As Microsoft moves to start charging for Office 2007 beta downloads in the US, its Australian subsidiary has decided to disable the service tomorrow.

"Australians have been able to participate in the Office 2007 Beta 2 programme for the past three months and during this time, Microsoft Australia has experienced an overwhelming response -- to the point where the programme in Australia is now full.

"Microsoft Australia will be closing the Australian download site for Office 2007 Beta 2 on 1st August 2006," Robin Young, product solutions manager for the Information Worker Business Group at Microsoft Australia told ZDNet Australia on Monday.

Users who select "Australia" on the Office 2007 Beta 2 landing page will be notified that they can't participate.

In the US, Microsoft plans to charge a nominal fee for Office 2007 Beta 2 downloads, a move that runs counter to the practice held by most software companies.

People who download the 2007 Microsoft Office system Beta 2 will be charged US$1.50 per download, beginning this Wednesday in the US at 6pm PDT, a Microsoft representative said.

"Since the end of May, Beta 2 has been downloaded more than 3 million times.... That's 500 percent more than what was expected," the representative said. "The fee helps offset the cost of downloading from the servers."

Although Microsoft's Information Worker Product Management Group decided to initiate a fee for new users of Beta 2, the "technical refresh," or update, for current users of the software will remain free, the representative said.

Those who want to test drive Beta 2 to see how it works can access the software for free. But if they want to test it against their internal systems, a download or the CD is required.

"This is the first time Microsoft has charged for an Office beta, and it's not something that is planned for on a repeat basis," the representative said.