14 DAY TRIAL // The RTM bits of SharePoint Server 2010 are now available for download from Microsoft. The latest iteration of SharePoint was released to manufacturing in April 2010 along with Office 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010, but customers have had to test-drive the Beta release so far, as it was the only one that the software giant was permitting access to. This is no longer the case. After the May 12th, 2010, worldwide commercial availability of SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 for business customers, Microsoft is offering trial versions of SharePoint Server 2010 in no less than four flavors through the Download Center, obviously, free of charge.
Customers can choose between the following downloads: SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Client Access; SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise; SharePoint Server 2010 Standard Client Access; and SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Standard. At the bottom of this article, customers will find download links to all the trial editions of SharePoint Server 2010 RTM, along with a short description offered by Microsoft, and the product keys necessary for them to activate the offerings and start testing.
According to the Redmond company, each trial release of SharePoint 2010 is tailored to a specific testing scenario:
“• SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Client Access License features (GGDG8-JCMXH-8KG8C-RJYYX-3Y33H) - For organizations looking to expand their business collaboration platform to enable advanced scenarios. Use the Enterprise capabilities of SharePoint to fully interoperate with external line-of-business applications, Web services, and Microsoft Office client applications; make better decisions with rich data visualization, dashboards, and advanced analytics; and build robust forms and workflow-based solutions.
“• SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise (9FPGB-W6QTT-G68T4-TBX7M-R624H) - For organizations looking to create customer-facing public internet sites and private extranets using the full enterprise capabilities of SharePoint. This provides full SharePoint Enterprise functionality and no other technical limits.
“• SharePoint Server 2010 Standard Client Access License features (KB443-F7CJV-J2RP4-QYQJ7-6PBB3) - For organizations looking to deploy a business collaboration platform across all types of content. Use the core capabilities of SharePoint to manage content and business processes, find and share information and expertise, and simplify how people work together across organizational boundaries.
“• SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Standard (H4P2T-CYKM7-9FKKD-DTQ7X-W69GG) - For small and mid-sized organizations looking to create public Internet sites or basic extranets using the Standard features of SharePoint Server 2010.”
The trial versions of SharePoint Server 2010 RTM are available for download here.