Office 2007 Moves to RTM

Actually, the news is of little surprise. And I say this in the context of Microsoft launch of Windows Vista Release Candidate 2 the past week. The Redmond Company's strategy to unite the market trajectories of its main cash cows Vista and Office has become evident no further than the official release dates announced for January 30, 2007 by Amazon.com, an unofficial but accurate Microsoft news source. With Vista RC2 made available for a limited pool of testers, Microsoft has maker the last stage in the development of the operating system. After RC2, Vista will ship to RTM as well, accompanying Office 2007.

And the Office 2007 suite will be released to manufacturing in the coming weeks. The Redmond Company failed to deliver an actual date, as it will have to be synchronized with Vista's RTM. Additionally, Microsoft informed that the Beta2TR Build is the final version of the product before it goes gold. The Redmond Company will not launch another interim build or a release candidate.

Microsoft has also indicated that Beta2TR Build is scheduled to expire on March 15, 2007 and May 31, 2007. The different expiration dates are related to the client and server products respectively. Moreover, the Redmond Company is providing the possibility to upgrade to the final version of the Office 2007 Suite from the Beta2TR Build, provided that version client applications are removed prior to the upgrading.