It’s been announced - Office 2010 is finally at the Release to Manufacturer stage. It looks like it will be on the store shelves by late May/early June.
That does sadly mean that Microsoft will probably cut life support to the beta within the coming weeks. It’s a shame really as I love Office 2010 – but having said that I’ll probably go out and buy it. Maybe even pre-order it. I don’t know.
Microsoft is already handing out the release candidate to a select group of testers.
Microsoft has given a select group of testers access to the latest build of the Microsoft Office 2010 suite – the release candidate.
Sadly, at present, the release candidate isn’t available for public download. However, I would think that Microsoft will probably give it to TechNet customers in a few days (or weeks), and then once that’s done everyone else will probably get it shortly after.
This new release candidate would show that Microsoft is really trying hard to reach it’s target of RTM (release to manufacturer) by June 2010. It’s only February and they would appear to be reaching their final stages.
I have to say that I think the beta was very successful – I am yet to find any bugs or hold-backs. I’ve been using the beta since launch day and haven’t had a problem with it yet.
Update: Thanks to Sebastian (see comments) who has informed me that the RC will not go out on public release. It’s a shame, but many thanks for that information.
Microsoft today confirmed to Ars Technica that Office 2010 is expected to be in general availability by June 2010, after a beta tester apparently reported similar information.
The good news to that is that we should hopefully have 6 months of beta testing! Awesome.
However, don’t get too excited. OK, Windows 7 did actually launch on time, but Vista and Office 2007 were severely delayed. Microsoft aren’t brilliant at meeting deadlines, lets face it!
Oh well. GEEK! will keep you posted if any other news crops up, but for now lets hope that Office 2010 is worth it. Personally, I am yet to see anything that makes Office 2010 worth upgrading from 2007 (or 2003 for that matter). It still uses the annoying DOCX format unless you specifically tell it not to use it – but that removes some features from Word.
If you haven’t got your hands on the Office 2010 beta, you can grab a copy here.