Now, Microsoft has always had a pretty reasonable student pricing plan in the past, but the educational/student versions were usually the bare minimums (Word, Outlook, Excel, maybe PowerPoint). Certainly not Access, FrontPage, or any of the titles that usually show up in "Professional" or "Corporate" versions of the suite. This time, however, Microsoft is really taking an aggressive approach to getting Office 2007 into the hands of students.

Meet "The Ultimate Steal." For $59.95 you get Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Groove, Publisher, OneNote, InfoPath, and Access. We're talking about a savings of 91% off of the retail price of Ultimate ($679)! This is a limited time offer, for obvious reasons, but the promotion started September 12, 2007 and runs all the way to April 30, 2008. This is a pretty good length of time for students to scrape up the $60 bucks to buy this, and let's face it, if you're a student there's absolutely no reason to not take advantage of this deal.

To qualify, you simply have to meet these two conditions:

1. Individual must possess a valid e-mail address at a U.S. educational institution which contains the domain suffix .edu; AND
   
   
2. Individual must be a student at a U.S. educational institution and must be actively enrolled in at least 0.5 course credit and be able to provide proof of enrollment upon request.
   

Pretty painless. Once you submit your request with a qualifying .edu email address, you'll receive an email with instructions for purchasing the software, which is available via download, or for a few dollars they will mail you the disc. The program is limited to one purchase per qualifying student, and "Microsoft or an appointed vendor may contact you to verify that you are a current student. If documentation is not provided indicating that you are a current student, you will be liable to reimburse Microsoft for the full retail cost of the software ($679)." So be sure to have your handy Student ID card ready before you order.

Having used Office 2007 since shortly after it was released, I've been very pleased with the entire package. The Tabs, Office Ribbon, and Quick Access Toolbar are very welcome enhancements from my perspective. As with anything new, it takes a little bit of getting used to, however, the interface is so intuitive that the learning curve is rather short. If you'd like to learn more about this promotion, check out the official site at www.theultimatesteal.com.