Office 2007 - launch date October 3th?

Edd Bott wrote a blog entry about when Office 2007 will be launched:

I don’t have any inside information, but that date sounds exactly right to me, based on what I see in current Office betas and a review of previous Office beta programs. Think you can guess the exact date? You’ll get your chance at the end of this post.

First, a little background:

Office 2007 Beta 1 has been in testers’ hands since November 16, 2005. I’ve lost count of the number of features that Microsoft developers have promised will be ready for Beta 2, along with hints that the ribbon and other interface elements are getting a pretty good overhaul in the name of usability. In addition, Beta 2 is going to be publicly available as part of a preview program that anyone can try. So the sheer number of changes is daunting, and the quality bar is very, very high, which means that Microsoft can’t afford to rush the testing process.

Microsoft has publicly committed to delivering a “Beta-1 Technical Refresh” in the March timeframe, with Windows Vista compatibility high on its list of changes. The actual release data for Beta 2 is being held close to the vest, but you can bet it’s not imminent (if it were close to being complete now, why bother with that interim release?).

So, if Beta 2 is ready in April, how long will the Office dev team need after that to get the code ready to ship?
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