.NET, VB.NET, and J#. If you don't like beta releases, then don't use them. Simple.

I agree with you.

The thing is, though, a lot of people like to find stuff to gripe about. Matter of fact, I probably looked like one of those people with my initial post

That's my gripe, I guess. I was just pointing out the fact that a lot of people dismiss a final product based on the beta they had a poor experience with. And, I'm not just talking about Microsoft, either-- I see this all the time when people want to be "first" to use a Linux distro, though it's beta, and then say the distribution sucks, though the devs made it imminently clear that something will mess up.

I hate the microsoft complaints more than anything. It's like a signature I saw, "If you hate microsoft so much, then shut up and switch to something different".