Onward to RTM

Jan 27, 2010 15:26 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is gearing up to wrap up the final development milestone of Office 2010. The next iteration of the Office System is currently in RTM Escrow stage according to Russian website Wzor. According to information leaked in the wild, the development process of Office 2010 has reached the last stage before release to manufacturing (RTM). The latest Office 2010 interim version compiled in Redmond is Build 14.0.4734.1000, which means that it supersedes the Build 14.0.4730.1007 which was leaked in the wild and made available for download from various third-party sources, including torrent trackers and warez websites at the start of January.

Build 14.0.4730.1007 was labeled RTM in the End User License Agreement (EULA), but apparently the release was only pre-RTM Escrow. In this regard, Office 2010 14.0.4734.1000 is the RTM Escrow Build of the productivity suite. Escrow generally designates a stage in the development process of Microsoft software in which all changes are frozen, with testers looking for any regression issues. Provided that no problems be identified with Office 2010 Build 14.0.4734.1000, the product will move into RTM.

According to Wzor, some testers have already received the 14.0.4734.1000 bits, inside the company for dogfooding, with plans in motion to also offer the release outside of Redmond, for close partners to test-drive. Wzor promises that it will leak the screenshots for Office 2010 RTM Escrow Build 14.0.4734.1000 soon. Undoubtedly, leaks of the actual bits will follow as well.

Earlier this week, I approached Microsoft and asked about the RTM and General Availability dates for Office 2010. The Redmond company confirmed that the successor of Office 2010 would be available for purchase in June 2010, but said nothing related to the RTM deadline. Third-party sources have already indicated that Office 2010 will be RTM’d sometime in April 2010, a piece of information which remains unconfirmed by Microsoft.

Office 2010 Beta 14.0.4536.1000 is available for download here.