With Microsoft's new Office 2010 suite scheduled for a later-this-year release, a Microsoft spokeswoman has revealed that the company will discontinue its discounted offer option for "upgrade" versions of Office 2010; thereby doing away with its traditional 'price break' for users of the company's current productivity versions.

This theoretically amounts to saying that Office 2007 users will have to pay 'full price' for switching over to the new Office 2010 suite, which is currently available for download as a public beta. However, Microsoft intends offering an array of pricing alternatives and discounts to customers like small-and-medium-businesses (SMBs) that purchase multiple copies of its products.

In addition, Microsoft's pricing structure for its new Office 2010 will include a new "Product Key Card" option, over and above the usual boxed applications suite. The 'Product Key Card' will comprise a single license card that will allow users to try pre-loaded Office 2010 on new PCs with Windows 7.

The pricing of the different versions of the forthcoming Office 2010 was elaborated as follows by Rachel Bondi, general manager of Office 2010, in a blog post: Office Professional will be priced at $499 boxed or $349 via Product Key Card; Office Home and Business will cost $279 boxed or $199 via Product Key Card; Office Home and Student will come at $149 boxed or $119 via Product Key Card; and the boxed only Office Professional Academic will cost $99.