Dear valued professional developers;

On October 21st, Microsoft launches the new Microsoft Office System worldwide. This release provides an unprecedented wave of programs, servers, services, and solutions that will help companies improve process management and boost personal, team, and organizational productivity. Microsoft Office System 2003 includes new versions of the Office Editions and other familiar desktop programs; servers such as Microsoft Office SharePoint� Portal Server 2003, Microsoft Office Project Server 2003, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003; and new programs such as Microsoft Office OneNote� 2003, Microsoft Office InfoPath� 2003, and Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003.

Release to manufacturing of the Microsoft Office System 2003 this past August marked the conclusion of an incredibly successful beta test in the Microsoft product family, one that could not have been completed without your help and that of many Microsoft customers and industry partners. In all, Microsoft has incorporated valuable suggestions from more than 600,000 beta testers and believes that working with such a large and diverse group in a disciplined, systematic beta program is the best way to deliver the tools you have been asking for.

Microsoft is very excited and proud to be able to deliver a set of powerful, stable, integrated, feature-rich programs, servers, and services that deliver real business value and can help you and your business succeed in reaching your goals. Please accept my sincere thanks to you for your participation and feedback during the beta testing phases.

As a developer, you build solutions using Microsoft's programs so that companies can manage their businesses in the way they need. The Microsoft Office System 2003 provides a rich and extensive set of programmable interfaces with which you can create leading, competitive solutions. Microsoft believes that productivity can be boosted by integrated innovation that allows people, using familiar Microsoft Office desktop programs, to connect to more of the business data in their back-end systems.

Through basic technologies such as XML, Web services, and .NET, Microsoft gives you powerful, standardized, and familiar interfaces with which to architect solutions that are flexible and scalable. New network deployment technologies allow more Office-based solutions to be easily deployed, updated, and maintained from a server. The Microsoft Office System 2003 programs have an exceptional capability to be seamlessly integrated with the applications and systems in your business.

In this digital decade, Microsoft is dedicated to creating and delivering new value by helping you and your organization maximize the potential to succeed. More than 400 million people in 175 nations, using 70 languages, rely on Microsoft Office products. Microsoft is committed to continuing the investment and hard work that allow providing a set of coordinated, powerful tools that bring you, and customers like you around the world, real productivity benefits.

The world we live in is one where we are linked electronically, and we have a great opportunity to be connected with each other, to collaborate, and to communicate using products in the Microsoft Office System.

Microsoft looks forward to continuing to be your industry partner.