Microsoft trims Office prices

Microsoft plans to announce price cuts Wednesday for its Office productivity software, a day after it eased controversial licensing plans for Office and other products. The price cuts are for the full retail versions of Office XP "suites"-- which package common applications such as a word processor and spreadsheet program--and for individual applications.

The Office XP Professional package are now priced at $499, a cut of $100. Office XP Standard will carry a price tag of $399, down from $479. Standalone versions of Office applications--Word 2002, Excel 2002, PowerPoint 2002 and Access 2002--will sell for $229, compared with $339. The new prices go into effect Wednesday in the United States and Canada.

Microsoft is expected to deliver the next version of the software, Office 2003, in a few months. Dan Leach, Microsoft's lead product manager for the software, said the Office XP reductions are likely to be reflected in the retail pricing of the upgrade. "We don't expect prices to change for that product, based on these new prices," Leach said.

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