Word 6.0.1 Update -- The latest news from the Word team at Microsoft has the U.S. version of Word 6.0.1 in manufacturing. Hoping to make up for the ill-will brought on by the many problems in Word 6.0, Microsoft is making 6.0.1 available at no charge to registered Word 6 owners. By no charge, I mean that registered owners can acquire the update by calling 800/315-5081 and asking for either Word 6.0.1 or Office 4.2.1. Microsoft then ships the software with no materials, shipping, or handling fees of any sort. U.S. owners who don't call should receive update information via snail mail.

I asked Keith Armodt <keitha823@aol.com>, Macintosh Line Product Manager at Microsoft, about how people outside the U.S. can request the update, and he said the foreign subsidiaries would each handle updates for their regions. Apparently the other English-language versions are also in manufacturing, but other foreign versions do need to be localized and are "somewhat delayed." If you need contact information for a foreign subsidiary, look for it in the extensive contact information that begins around page xxii of the Word 6 User's Guide.

Kudos to Microsoft for shipping the update when they claimed they would and making it freely available to customers. Unfortunately, according to the Microsoft representative who I spoke with when I ordered my update, the Power Mac-native version of Word is still not available on the Office CD. Let's hope that Word 6.0.1 lives up to the user-friendly standard set by the free distribution policy. [TJE]