Office 2010 Beta was downloaded over 9 million times

Jun 15, 2010 14:30 GMT  ·  By

It’s now official, Office 2010 is bigger than Windows 7, at least as far as the sheer number of downloads of the pre-release testing Builds is concerned. On the day of Office 2010’s commercial launch, Microsoft confirmed officially that the latest iteration of the productivity suite was downloaded in excess of nine million times. As of today, June 15th, 2010, customers around the world can purchase Office 2010 via retail outlets or online shops.

Microsoft was little shy about applauding the early success of Office 2010. Launched in Beta stage in November 2009, Office 2010 has generated an immense amount of interest from early adopters. The Redmond company is, in this regard, entitled to hope that the over nine million downloads of Office 2010 Beta will translate into strong sales. By comparison, according to the software giant’s statistics, Windows 7 was downloaded over eight million times ahead of RTM.

“Following the great response to the Office 2010 beta and the success of Windows 7, we predict this will be the biggest consumer release of Office, ever,” Stephen Elop, president, Microsoft Business Division, said. Of course, Windows 7 went on to become a smashing success for Microsoft.

It remains to be seen whether the fastest selling operating system in history will be joined by the fastest selling productivity suite in history. So far, Microsoft sold well in excess of 100 million Windows 7 licenses in less than six months since General Availability. Office 2010 is certainly positioned as the company’s other main cash cow, and Microsoft noted that, according to a survey performed among the Beta testers, 75% of early adopters revealed that they would purchase Office 2010 once it became available. At the same time, 90% of the Beta users revealed that Office 2010 was superior to its predecessor, Office 2007.

Earlier today, Microsoft gave the green light to the free trial downloads of Office 2010 with the following editions available to customers: Office Home and Business 2010, Office Home and Business 2010, and Office Professional 2010. Just ahead of the commercial launch, market analysis firm Gartner indicated that it expected Office 2010 to perform well on the market in terms of sales.

Office Home and Business 2010 RTM Build 14.0.4760.1000 is available for download here.

Office Home and Student 2010 RTM Build 14.0.4760.1000 is available for download
here.

Office Professional 2010 RTM Build 14.0.4760.1000 is available for download
here.