Office 2010 Technical Beta Closing Down

With the first wave of the Office 2010 launch now on the horizon, Microsoft is gearing up to shut down the testing program that helped build the next iteration of the Office System. Early adopters involved in the Beta of Office 2010 are receiving email messages, informing them that the program will close at the end of this month. Microsoft already confirmed that it would launch Office 2010 RTM on May 12, a release that will be reserved for business users. The general availability deadline of Office 2010 is planned for June 2010, almost a month after the business launch of the productivity suite.

“Thank you for participating in the Technical Beta program for Microsoft Office 2010. Your feedback and suggestions have helped make this our best release of Office and SharePoint! As we approach the end of this beta, we want to let you know that our Office 2010 Technical Beta program on Connect will close on Friday, April 30th. After this date, you will no longer be able to access the Technical Beta program,” an excerpt from the email sent to testers reads.

Microsoft has yet to disclose the RTM (release to manufacturing) date of Office 2010, having only indicated that it plans to sign-off on the product by the end of this month. With Office 2010 shipping to business users on May 12, MSDN and TechNet subscribers are also expected to get the bits early, probably as soon as the successor of Office 2007 will RTM.

Office 2010 RC Build 4734.1000 was offered to a select pool of testers at the start of February 2010. However, despite having produced a Release Candidate build, Microsoft continued to offer Office 2010 Beta 14.0.4536.1000 to users worldwide. The Beta continues to be available for download even at this point in time, but Microsoft will discontinue downloads soon.

“On behalf of all the Microsoft Office 2010 product teams, we would like to say ‘Thank You’ for participating in the beta, and we look forward to working with you again in the future. Sincerely, Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Beta Program Team,” the email further adds.

Office 2010 Beta 14.0.4536.1000 is available for download here.