Not only is Microsoft offering one of the editions of its accounting package at no cost, but users of the paid SKU can upgrade to the latest release of the software for free. According to the Redmond company, Small Business Accounting 2006, Office Accounting Professional 2007 and Office Accounting Professional Plus 2008, Office Accounting Professional 2008 and Office Accounting Standard 2008 can be upgraded for free to Office Accounting Professional 2009. At the same time, Office Accounting Express 2007 and Office Accounting Express 2008 can be upgraded to Office Accounting Express 2009.

“Whilst we didn’t have time to switch SQL Express 2005 out with SQL Express 2008 when it finally became ready (we shipped Office Accounting 2009 months ago), we do support the newer and faster SQL in Office Accounting Professional. You can basically install SQL Server 2008 first, and then choose to install the client only of Office Accounting and point to SQL 2008,” revealed John Thuneby, Microsoft senior program manager.

Of course that Office Accounting Express 2009 is already available as a free download. Users can simply grab the accounting solution and start crunching numbers. In the eventuality that the Express edition doesn't cut it, there is always the more advanced and feature-rich Office Accounting Professional 2009. However, for the Professional SKU only the trial period or the upgrade is free. At the same time, for some users upgrading is not the best solution.

“Who should not upgrade? A very small amount of people. Users running Windows 2000 with Small Business Accounting 2006. SQL Server 2005 does not support Windows 2000. Users with less than 512 MB memory. You shouldn’t really be running the application anyway. Users of Small Business Accounting 2006 who integrate with Outlook with Business Contact Manager 2003 or 2006. The old version of BCM is running SQL Server 2000 (MSDE), and you would end up with two database instances on the same PC (not good). DO upgrade when you upgrade to Office 2007 with BCM. All other Office 2003 users are fine,” Thuneby added.

Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2009 is available for download here.

Microsoft Office Accounting Professional 2009 can be downloaded from here.