Office 2000 SR1a to ship this month

Though Microsoft has remained quiet about the upcoming "fixed" version of Office 2000 Service Release 1 (SR1), the company is finally set to release the new update, dubbed Office 2000 SR1a, any day now. Microsoft released the original SR1 in late March, but many users quickly found the update to be buggy or even uninstallable, especially on NT 4 systems that had upgraded to Windows 2000. After the release, I was deluged with email from frantic users that reported a variety of issues with the update, and on April 7th, the company admitted that it would be providing a new version on its Web site.

Well, sort of. Oddly enough, Microsoft continues to supply users with the original version of Office 2000 SR1, and provides few hints on the Office Update Web site that this hefty download will soon be superceded by a newer version. This is particularly strange since Microsoft will be basing a new release of Office 2000 on the SR1a code, and users that have ordered the original update on CD have been put on hold while the fix is prepared. Microsoft originally stated that SR1a would be available by the end of April, but it's obviously missed that date.

However, those that ordered the SR1a release on CD were notified this week that the product is backordered and will ship by the end of May. Presumably, we can expect the downloadable version some time before that. Stay tuned, as I will provide updated information about this release as soon as it becomes available