14 DAY TRIAL // The first Beta Build is the next iteration of the Office System that is now opened to the general public, after being offered to MSND and TechNet subscribers, as well as Microsoft Connect testers. Office 2010 Beta 14.0.4536.1000 public downloads went live on day two of the company’s Professional Developers Conference 2009 in Los Angeles, and is currently up for grabs for all users that want to test drive the successor of Office 2007.
At the time of this article, both the 32-bit (x86) and the 64-bit (x64) flavors of Office 2010 Beta 14.0.4536.1000 are available for download. What Microsoft is offering essentially is the Professional Plus edition, but customers are able to get not just the actual bits from Microsoft, but also the product keys necessary to activate the productivity suite.
According to the Redmond company, the Beta for Office 2010 is looking to attract as many testers as possible. Of course, Microsoft will harvest feedback from all machines running Office 2010 Beta 14.0.4536.1000 an integrate it into the development process of the next generation of its productivity suite. In this regard, the software giant did not announce a deadline at which it would shut down the Beta program, so there’s not really a reason to hurry up and grab the bits. At the same time, Beta testers of Office 2010 will be able to run the 14.0.4536.1000 Build for almost an entire year, until October 31st, 2010.
“We are hoping to have millions of people download and test the products, as we depend on that feedback to shape the final product. To get the broadest range of feedback we are making this beta available in seven languages — English, Spanish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Russian, French and German — more than any other Office beta program in the past,” revealed Kurt DelBene, senior vice president of the Office Business Productivity Group at Microsoft.
Office 2010 Professional Plus brings to the table the following applications: Word, OneNote, InfoPath, PowerPoint, Access, SharePoint Workspace, Outlook, Publisher, Communicator, and Excel. Before you get to download the Beta of either 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) Office 2010 Beta 14.0.4536.1000, you will need to sign up in order to receive the activation product keys from Microsoft.
“Today is a key milestone for Microsoft as we bring the next version of Office and related products to a broad audience. We’re thrilled to get these beta releases into the hands of customers and partners; they can start experiencing the products today by visiting http://www.microsoft.com/2010. We are looking forward to incorporating customer feedback from the beta to get these products finalized in the first half of next year,” DelBene added.
Office 2010 Beta 14.0.4536.1000 is available for download here.