For college students who want Office 2007, but don't want to pay Microsoft a fortune, the software maker is offering another option: Steal it. Well, actually Microsoft isn't encouraging piracy. Rather it is launching a promotion, dubbed "Ultimate Steal," in which college students can get the ultra high-end Ultimate edition of Office for just $60. The promotion runs through April 30 and starts Wednesday in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. It launches next week in France, Italy and Spain. To be eligible, Microsoft said students have to be "actively enrolled" in a higher education program and have an e-mail address from that school.

$59.95 is even cheaper than Microsoft's "Home and Student" Office package, which retails for $149 and includes just Word 2007, Excel 2007, and PowerPoint 2007. By contrast, Office Ultimate 2007 includes those applications plus Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager, Accounting Express 2007, Publisher 2007, Access 2007, InfoPath 2007, Groove 2007, OneNote 2007, and more.

The Ultimate Steal promotion runs until April 30, 2008, and applicants must be enrolled with a 0.5 course load and have a valid e-mail address ending in .edu. DailyTech says the promotion is running in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom for now, and that it'll be available in France, Italy, and Spain on September 20.