Microsoft Corp. began distributing a half-million copies of the beta 2 version of the new Microsoft Office System to customers and partners worldwide. Microsoft is inviting business partners and customers worldwide to begin evaluating new versions of the software. Seven core Office System products are provided in the beta evaluation kit, including beta 2 versions of the new Microsoft Office Suite, the two new Office System additions, Microsoft Office InfoPath, Microsoft Office OneNote, as well as Microsoft Office FrontPage, Microsoft Office Publisher, Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server "2.0," with final versions expected this summer.

InternetNews.com takes a look at Corel’s WordPerfect Office 11 Suite, which is scheduled to be released in April. The article takes a look at the advantages WordPerfect Office 11 has over Microsoft’s Office 2003. It also looks at Office 11’s new features.

FranklinCovey and Agilix Labs announced the launch of FranklinCovey TabletPlanner 2.0, a pen and digital ink-enabled planning and productivity application for the Tablet PC. Tablet Planner 2.0 features synchronization with Microsoft Outlook, including tasks, appointments and contacts and a full ink and pen-enabled contact database that synchronizes with and supports all Outlook fields.

Kaspersky Labs announced the commercial release of Kaspersky Anti-Virus Lite 4.5. The new version enables viruses to be deleted from the email storage of Microsoft Outlook Express as well as restores the original contents of Zip files, regardless of the number of internal archives.

FranklinCovey announced its new Focus Solution — a set of assessment, learning, and application tools to help get everyone in an organization focused on their organization’s highest priorities. The FranklinCovey Focus Solution includes the xQ Survey; xQ Debrief; FOCUS: Achieving Your Highest Priorities Workshop; Aligning Goals for Results Work Sessions; and the FranklinCovey Planning System. Focus workshop modules include integrating and using productivity tools such as the paper-based Franklin Planner, a PDA with FranklinCovey Planning Software, and FranklinCovey PlanPlus for Microsoft Outlook.

ElectricNews.net reports that AOL has released a preview version of an email client that is designed to win back tech-savvy customers. AOL Communicator’s new features include an instant messaging client that lets users know when they have new email, stronger spam filters, and a facility that allows customers to read email sent to their non-AOL email accounts. The preview version does not allow email from Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express programs to be migrated to Communicator, but it is thought that this capability will be in the final version.

Seaside Software has signed a UK distribution deal with Essential Computing. Seaside publishes HiPerExchange, which saves costs by optimizing connection performance for Microsoft Outlook Web Access users and enables Outlook Web Access offline functionality.

Primus Knowledge Solutions released Primus eMail Assist, a software solution that allows customer support agents to receive and respond to customers’ email questions. Primus eMail Assist works in tandem with the Primus knowledgebase to incorporate an email response into the problem resolution workflow. As an email enters an organization, Primus eMail Assist allows agents to draw on solutions in the Primus knowledgebase and documents across the enterprise. Using natural language processing, eMail Assist understands the question the sender is asking automatically examines the problem description, and suggests solutions for agent review.

Melissa Data announced the release of Contact Zone version 2.05, a data management program for users of Microsoft Outlook. Contact Zone verifies street addresses, adds ZIP Codes, corrects misspellings, updates area codes, and appends valuable geographic information. The newest version allows users to link individual addresses in their contact files to popular map sites including Yahoo! Maps, MapQuest and MapBlast, and to weather sites including Accuweather, Farm Weather and National Weather.

Fonix Corporation announced the release of iSpeak 3.0 for Windows, the latest version of Fonix’s speech interface software for business and personal use. On new feature in the program is the integration with Microsoft Outlook 2000, Microsoft Outlook Express, and America Online that allows users to listen to their email on demand.