In mid 2008 Microsoft managed to transform Office 2007 Ultimate into nothing short of an ultimate steal. In fact, The Ultimate Steal was the name of the promotion inviting students to literally steal the Ultimate SKU of the Office 2007 System. Through the campaign, the Redmond company had slashed the Estimated Retail Price of Office 2007 Ultimate by over 90%. However, on some markets around the world, the quasi-free-ride is almost over. The software giant is gearing up to discontinue The Ultimate Steal promotion for Office 2007 Ultimate in the UK and in Korea come the end of this month.

“The Ultimate Steal is ending this month. Only days to go! Ends June 26, 2009. Get it while you can. Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 for just £38.95,” revealed Dominic Watts, Microsoft business manager, Higher Education. According to the official The Ultimate Steal website for UK, the promotion is scheduled to end on June 30, 2009.

“Microsoft Office Ultimate purchased by eligible students and faculty contains the latest Microsoft Access (database), Excel, PowerPoint, Word, OneNote, InfoPath, Groove, Publisher and Outlook. Why risk unreliable and unsupported pirated versions when you can have the genuine thing for just £38.95? ’This incredible offer is only available for students and faculty of UK further or higher education institutions (uni or college) – to register you will need a valid .ac email address,” Watts added.

The Redmond company offered no explanation as to why it was cutting access to the promotion in the UK and Korea but not in any of the other markets where The Ultimate Steal would continue to be available for as much as a year and a half. In Australia for example, the company noted that due to demand it would keep the promotion live until further notice. At the same time, in the following countries The Ultimate Steal will last until the end of 2010: US, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Taiwan.