14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is undoubtedly making headway with Office 2010’s development process, although the company is not exactly trumpeting its progress to the public. In fact, the software giant is keeping details on the evolution of Office 2010 under a tight lid, although it managed to unveil additional aspects of the new product such as pricing information. Still, a new leak of Office 2010 manages to do what Microsoft isn’t, namely offers confirmation that the next iteration of the productivity suite is indeed moving along toward RTM.
The Release to Manufacturing milestone mentioned in the End User License Agreement accompanying Office 2010 Build 14.0.4730.1007 continues to be without a definitive deadline. While it is highly unlikely that the Redmond company hasn’t this far along in the product’s development process settled on an RTM date, the public is yet to receive any sort of official details.
Microsoft’s silence continued even after the leak of Office 2010 Build 14.0.4730.1007, which is currently available for download via all major BitTorrent trackers and warez websites, for those that know where to look. Softpedia will of course not provide a link to any illegal third-party sources offering Office 2010 bits. At the same time, users should be aware of the risks associated with downloading leaked or otherwise pirated software from untrusted sources, including identity theft, malware infections and financial loss via stolen credit-card data.
Build 14.0.4730.1007 Office 2010 Build 14.0.4536.1000 public Beta was released at the Professional Developers Conference 2009 in Los Angeles. Build 14.0.4730.1007, the recently leaked bits of Office 2007’s successor, is superseding the public Beta, and has most probably been shipped to a small pool of testers close to Microsoft, in addition to being dogfooded (tested internally). When it comes down to the public Beta of Office 2010, early adopters can test-drive Office 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, Visio 2010, Project 2010 and Office Web, and the same is valid for leaked Build 14.0.4730.1007, with the exception of Office Web.
Users will be able to have a closer look at Office 2010 Build 14.0.4730.1007 via the screenshots included in this article. Fact is that the evolution from 14.0.4536.1000 is not extremely consistent. Sure, the EULA now references RTM, indicating that Build 14.0.4730.1007 might be part of the Office 2010 RTM branch, but there’s no confirmation that this will actually be the fully fledged RTM.
However, even early adopters that already played around with the Technical Preview and official public Beta of Office 2010 will struggle to find changes as no major modifications seem to be visible. In all fairness, I have been running Office 2010 14.0.4730.1007 for very little time and some details might have passed me by. If you come across modifications, then by all means use the comments section at the bottom of this page to share them.
But one thing is clear even when using the leaked bits for a small amount of time. The performance level of the productivity suite has been kicked up a notch with Office 2010 14.0.4730.1007. Build 14.0.4730.1007 feels faster, with the components launching at an increased speed compared with the public Beta. Overall, I would say that Microsoft has spent a lot of time tinkering under the hood of Office 2010, optimizing the next version of the productivity suite for the imminent release. Albeit less evident than surface-level changes, under-the-hood modifications result in an improved user experience. With Microsoft fine-tuning Office 2010, testers will be able to see that the graphical user interface has remained intact.
“Office 2010 is not a complete makeover but a visual refresh to refine surfaces and remove unnecessary visual elements so the focus is on users’ content and less on the borders and widgets that frame the content part of a window (this frame is also known as the ‘chrome’). In order to achieve this we’ve reduced the number of borders, boxes, and horizontal banding which gave 6 extra pixels of vertical space back to the content area. By adding more white space, and carefully placed visual elements, we strove to create an interface that appears less intrusive, lightweight, and leaves more room for the self-expression of those using it,” Keri Vandeberghe, user experience designer with the Microsoft Office Design Group (ODG), revealed.
Just as it was the case with Windows 7, the public Beta of Office 2010 is extremely close to the finished product. Microsoft is of course bound to soften rough corners of the productivity suite, just as it did for Windows 7 between Beta and RTM, however, the company will most likely reserve modifications to minor adjustments. At least at UI level, I don’t expect the software giant to introduce anything new between the Beta and the RTM versions of Office 2010.
“In Office 2010 we feel the UI has matured and taken on a more refined appearance without sacrificing the overall structure of the Ribbon and its functionality. A major change for Office 2010 visuals is that the default theme is no longer blue. We chose a neutral palette to minimize sensorial overload when creating documents and we also made a departure from flashy finishes. The Ribbon is still the most prominent UI piece and sets the pace for all that follows. The user interface below the Ribbon is more subdued. The soft gradients and the use of light and color are meant to call attention to or draw the users’ eye to a specific area. There is a visual rhythm defined by white space and a few highly contrasted elements like the Office brand orange to indicate selection and the individual product colors in the File tab,” Vandeberghe added.
Onward to RTM
The leaked Office 2010 Build 14.0.4730.1007 points out that Microsoft could have already started work on the RTM branch of the product. The company already noted that it would launch the product in the first half of this year, and third-party sources also confirmed a launch by the end of June 2010. Still, up to this point in time, Microsoft has said nothing about potential, new public development milestones of Office 2010 ahead of RTM, or shared the deadline for the release to manufacturing stage, or for General Availability for that matter.
At the 2010 Consumers Electronics Show in Las Vegas at the start of this year, Rachel Bondi, general manager, Microsoft Office, did indicate that Office 2010 Beta had been downloaded in excess of two million times and that, “9 out of 10 beta users feel that the Office 2010 beta is an improvement over their current productivity suite.”
Microsoft also unveiled a new Stock Keeping Unit strategy for Office 2010, along with the prices for each version: Office Home and Student $149, Office Home and Business $279, Office Professional $499, and Office Professional Academic $99. For Office 2010, the Redmond company took the decision to remove the upgrade versions of the productivity suite it offered for Office 2007. According to the software giant, the decision was made in order to simplify the product lineup as well as the pricing of Office 2010 through the retail channel.
Office 2010 Beta 14.0.4536.1000 is available for download here.
