No word on the RTM deadline

Jan 26, 2010 08:14 GMT  ·  By

The next iteration of the Office System is now approximately five months away Microsoft confirmed to Softpedia. At the start of this week, you were able to read a report on a remark from Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, in which the CEO indicated that Office 2010 would be out in only a couple of months. I contacted the Redmond company on the matter and I’ve got a clarification on this topic.

It appears that customers won’t be able to purchase the successor of Office 2007 in the coming two or three months. This is what a Microsoft spokesperson had to say when I asked whether there was any truth to Ballmer’s remark: “We expect Office 2010 and related products to be generally available in June 2010.” In this regard, customers will only be able to purchase Office 2010, Visio 2010, SharePoint 2010 and Project 2010 in June 2010. This deadline is also a confirmation of info already available since the release of Office 2010 Beta Build 14.0.4536.1000.

Microsoft said in the early stages of Office 2010’s development process that it would have the productivity suite out by mid-2010. At the Nashville Technology Council at the Trevecca Nazarene University on January 20, 2010, Ballmer made it seem that Office 2010 would be available much sooner: “You'll see the new version of Office, which comes out here in just a couple of months. It not only works on your PC but it will work through any Web browser and down onto the phone in new and rich ways.”

Still, GA in June 2010 means that Microsoft will release Office 2010 to manufacturing much sooner, months ahead, in fact. Microsoft dodged my question related to the RTM deadline for Office 2010, and Ballmer could have referred actually to the RTM of the next version of the productivity suite.

Information offered by Wzor indicates that the software giant might be planning to release Office 2010 to manufacturing sometime in April 2010. The date is approximately a couple of months away, as Ballmer noted in Nashville a week ago. One thing is for sure at this point in time, Office 2010 will be available for purchase in June 2010, according to Microsoft.

Office 2010 Beta 14.0.4536.1000 is available for download here.