Microsoft has confirmed May 12th, 2010 for the official launch of Office 2010, its next-generation Office System. Of course that, considering the customer segment that will be allowed to access the office 2010 RTM bits early, the upcoming events worldwide are, in effect, the business launch of Office 2007’s successor. In the first half of March 2010, Microsoft revealed that business customers would be able to buy Office 2010 come May 12, with the general public getting the productivity suite a month later. The next generation of SharePoint will accompany Office 2010 in the launch planned for approximately a month and a half away.
“Stephen Elop, President of the Microsoft Business Division, [will] announce the launch of Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 on May 12, 2010 at 11 a.m. EST. The live Microsoft keynote focuses on the next wave of productivity that delivers: end user productivity across the PC, phone and browser; IT choice and flexibility; [and] a platform for developers to build innovative solutions,” the details of the event read.
At this point in time, Office 2010 is yet to be released to manufacturing. A small group of testers worldwide is running the Release Candidate development milestone of Office 2010, which the company offered earlier this year. Office 2010 Build 4734.1000-110 is not available for the public, but users looking to get a feel of what the successor of Office 2007 brings to the table can still download Office 2010 Beta Build 14.0.4536.1000.
According to the software giant, the RTM of Office 2010 and SharePoint is planned by the end of April 2010, although the company did not reveal when exactly it planned to sign-off on the next version of its productivity suite. However, most likely, MSDN and TechNet subscribers will get the Office 2010 RTM bits, even ahead of business users. In this regard, with the business launch of the suite planned for May 12, MSDN and TechNet subscribers could, at least in theory, get Office 2010 in April, or very early in May.
Office 2010 Beta 14.0.4536.1000 is available for download here.
