Microsoft rolled out its second beta of Office 2003 on Monday to a record half-million users, rebranded the suite as Office System, and debuted preview versions of several of its newest applications by bundling them with the beta.

In renaming the suite--and other moves, including pushing support for XML throughout Office and adding new products to the mix--Microsoft is trying to convince customers that Office is less a collection of programs and more a "platform" for the enterprise.

"I think the Office System name is a good description of what Microsoft really wants to do, and it will help customers understand where it's going," says Paul DeGroot, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a research firm that concentrates on Microsoft's moves. "But it's going to take some time for this rebranding to work."

Seven applications are tucked into the evaluation kit, including beta 2 versions of Microsoft Office; the two new Office System additions, Microsoft Office InfoPath and Microsoft Office OneNote; Microsoft Office FrontPage; Microsoft Office Publisher; Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services; and Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2.0. Also in the kit are beta versions of Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003. Final versions of all the software are expected to be released this summer.

"Today's business environments are much more complex," says Simon Marks, product manager for Office. "By offering them together, we're providing the tools businesses need to solve problems such as accessing information or collaborating with others."

The move toward Office System is necessary, DeGroot says. Revenue from Office upgrades has fallen off, he notes, and Microsoft was forced to look elsewhere for dollars. "Office cannot bear the upgrade revenue burden all by itself, so Microsoft has to expand the offering, which is what they're doing."

Among the ways Microsoft is expanding the Office lineup are the inclusion of OneNote and InfoPath in the beta 2 kit. OneNote, a note-taking and note-management app, and InfoPath, which lets users create and complete dynamic forms, then submit them to XML-enabled systems, will be crucial to the success of Office System.

"The revenues aren't going to come from Word and Excel, they're going to come from OneNote and InfoPath and upgrades to Windows Server 2003 so you can deploy SharePoint," DeGroot says.

But he thinks Microsoft has its work cut out for it in convincing companies, at least in this opening salvo of Office System, that this is really a "system."

"We're at the renaming part of the process," he says. "I think it won't be until the next release at least that we'll see the kind of integration that you expect in a system."

Among the things that would convince him, and businesses, that Office System is actually an integrated system would be for Microsoft to provide more flexibility in bundling. "Can I get three for the price of two? Can I assemble my own bundle? Can I componentize Office?" he says.

But Microsoft's Marks says that purchasing Office System software "won't be radically different" from how companies do it now.

Microsoft mailed the software last week to the thousands who had tested the beta 1 of Office and opened up the program to the public, which can order the Office System Beta 2 Kit 2003 from Microsoft's Web site. The kit is free, but a $19.95 handling and shipping fee applies.