Get the free trial of Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013, which is available for download now.
The Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 trial includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Access, Publisher and Lync, so you're getting the full kit and kaboodle.
We expect most small businesses will in practice opt for Office Professional 2013, which omits Lync.
The trial is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, but the recommendation is that most users are better off with the 32-bit version even if they have a 64-bit version of Windows, largely because it provides better compatibility with older add-ins for Office.
Microsoft Office 2013, should you upgrade? Click here to read the review.
It's a hefty download at 667MB for the 32-bit version and more for the 64-bit version.
You'll need Windows 7 or 8, or Windows Server 2008 R2 or 2012. Office 2013 won't run on Windows XP or Vista.
There are various other requirements, so it's wise to check the small print before downloading, but most PCs purchased in the last few years should be OK.
If you want the full experience using the touch-control features, then you'll need to be running Windows 8 and a touchscreen computer.
Installing the software is easiest if you're running Windows 8, where you right-click the .img file that you downloaded, select Mount, and then run the setup program.
With Windows 7, you could burn the .img file onto an optical disc and install from there, or use a utility such as 7-Zip to extract the files to a folder or perhaps a USB stick for installation.
Exactly when Office 2013 will be officially on sale is still a mystery. There was an expectation that it would appear during the first quarter of 2013, but the arrival of the 60-day trial implies that will happen before mid-January.
There are suggestions that the release date will be announced by the end of November.
An earlier version of Office 2013 was released as part of the Office 365 preview.
You can read our article about renting vs buying Office 2013 / 365 here. We have also provided an overview of the major new features in Office 2013 / 365 for home and business. We also have a summary on Office 2013/365's cloud aspects. There is also a series looking at PowerPoint 2013, OneNote 2013, Excel 2013 and Word 2013.
