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Topic: Enterprise Software

Microsoft Office 2010, SharePoint 2010 public betas now available for download

Summary: Microsoft released on November 18 the public beta of Office 2010. It can be downloaded by anyone for free, as of 1 pm ET today, as can new public betas of SharePoint Server 2010 and Office Web Apps.

Mary Jo Foley

By for All About Microsoft |

Microsoft released on November 18 the public beta of Office 2010. It can be downloaded by anyone for free, as of 1 pm ET today.

Microsoft is making available several different versions of Office, as well as a beta of SharePoint Server 2010 to interested testers, includingMicrosoft Office 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, Visio 2010, Project 2010 and Office Web Apps (the on-premise, business version that is tied to SharePoint Server, not the consumer one that is connected to SkyDrive). The betas are available at www.microsoft.com/2010.

Microsoft made the Office 2010 beta bits available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers for download on November 16.

Microsoft is aiming to launch the final version of all of these Office products, as well as SharePoint 2010 by May/June 2010.

Update: Microsoft also released a beta today of Office Mobile 2010. That beta -- for a slimmed-down version of Office that runs on Windows Mobile -- can be downloaded it through the Windows Mobile Marketplace for Windows Mobile 6.5 phones.

Update No. 2: The Office team also made good on its hints that it would deliver some kind of new social-networking capability to the product. From the Office 2010 Engineering blog:

"The New Outlook Social Connector brings your communications history, business and social networking feeds right into Outlook, helping you quickly keep track of conversations and stay up-to-date with co-workers, friends and family without switching programs or changing your routine. Today’s beta supports SharePoint social networking and will support Windows Live when Office launches. The business networking site LinkedIn will be the first to provide a connector for the Outlook Social Connector early next year."

More details on that Connector are available on the Outlook blog. LinkedIn is being integrated into the public beta of Microsoft Outlook 2010. Users will be able to maintain their LinkedIn contacts and stay up-to-date on their activities inside their Outlook inbox using the new Social Connector.

Topics: Enterprise Software, Collaboration, Microsoft, Software

About

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

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34 comments
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  • Microsoft still firmly planted in the LAST century.

    NT
    DonnieBoy
    Reply Vote

    • and looking ready to dominate this one

      as well.
      mdemuth
      Reply Vote

      • Not with last century's technology they won't.

        NT.
        DonnieBoy
        Reply Vote

        • They are MS advocates holding licenses!

          nt
          linux_kernel
          Reply Vote

        • You mean OOo?

          Sorry, you must have Open Office confused with Office. Open Office isn't designed or at all affiliated with Microsoft.
          The one and only, Cylon Centurion
          Reply Vote

          • Actually BOTH OpenOffice and MS Office are bloated relics from LAST century

            OpenOffice is the best product for the transition
            though.
            DonnieBoy
            Reply Vote

          • Open_Office is nice

            However, Google is going for the NEW vision!

            :)
            linux_kernel
            Reply Vote

      • Yeah, They Dominated This Century With ME and Vista Huh?

        Office 10 looks to be the Vista of the Office suites...clunky, bloated, and slow.
        itanalyst2@...
        Reply Vote

        • Don't judge a piece of software without using it yourself

          It's none of the things you mentioned and I gladly removed Office 2007 on my work PC to run the beta that so far has been more stable and faster.
          jmiller1978
          Reply Vote

        • Shame

          You won't give it a try.


          I've been playing around with it for the past few hours (Even going as far and completing school work in Word) and I have to point out that my experience has been the complete opposite of what you just said.
          The one and only, Cylon Centurion
          Reply Vote

  • Google is moving into the CLOUD (the future)

    Office is so outdated, the future vision is the cloud with people accessing it via a smart Linux appliance that does NOT care it is NOT Windows because Google will have an APP for it! (just like Apple)... :)

    PLUS be able to access it from anywhere!

    Plus, the fact PC's as we know it will not exist in 10 years, people are mobile and smart Linux driven appliances/devices/Open_Source architecture developed by Vendors like Google and other companies will prevail.

    The tidal wave is coming, companies are tired of supporting thousands of hardware based and software based security nightmares and this is the going to bring in the wave of new beginnings and the new era of NON Microsoft OS/Office desktop license MONEY hungry software that costs companies Hundreds of thousands of dollars with no ROI.
    linux_kernel
    Reply Vote

    • Linux Kernel speaks?

      Hmmm, I'd fear for the future of Linux if this is what comes out of it. You'd think the "many eyes" would have caught such silly logic in the kernel years ago...
      KTLA
      Reply Vote

    • The tidal wave is coming...blah, blah, blah

      Same crap linux folks have been trying to sell me for 15 years. Hundreds of thousands of dollars with 0 ROI? That is the biggest BS statement I've ever heard. I hope your profession is not of an analyst.

      Does no one see how Google is becoming exactly like Microsoft?
      jmiller1978
      Reply Vote

      • Who cares it is NOT Microsoft

        Is Google using Open_Source technologies, YES

        Then it is all good.

        :)

        You do not understand...

        tisk tisk
        linux_kernel
        Reply Vote

        • Oh I understand...

          You substitute one evil for another.
          jmiller1978
          Reply Vote

        • Worship much?

          It's the blind faith in itself and hatred of anything different that we all admire in the Linux Kernel.
          KTLA
          Reply Vote

          • Same old code rehash with a new PRICE tag

            The economy is a mess and with the new TAX & SPEND leader companies are not going to be buying or planning on spending money on silly Office suites.

            Google is leveraged in a great place now, with their infrastructure, storage, technical talent and the ability to WRITE any APPLICATION for the end user to Business customer.

            It is about the end user, and Google is set to capitalize on this companies want to escape buying new hardware every quarter, the cloud is going to be the new horizon and some people are scared because they will not be needed like Microsoft advocates who WASTE money on licensing and bloated operating Systems.
            linux_kernel
            Reply Vote

        • SO

          You're willing to sell yourself out to Google, just to pi$$ on Microsoft?
          The one and only, Cylon Centurion
          Reply Vote

    • why?

      I don't know why you are here, seriously.
      jk_10
      Reply Vote

    • you must be kidding

      if you suggest that people in their right mind would trust their documents to "cloud" storage. Just a couple of days ago CNN had a story on people discovering their private but stored online photographs on public web-sites.
      pupkin_z
      Reply Vote
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