Microsoft announced Friday that the interim beta refresh anticipated by Office 2003 testers is available for download.

Not all of the existing 600,000 Office testers will receive immediately the updated bits. Microsoft has selected a subset of about 15,000 testers who are authorized to go to its BetaPlace site and download the updated "technical refresh" code.

"This is one of the first times Microsoft has offered a beta refresh in the form of a download," said a Microsoft spokesman in a prepared statement. "Microsoft is first making the refresh available to the smaller group of technical beta testers. Feedback from this group will be analyzed to determine whether this delivery method will result in a positive experience for the broader group of beta 2 customers. Microsoft anticipates making a decision on next steps for broader deployment within the next week to 10 days."

Microsoft officials have declined to say exactly why Microsoft decided to add an unexpected beta to the lineup. Some testers had reported problems with the Beta 2 version of the Office 2003 Outlook client.

But Microsoft did confirm that the refresh will provide new inking capabilities for the TabletPC in InfoPath 2003; the ability for FrontPage 2003 to edit Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server sites; and a new e-mail crawler feature for Outlook with Business Contact manager that will allow users to search all specified folders for existing mail and associate it with business contacts or accounts.

Microsoft also released the Visio 2003 beta one bits on Friday, simultaneously with the refresh, the spokesman added.

Microsoft announced in April that it planned to add a previously unanticipated third beta to its Office 2003 road map. Company officials have maintained that the refresh will not impact negatively the final release date for Office 2003. But most industry watchers expect Microsoft to be moving toward a fall Office 2003 unveiling, rather than a summer one as originally planned.

Microsoft, for its part, maintains that Office 2003 will launch in late summer. The Redmond software giant has yet to reveal when or where the Office 2003 launch will be held.

A number of the supporting Office System 2003 family members are due to launch in September in October. Exchange Server 2003 and Microsoft's Real Time Communication Server are both slated to ship this fall.