Office 365 free for a year for iPad owners (3 days only)

If you went anywhere on the web today you know that Microsoft has released Office for iPad, consisting of three separate apps. Word, Excel, and Powerpoint are free apps available in the Apple app store. While free, they are limited unless you have an Office subscription plan, including the Office 365 subscription that is $99.99 per year.

To promote the big launch, Microsoft is offering a one-year Office 365 subscription to the first 50 customers who bring an iPad into a Microsoft store. There aren't many Microsoft stores, so if you're lucky enough to have one nearby and see iPad-toting folks in your local store you know why.

This is a very good deal and it runs March 28th through March 30th. If you want to save $100 so you can use all the features of Office for the iPad, you may want to hit your closest Microsoft store first thing as these will go fast.

Don't miss ZDNet's outstanding coverage of Office for iPad:

• Microsoft Office for iPad: Here's what you get for free (and don't)
• Microsoft's Office for iPad: It's all about the business users
• Microsoft Office for iPad sets the gold standard for tablet productivity
• A closer look at Microsoft Office for the iPad
• Microsoft launches Office for iPad
• Even with Office for iPad, my daughter wants a Surface 2 for college