Microsoft putting Office 2007 on its November price list

Microsoft will add Office 2007 to its November price list, which amounts to a confirmation that the suite of office productivity applications and the anchor to the company’s real-time communications platform is on track for a year-end release.

In an internal memo to Microsoft field sales, Chris Caposella, corporate vice president for Microsoft’s business division product management group, confirmed that Office 2007 would be on the November price list. The news was reported on the blog of Darren Strange, who is the Office 2007 product manger in the U.K.

Strange said development of the product remains on track for a year-end delivery date and broad general availability in early 2007.

Those are the dates that Microsoft has been reciting publicly.

The news comes amid questions about the timing of the Vista client operating system. A Microsoft spokesman said that the public announcement of the ship dates for Vista remain the same: November availability for corporate users and general availability in early 2007.

Office 2007 is part of a family of Office branded products that includes software, hardware and a Web conferencing service for real-time communication. The lineup includes Office Communications Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007, the Office Communicator 2007 client including a version for phones, and the Office Live Meeting 2007 Web conferencing service.

Microsoft’s intent is to provide users with a single platform for real-time communications that can be integrated with traditional desktop and network applications, mobile devices and the business processes that run across all three.

Analysts have called it a bold move.