Microsoft is cooking the next generation of the Office System, planning a general availability deadline in the first half of 2010. In this regard, Office 2010, including Office Web applications, but also SharePoint Server 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010, have been baking for the technical preview stage in July 2009, as announced by Microsoft in April of this year. Wilbour Craddock, a partner technology specialist at Microsoft Ireland, revealed that “We have reached the Technical Preview, an engineering milestone, and are excited to publically share some features and resources.”

What the Redmond company is offering is a sneak peek at SharePoint Server 2010, essentially a collection of feature descriptions and videos made available via this link. Customers will be able to access a SharePoint Server 2010 Sneak Peek FAQ, an overview of the product, a video version of the overview, but also video content tailored to IT professional and developer audiences, as well as materials instructing users on how to get ready for the successor of SharePoint Server 2007.

“Microsoft SharePoint 2010 will enter Beta in 2009 and is targeted for general availability in the first half of 2010. We will announce our Public Beta availability later this year and will have more information to share on how customers can participate,” Craddock stated. “The best way to get started with SharePoint 2010 is to get a great SharePoint 2007 deployment today. Use your software assurance benefits such as SharePoint Deployment Planning Services to help get deployed on SharePoint 2007. Run the Upgrade Checker in SharePoint 2007 Service Pack 2 to scan your SharePoint 2007 systems to see how ready your system is for upgrade to SharePoint 2010.”

I tried to access the SharePoint Server 2010 SneakPeek content but found that I was unable to do so. The webpage requires a Windows Live ID before allowing users to get a sneak peek at SharePoint Server 2010. However, in the end an error related to an incorrect URL always comes up. Sure enough. Microsoft is bound to deal with any issues and allow customers to get a taste of SharePoint Server 2010 even if they don't get the Community Technology Preview bits.