Microsoft's latest offering of Office (Office 365 ) is available in a beta version to the public sector, Office 365 Beta

This is a service which combines Microsoft Office Web Apps with online versions of their next-generation communications and collaboration service; these are Email and Calendar/Office Web Apps/Websites and Collaboration/IM and Online Meetings.

The user limit for the beta version is set to 25 and when Office 365 becomes generally available your Beta account will automatically activate into trial status. From this date you will have 30 days to decide if you want to purchase a full licence.

If you plan to join the Beta program but have more than 25 employees then you will need to join the enterprises program, Office 365 Beta for enterprises

The current recommended system requirements to run Office 365 (Plan P1) Beta are:

Operating systems

• Windows 7
• Windows Vista with Service Pack 2
• Windows XP with Service Pack 3
• Windows XP Home Edition is supported, but it will not support federated identity
• Windows XP Media Center Edition is supported, but it will not support federated identity
• Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, 10.6 Snow Leopard

System software

• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 (for Windows XP)
• Java client 1.4.2 (for Macintosh OS X)

Office clients

• Microsoft Office 2010 or Office 2007 Service Pack 2
• Office 2008 for Mac and Microsoft Entourage 2008 Web Services Edition
• Office 2011 for Mac and Outlook 2011 for Mac
• .NET Framework 2.0 or later
• Microsoft Lync 2010

Client applications

• Services Connector

Browser software—Microsoft Online Portal

• Internet Explorer 7 or later
• Mozilla Firefox 3.x
• Apple Safari 3.x

Browser requirements—Microsoft Outlook Web App

• Internet Explorer 7 or later
• Firefox 3 or later
• Safari 3 or later on Macintosh OS X 10.5
• Chrome 3 and later versions
• Outlook Web App also has a light version that supports a reduced set of features on almost any browser

The Office 365 Beta service will not run under Internet Explorer 6 or try to to connect with Office 2003