Microsoft releases Office 2010, SharePoint 2010 to TechNet, MSDN

If you have an MSDN or TechNet subscription, Office 2010 is now available for download. In addition, Microsoft has made SharePoint 2010 and the Office Web Apps 2010 package (which requires a SharePoint Server) available for subscribers of both services.

Currently, two downloads are available at each site: 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) versions of the Professional Plus Retail edition.

Subscribers to each service get a single product key for the Office 2010 download. If past history holds true, this key can be used to activate two copies: one on a desktop PC, the other on a portable PC that is used by the same person as the desktop PC.

Normally, subscribers get 10 product keys for this retail SKU, plus an additional key for use on Volume Licensing copies. A notice at both MSDN and TechNet Microsoft says additional product keys for subscribers will be available on April 30.

Anyone considering an Office 2010 deployment should be testing both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions. But if you're planning to use the software in production environments for normal business use, I strongly recommend installing the 32-bit version, even on 64-bit Windows installations? There's no real advantage to using 64-bit code unless you expect to work with very large Excel files, and there are potentially substantial compatibility headaches caused by add-ins that aren't 64-bit aware. Microsoft agrees with me:

[T]his additional [memory] capacity is needed only by those Microsoft Excel users who require Excel spreadsheets that are larger than 2 gigabytes (GB). The 32-bit version of Office 2010 provides the same functionality and is also compatible with 32-bit add-ins. Therefore, the 32-bit version of Office 2010 is installed by default.

Office 2010 also provides support for 32-bit Office 2010 applications that run on 64-bit Windows operating systems. Office 2010 lets users continue to use existing Microsoft ActiveX Controls, Component Object Model (COM) add-ins, and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which are primarily 32-bit because no 64-bit versions are available yet for many add-ins. Supporting 32-bit Office 2010 applications that run on 64-bit operating systems allows for better compatibility with controls, add-ins, and VBA.

Of course, if your goal is to find out which add-ins will fail on 64-bit Office, or if you're developing add-ins that target 64-bit Office versions, you'll need to test both versions.

Download details are as follows:

Office 2010 (x64 edition):

File Name: en_office_professional_plus_2010_x64_515489.exe

Date Published (UTC): 4/22/2010 8:45:06 AM

Last Updated (UTC): 4/22/2010 8:53:14 AM

SHA1: 7C2F2D5F8C273724EEC70A9EFA2DDD800FE3265F

ISO/CRC: BFE0338C

Office 2010 (x86 edition):

File Name: en_office_professional_plus_2010_x86_515486.exe

Date Published (UTC): 4/22/2010 8:45:06 AM

Last Updated (UTC): 4/22/2010 8:53:18 AM

SHA1: 0E1840BF1AA81077692AF651BEFB75648CD9FAA7

ISO/CRC: 986EB4A1

SharePoint Server 2010

In addition to the Office products, Microsoft also released SharePoint Server 2010, which is available in a 64-bit (x64) version only.

File Name: en_sharepoint_server_2010_x64_dvd_518634.iso

Date Published (UTC): 4/22/2010 8:49:57 AM

Last Updated (UTC): 4/22/2010 8:57:09 AM

SHA1: 7E8BEF7942D8393FCAB06736C1ADA19290829185

ISO/CRC: F5E36AF4

Office Web Apps 2010

File Name: en_web_apps_2010_x64_dvd_515376.iso

Date Published (UTC): 4/22/2010 8:50:31 AM

Last Updated (UTC): 4/22/2010 8:56:29 AM

SHA1: 155332421542C0A2A66F35251FDAA46550B6FA37

ISO/CRC: 506E1DD9

SharePoint Foundation 2010

This free add-on for Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 is the successor to Windows SharePoint Services. The download is publicly available here.