Office 2010 Available As Early As May 12, for Business Users

Microsoft is gearing up to finalize the next iteration of the Office productivity suite. While the Redmond company has yet to make public the release to manufacturing date for Office 2010, the General Availability deadlines for the product have already been decided. Jevon Fark, senior marketing manager, Microsoft Office, announced that Office 2010 would be available for purchase as early as May 12th. However, General Availability for the successor of Office 2007 will come in two waves, and the first customers to access the bits are business users.

According to Fark, the general public will have to exercise its patience a tad longer. Microsoft is sticking to the initial GA deadline, with the company having already confirmed that it was planning to launch Office 2010 in June 2010. Still, the software giant has yet to settle on a specific GA deadline for the public, although, according to speculation, the productivity suite will hit store shelves in mid-June.

Fark did point out that the RTM for Office 2010 was no more than two months away, pointing to April, but did not offer a date. “We’re excited to confirm that Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 are on schedule and will release to manufacturing (RTM) next month,” he stated.

Microsoft is currently testing the last development milestone of Office 2010 ahead of RTM, namely the Release Candidate. The company released the RC Build 4734.1000-110 of Office 2010 over a month ago, at the start of February. Office 2010 RC was offered only to a small number of testers. “For businesses, we will launch the 2010 set of products, including Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010, and Project 2010 worldwide on May 12. For consumers, Office 2010 will be available online and on retail shelves this June,” Fark added.

Office 2010 Beta 14.0.4536.1000 is available for download here.